Another month has come and gone in the world of MMA, and with that, some of FLD's brightest minds have gotten together and compiled our rankings once again.  There were no changes at the very top of the rankings, but just barely, as we'll discuss.  Sadlt, the biggest story coming out of October’s MMA events was, has been, and will likely continue to be the controversy surrounding the Lyoto Machida/Mauricio Rua decision, and what (or who) should be changed when it comes to judging fights in MMA.  That discussion is best served somewhere else though, we're here to talk about rankings so we’ll try to move our focus away from that unless absolutely applicable.  Read on for a breakdown of the movement in each division, as well as some of the matches which could affect the rankings in November.

Check out October's:

World Rankings & UFC Rankings

Heavyweight

Conventional wisdom would have pointed at Cain Velasquez being the biggest mover in the HW division given his utter destruction of Ben Rothwell last weekend.  However, Alistair Overeem jumped up 3 spots to Velasquez’s 2, on the strength of two quick victories over opponents who could generously be categorized as “not in his league”.  Still the panel likes what they’ve seen from the Demolition Man.  The only thing standing between him and entering the very elite of the HW division is a match with another top HW.  When the dust settles from the Emelianenko/Rogers and Werdum/Silva fights on November 7th, Overeem’s next opponent could become much clearer.

As for Velasquez, his next move really depends on the UFC’s plans for him.  I’m sure few would argue if he was lined up for a title shot following the now postponed outcome of Lesnar/Carwin, however for such a young fighter I think waiting for that fight would be far too long of a gap in his career.  Perhaps Velasquez could face Rodrigo Nogueira to determine the next challenger for the belt in the meantime.

The only real decline in the HW division is Josh Barnett’s ranking falling from 5 to 8, which can be attributed mostly to his uncertain future in the US, and lack of both activity and quality opponents for him in Japan.  Other fighters dropping are Shane Carwin and Junior dos Santos, who panelists feel were leapfrogged by Velasquez, Overeem, or both.

Upcoming Fights:
#1 Fedor Emelianenko vs. #11 Brett Rogers - Strikeforce, November 7th
#10 Fabricio Werdum vs. Antonio Silva - Strikeforce, November 7th

Light Heavyweight

Moving on to the LHW division, and it’s no shock that the biggest positive mover was Shogun.  His tempered, tactical and efficient performance against Lyoto Machida shocked even his most ardent supporters, and actually got him within a single first place vote of grabbing the top spot.  Next for Shogun appears to be a short order rematch with Machida, as soon as Lyoto’s injury concerns are assuaged.

Other movement in the LHW division includes Gegard Mousasi and Forrest Griffin swapping spots, Quinton Jackson presumably falling out of favour due to his focus on acting rather than fighting and Babalu flip-flopping with Keith Jardine along with the whims of the pollsters.

Upcoming Fights:
#6 Gegard Mousasi vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou - Strikeforce, November 7th
Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera - UFC 105, November 14th
#7 Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz - UFC 106, November 21st
#8 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. #10 Luis Cane - UFC 106, November 21st

Middleweight

There were a couple big movers at MW this month.  The biggest was Chael Sonnen, who was nearly universally discounted against Yushin Okami, but came through with the best performance of his career (just ask him, like our friend Ariel Helwani did after UFC 104).  The other fighter moving up was Vitor Belfort, through a combination of Jorge Santiago’s lack of competition and Yushin Okami’s loss.  Furthermore, Belfort has the chance to potentially move up to the #1 spot when he faces Anderson Silva, whenever Silva and his handlers determine that the champion is ready for that fight.

Dropping at MW this month is Yushin Okami, who as previously mentioned, lost to Chael Sonnen at UFC 104.  Okami sports the largest decline by any fighter in our rankings which is a coupling of two things: 1) the loss to Sonnen, and 2) the questions about his legitimacy as a top 5 fighter that many people expressed even before this fight.  Whatever’s next for Okami, you can be sure that it will be untelevised.  Robbie Lawler and Kazuo Misaki also dropped this month because of Sonnen passing them.

The final movement at MW is Patrick Cote and Jacare swapping spots.  For what reason?  Jacare has been talked about as a potential opponent for the winner of the Jason Miller/Jake Shields fight to decide Strikeforce’s MW champion, whereas Cote has seemingly dropped off the face of the earth.

Upcoming Fights:
#12 Jake Shields vs. Jason Miller - Strikeforce, November 7th
#5 Jorge Santiago vs. Mamed Khalidov - Sengoku 11, November 7th
Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang - UFC 105, November 14th

Welterweight

At first glance, there appears to be a lot of movement at WW, but upon closer inspection all of the movement - except for a debuting fighter in the top 15 - is due to Jake Shields declining ranking (as a result of his recent and scheduled fights at MW), as well as Matt Hughes apparently falling out of favour with the voters, despite still only holding recent losses to the 1st and 3rd ranked fighters in the division.

