Sherdog Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva (25-4)
Silva’s elbow injury postponed a showdown with Vitor Belfort for several months, but “The Spider” has been cleared to return. The middleweight king will defend his throne at UFC 112 “Invincible” on April 10, when he headlines the promotion’s Abu Dhabi venture against Belfort in the United Arab Emirates.

2. Dan Henderson (25-7)
Henderson was MMA’s most high-profile free agent. Now, he will serve as one of the major drawing cards for Strikeforce. The two-time Olympian will make his promotional debut in April in a middleweight affair against Jake Shields, with the Strikeforce title up for grabs on CBS.

3. Chael Sonnen (25-10-1)
A consistent underdog against all the elite middleweight opposition he faced, Sonnen has continued to excel, knocking off Paulo Filho, Dan Miller, Yushin Okami and now Nate Marquardt. Sonnen’s upset of Marquardt has likely earned him the next crack at the UFC middleweight title after Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort square off in April.

4. Nate Marquardt (29-9-2)
Marquardt’s UFC 109 bout with Chael Sonnen was supposed to serve as a perfunctory setup for another UFC middleweight title shot. Instead, Sonnen’s takedowns were far too much for the former middleweight King of Pancrase, who dropped a unanimous decision and will have to wait for a second crack at the UFC 185-pound crown.

5. Demian Maia (12-1)
It was not his most thrilling performance, but Maia continued to show his improving MMA game, as he used both his striking and grappling to best a tough Dan Miller by unanimous decision at UFC 109. With that, he kept pace in the UFC middleweight division.

6. Vitor Belfort (19-8)
An elbow injury to UFC middleweight king Anderson Silva continued to stall a date for a meeting between the two Brazilians. Now, the pair will finally square off on April 10 at UFC 112, as the Octagon heads to Abu Dhabi.

7. Jake Shields (24-4-1)
On Strikeforce’s first CBS venture in October, Shields earned the promotion’s middleweight title with a five-round decision win over Jason “Mayhem” Miller. Strikeforce’s second live network venture in April will see the Cesar Gracie protégé enter his first title defense as an underdog, as he takes on Pride Fighting Championships and UFC veteran Dan Henderson.

8. Yushin Okami (23-5)
After a deflating October loss to the suddenly surging Chael Sonnen, Okami will be back in the Octagon on March 31. At UFC Fight Night 21 in North Carolina, he will take on Finnish-based Brazilian Lucio Linhares.

9. Mamed Khalidov (20-3-1)
Original plans had Khalidov facing Canadian journeyman Joe Doerksen in the Sengoku ring on March 7. However, common sense prevailed, and Khalidov will now have the chance to rematch promotional champion Jorge Santiago, a man he knocked out in the first round in November. This time, the title will be on the line.

10. Jorge Santiago (21-8)
It was first thought that Santiago’s March 7 Sengoku title defense would come against Kazuo Misaki, whom he beat for the vacant title in January 2009. However, he will now be given the chance to avenge his upset loss to Mamed Khalidov, the man who blew him out in a non-title affair in November.

Other contenders: Yoshihiro Akiyama, Michael Bisping, Paulo Filho, Robbie Lawler, Kazuo Misaki.