Rankings: Benson Henderson's convincing win over Nate Diaz has little impact on standing

There are so many legitimate contenders for the Yahoo! Sports MMA Top 10 poll that some of the world's best fighters are getting little attention from the pollsters.

Benson Henderson is Exhibit A in this month's story of how closely matched the world's best fighters are now. Henderson, the UFC's classy lightweight champion, put on arguably the performance of his lifetime on Dec. 8 when he throttled Nate Diaz.

There were some who believed that Henderson might defeat Diaz, but few thought he would hand Diaz such a devastating and decisive beating. Despite that, all Henderson managed to do was to retain his spot in the rankings. He narrowed the gap a bit on fifth-place Junior dos Santos, but he remained in sixth.

Two fighters who are ineligible at this point, light heavyweight Dan Henderson and welterweight Nick Diaz, will return in the early part of 2013, making it even tighter. Henderson is ineligible because he's been inactive more than 12 months. Nick Diaz is inactive because he's been suspended in Nevada for failing a drug test.

With that, here are the results of the December Yahoo! Sports MMA poll:

1. Anderson Silva   Points: 218 (20 of 22 first-place votes)   Affiliation: UFC (middleweight champion)   Weight class: Middleweight   Record: 31-4   Last outing: TKO1 Stephan Bonnar, Oct. 13   Previous ranking: 1   Up next: Nothing scheduled

2. Jon Jones   Points: 195 (2 of 22 first-place votes)   Affiliation: UFC (light heavyweight champion)   Weight class: Light heavyweight   Record: 17-1   Last outing: SUB4 Vitor Belfort, Sept. 22   Previous ranking: 2   Next: Title fight vs. Chael Sonnen, April 27

3. Georges St-Pierre   Points: 178   Affiliation: UFC (welterweight champion)   Weight class: Welterweight   Record: 23-2   Last outing: W5 Carlos Condit on Nov. 17   Previous ranking: 3   Next:Title fight vs. Nick Diaz, March 16

4. Jose Aldo   Points: 152   Affiliation: UFC (featherweight champion)   Weight class: Featherweight   Record: 21-1   Last outing: TKO1 Chad Mendes, Jan. 14   Previous ranking: 4   Next: Title fight vs. Frankie Edgar, Feb. 2

5. Junior dos Santos   Points: 119   Affiliation: UFC (heavyweight champion)   Weight class: Heavyweight   Record: 15-1   Last outing: TKO2 Frank Mir, May 26   Previous ranking: 5   Next: Title fight vs. Cain Velasquez, Dec. 29

6. Benson Henderson   Points: 118   Affiliation: UFC (lightweight champion)   Weight class: Lightweight   Record: 17-2   Last outing: W5 Nate Diaz, Dec. 8   Previous ranking: 6   Next: Nothing scheduled

7. Frankie Edgar   Points: 60   Affiliation: UFC   Weight class: Featherweight   Record: 14-4-1   Last outing: L5 Benson Henderson, Aug. 11   Previous ranking: 7   Next: Title fight vs. Jose Aldo, Feb. 2

8. Gilbert Melendez   Points: 56   Affiliation: Strikeforce (lightweight champion)   Weight class: Lightweight   Record: 21-2   Last outing: W5 Josh Thomson, May 19   Previous ranking: 8   Next:Nothing scheduled

9. Demetrious Johnson   Points: 42   Affiliation: UFC (flyweight champion)   Weight class: Flyweight   Record: 16-2-1   Last outing: W5 Joseph Benavidez, Sept. 22   Previous ranking: 9   Next: Title fight vs. John Dodson, Jan. 26

10. Renan Barao   Points: 18   Affiliation: UFC (interim bantamweight champion)   Weight class: Bantamweight   Record: 29-1   Last outing: W5 Urijah Faber, July 21   Previous ranking: 10   Up next: Nothing scheduled

Others receiving votes: Cain Velasquez, 15; Carlos Condit, 13; Ronda Rousey, 9; Johny Hendricks, 6; Rashad Evans, 5; Gray Maynard, 4; Daniel Cormier, 2.

Ineligible: Nick Diaz (serving marijuana suspension); Alistair Overeem (serving PED suspension); Dominick Cruz (inactive more than 12 months) Dan Henderson (inactive more than 12 months).

Voting panel:Denny Burkholder, CBSSports.com; Mike Chiappetta, MMA Fighting and Fight! Magazine; Steve Cofield, ESPN Radio 1100, Las Vegas; Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press; Dave Deibert, Post Media; Dave Doyle, MMA Fighting/SI.com; Matt Erickson, MMA Junkie/USA Today; Ariel Helwani, MMA Fighting; Rafael Hernandez Brito, Univision; Adam Hill, Las Vegas Review-Journal; Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports; Case Keefer, Las Vegas Sun; Damon Martin, MMA Weekly; Todd Martin, freelance; Dave Meltzer, The Wrestling Observer/MMA Fighting; John Morgan, MMA Junkie/USA Today; Brett Okamoto, ESPN.com; Ken Pishna, MMA Weekly; Greg Savage, Sherdog; Mike Straka, Spike TV and Sirius/XM; Dann Stupp, MMA Junkie/USA Today; Jeff Wagenheim, SI.com.

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