Ronda Rousey is still the best women’s fighter in the world

Times’ MMA rankings for October

Heavyweight

1. Cain Velasquez

2. Fabricio Werdum

3. Junior Dos Santos

4. Travis Browne

5. Josh Barnett

6. Mark Hunt

7. Stipe Miocic

8. Antonio Silva

9. Ben Rothwell

10. Roy Nelson

All roads in the UFC heavyweight division lead to the November 15 showdown in Mexico City between champion Cain Velasquez and top challenger Fabricio Werdum. The next challenger after that is unclear.

Light Heavyweight

1. Jon Jones

2. Alexander Gustafsson

3. Daniel Cormier

4. Anthony Johnson

5. Rashad Evans

6. Phil Davis

7. Glover Teixeira

8. Ryan Bader

9. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

10. Dan Henderson

The co-main event of Saturday’s UFC 179 card features a battle between #6 and #7 light heavyweights Phil Davis and Glover Teixeira. Both men are coming off losses and it will be a big setback for the loser of this one.

Middleweight

1. Chris Weidman

2. Anderson Silva

3. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza

4. Lyoto Machida

5. Vitor Belfort

6. Luke Rockhold

7. Gegard Mousasi

8. Yushin Okami

9. Yoel Romero

10. Tim Kennedy

One of the sport’s most exciting fighters, Yoel Romero breaks into the top 10 following his controversial demolition of Tim Kennedy at UFC 178. Romero was in deep trouble at the end of the second round but was given extra time to recover between rounds and then destroyed Kennedy with strikes 38 seconds into the third. It was classic Romero: no backing down even when in great danger and always looking for the finish.

Welterweight

1. Johny Hendricks

2. Robbie Lawler

3. Rory MacDonald

4. Tyron Woodley

5. Ben Askren

6. Carlos Condit

7. Matt Brown

8. Jake Ellenberger

9. Hector Lombard

10. Demian Maia

Rory MacDonald left no doubt as to the next challenger for the Johny Hendricks-Robbie Lawler welterweight title bout winner as he handily defeated Tarec Saffiedine at the UFC’s debut in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Lightweight

1. Anthony Pettis

2. Gilbert Melendez

3. Khabib Nurmagomedov

4. Rafael Dos Anjos

5. Donald Cerrone

6. Ben Henderson

7. Eddie Alvarez

8. Michael Chandler

9. Nate Diaz

10. T.J. Grant

Eddie Alvarez’s long awaited UFC debut was ultimately an unsatisfying one, as Donald Cerrone welcomed him rudely with a unanimous decision loss. Cerrone has worked himself back into the title picture while it is back to the drawing board for Alvarez.

Featherweight

1. Jose Aldo

2. Chad Mendes

3. Cub Swanson

4. Frank Edgar

5. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire

6. Conor McGregor

7. Dennis Bermudez

8. Dustin Poirier

9. Pat Curran

10. Ricardo Lamas

Saturday night, Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes will rematch for the UFC featherweight title. Aldo handed Mendes the only loss of his career and Mendes has won five straight (four via TKO) since then. Could this be the night that Aldo’s nearly nine year unbeaten streak finally ends? Conor McGregor scored the biggest win of his career thus far, knocking out Dustin Poirier in the first round. McGregor has attracted a lot of attention in a hurry, meaning UFC may rush him towards a title shot in the near future. It’s likely such a fight would generate significant fan interest.

Bantamweight

1. T.J. Dillashaw

2. Dominick Cruz

3. Renan Barao

4. Urijah Faber

5. Raphael Assuncao

6. Michael McDonald

7. Takeya Mizugaki

8. Bibiano Fernandes

9. Joe Warren

10. Iuri Alcantara

In a slow month for MMA, there was a lot of key action in the 135 pound division. Former champion Dominick Cruz returned and couldn’t have looked better, stopping Takeya Mizugaki with strikes in just 61 seconds. Cruz will now likely challenge T.J. Dillashaw in a compelling fight that will rekindle Cruz’s feud with the Team Alpha Male camp and give him an opportunity to recapture the title he never lost in the cage. Raphael Assuncao is also in line for a future title shot as he won his seventh straight UFC fight by beating Bryan Caraway. It’s very rare that anyone wins that many fights consecutively in the UFC. Meanwhile, in Bellator, Joe Warren pulled off a big upset with a hard fought decision victory to capture the Bellator bantamweight title from former champion Eduardo Dantas.

Women’s Bantamweight

1. Ronda Rousey

2. Cat Zingano

3. Sarah Kaufman

4. Miesha Tate

5. Sara McMann

6. Alexis Davis

7. Jessica Eye

8. Jessica Andrade

9. Bethe Correia

10. Amanda Nunes

Cat Zingano returned to action in impressive fashion, overcoming early adversity to overwhelm Amanda Nunes with strikes in the third round of their September contest. On paper, she looks to pose the stiffest UFC challenge for champion Ronda Rousey yet.

Flyweight

1. Demetrious Johnson

2. Joseph Benavidez

3. John Dodson

4. Ian McCall

5. John Moraga