Pound for Pound Rankings: March 2011

UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva

Fitch drops a spot after lackluster UFC 127 performance

1. Anderson Silva

Silva’s playing the waiting game at the moment and won’t have any idea what his future holds until after UFC 129 at the end of April. It might be a few months after that before Silva’s next opponent is even decided, because Georges St. Pierre certainly doesn’t sound too sure about moving up to middleweight any more. Either way, a win by St. Pierre will determine what is next for the reigning middleweight champion.

2. Georges St. Pierre

The Canadian is in the midst of his training camp for UFC 129, putting all of his focus on training for his title defense against Jake Shields. He’ll walk into the cage on that night as a national hero in front of the biggest live crowd in North American mixed martial arts history, but there’s a good chance he loses that fight. Shields is no joke.

3. Jose Aldo

Aldo finally makes the first defense of his UFC featherweight title at UFC 129 against Mark Hominick. Few give Hominick a chance – and for good reason – but the Canadian can probably match Aldo in the striking department. Everything else will probably give him some trouble.

4. Jake Shields

Shields has a chance to shock the world (and an entire country) by defeating GSP in April. He’s on point when it comes to his weight this time – he told HeavyMMA.com last month that he was already at 181 pounds, which is roughly 14 pounds lighter than he was when he started his cut two days prior to his UFC debut last fall. Shields will be ready.

5. Frankie Edgar

The UFC lightweight champ returns in May for a trilogy bout with Gray Maynard. He’ll start his training camp next month, but for now Edgar will help the UFC welcome fans to Newark for UFC 128 next week.

6. Jon Fitch

Fitch drops a spot this month based on his lackluster non-win against B.J. Penn at UFC 127 earlier this month. We have no idea what’s next for Fitch; will he rematch Penn? One thing for certain is that he won’t be getting a title shot any time soon.

7. Shogun Rua

Shogun is going into his title defense against Jon Jones at UFC 128 as a heavy underdog. That’s a crazy thought, isn’t it? The reigning light heavyweight champion and legend of the sport is a significant underdog to a young kid with a mere few years of experience.

8. Dominick Cruz

Cruz should know his next opponent after UFC 128. If Urijah Faber beats Eddie Wineland, he’ll move on and coach season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter against Cruz, followed by a fight later in the fall. It’s the best-selling fight the bantamweight division has at the moment.

9. Jon Jones

Jones gets the opportunity of a lifetime next weekend against Shogun Rua in Newark. As we mentioned above, he’s the heavy favorite, and he’ll stand a pretty good chance of taking the title back to Team Jackson. After that, a potential bout with teammate Rashad Evans seems to be in the offing. We’d like to see that, even if Jones and Evans don’t.

10. Nick Diaz

Diaz faces violent striker Paul Daley on April 9th, but we can’t really think of too many welterweight challenges available for him after that.