The aforementioned debuting fighter is Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, who impressed enough at UFC 104 to jump ahead of Karo Parisyan, turning “The Heat” down a notch or two.  Johnson now faces a quick turnaround, as he is slated to face 4th ranked Josh Koscheck in the co-Main Event at UFC 106.  A win for either fighter gets them into contention for a title shot, but Johnson clearly has the most to gain.

Upcoming Fights:
#8 Jake Shields vs. Jason Miller - Strikeforce, November 7th (At Middleweight)
#5 Mike Swick vs. #14 Dan Hardy - UFC 105, November 14th
#4 Josh Koscheck vs. #15 Anthony Johnson - UFC 106, November 21st
#11 Dustin Hazelett vs. Karo Parisyan - UFC 106, November 21st
Brock Larson vs. Brian Foster - UFC 106, November 21st

Lightweight

Very little action at LW this month.  The marquee match-up was Shinya Aoki vs. Joachim Hansen for the DREAM LW title, which Aoki won with a late armbar to retain his second spot.  The loss caused Hansen to drop a single spot, and as a result Gray Maynard took his place and makes his debut in the top five this month.

The other movement in the division simply comes from changing sentiment.  Frankie Edgar jumps ahead of Kenny Florian, and Sean Sherk re-enters the tail end of the rankings.  The other major fighter who was active in October, but did not move, was Eddie Alvarez who was successful against Katsunori Kikuno at DREAM 12.

Upcoming Fights:
#12 Satoru Kitaoka vs. Jorge Masvidal - Sengoku 11, November 7th
Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Kazunori Yokota - Sengoku 11, November 7th

Featherweight

Some significant movement in the FW division over the past month.  The most notable occurrence was the loss of previous #2 Wagnney Fabiano to unranked Mackens Semerzier at WEC 43.  Despite likely being the upset of the year, the loss only caused Fabiano to drop to fifth.  Much like Yushin Okami, you can be certain that Wagnney will not be seen on any main cards over the next little while, unless he does something fantastic.

Jose Aldo seems to have garnered all of his teammate’s support though, and jumps up from 5 to 2, in anticipation of his showdown with Mike Thomas Brown.  Urijah Faber stays steady at 3 even with the chaos going on around him, but is joined in a tie with Sengoku standout Hatsu Hioki.

On the strength of his DREAM FWGP victory, Bibiano Fernandes moves up from eleventh to eighth, although it should be noted that votes for Fernandes were split between the FW and BW divisions (most likely because of DREAM’s ridiculous 138 lb FW limit).  Look for Bibiano to move up as voters get on the same page to what weightclass he truly belongs in.

Other movement in the division includes Raphael Assuncao (despite a victory of his own at WEC 43) and Marlon Sandro dropping as “The Flash“ rocketed past them.  Dokonjonosuke Mishima recently lost his DEEP FW title but maintains his spot in our top 15, albeit the very last spot, as he was surpassed by both Yuji Hoshino and Bellator champ Joe Soto.

Upcoming Fights:
#3 Hatsu Hioki vs. Michihiro Omigawa - Sengoku 11, November 7th
#11 Marlon Sandro vs. #13 Yuji Hoshino - Sengoku 11, November 7th
#1 Mike Brown vs. #2 Jose Aldo - WEC 44, November 18th
#7 Leonard Garcia vs. Manny Gamburyan - WEC 44, November 18th
Diego Nunes vs. L.C. Davis - WEC 44, November 18th

Bantamweight

Relatively quiet month in terms of change in the BW rankings.  The movement only takes place in the bottom half of the extremely volatile 135 division.  Rani Yahya, who sports a 3-fight winning streak (all by first round submission) moves up one spot, to 9, while Joe Warren drops into the 10th spot by virtue of his loss to Bibiano Fernandes.

The big mover at BW is Manny Tapia, and it’s not the kind of movement he wants to be making.  The fighter who was undefeated and challenging for the WEC BW title only a year ago has gone 0-3 since, and is in danger of dropping out of the rankings completely.  The beneficiaries of his misfortune are Koetsu Okazaki (who only moves up one spot despite recently beating the next fighter on our list), Hiromasa Ogikubo and Jeff Curran (who himself is holding a hefty losing streak of 4 fights right now).

Atsushi Yamaoto, who hasn’t fought since losing to DEEP BW champion Masakatsu Imanari in March, drops out of the top 15 in lieu of Yoshiro Maeda, who put on a sterling performance against Chase Beebe at DREAM 12.

Upcoming Fights:
#14 Jeff Curran vs. Sam Thao - Strikeforce, November 7th
Antonio Banuelos vs. Kenji Osawa - WEC 44, November 18th