YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Kevin Iole

    Rankings: Anderson Silva could become a unanimous No. 1 by routing Chael Sonnen in July

    UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has not lost a fight since he was disqualified against Yushin Okami on Jan. 20, 2006. Throwing that aside, he hasn't been beaten since he was caught by Ryo Chonan in a spectacular flying scissors heel hook Dec. 31, 2004.

    Silva is 14-0 in the UFC and is 10-0 in UFC title matches.

    Yet, because of the dominance of Jon Jones over the last 15 months, Silva is not a unanimous No. 1 in the Yahoo! Sports rankings. In the June balloting, Jones got the five first-place votes out of the 27 cast that did not go to Silva.

    Silva, though, has a chance to make it unanimous when he defends his belt against archrival Chael Sonnen on July 7 in the main event of UFC 148 at the MGM Grand Garden.

    If Silva routs Sonnen as he promised to do on a UFC conference call on June 25, it's almost certain he'd land most of those five stray No. 1 votes that aren't in his column.

    [Related: Anderson Silva tells of plans to break Chael Sonnen's face]

    Jones has beaten former champions Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans in title matches in the last 15 months, all in one-sided affairs.

    Silva needs a similarly dominant win over Sonnen to convince the five Jones voters to side with him.

    But should Sonnen either win, or perform as well as he did when he nearly beat Silva at UFC 117 in 2010, it will be hard for Silva to hold Jones off for the top spot.

    So, with that, let's take a look at how the voting for June turned out:

    Silva

    1. Anderson Silva
    Points: 265 (22 of 27 first-place votes)
    Affiliation: UFC (middleweight champion)
    Weight class: Middleweight
    Record: 29-4
    Last outing: TKO2 Yushin Okami, Aug. 27
    Previous ranking: 1
    Up next: Title defense vs. Chael Sonnen at UFC 148, July 7

    Jones

    2. Jon Jones
    Points: 248 (5 of 27 first-place votes)
    Affiliation: UFC (light heavyweight champion)
    Weight class: Light heavyweight
    Record: 16-1
    Last outing: W5 Rashad Evans, April 21
    Previous ranking: 2
    Up next: Title defense vs. No. 9 Dan Henderson at UFC 151, Sept. 1

    Aldo

    3. Jose Aldo
    Points: 211
    Affiliation: UFC (featherweight champion)
    Weight class: Featherweight
    Record: 21-1
    Last outing: TKO1 Chad Mendes, Jan. 14
    Previous ranking: 3
    Up next: Title defense vs. Erik Koch, date TBA

    Cruz

    4. Dominick Cruz
    Points: 172
    Affiliation: UFC (bantamweight champion)
    Weight class: Bantamweight
    Record: 18-1
    Last outing: W5 Demetrious Johnson, Oct. 1
    Previous ranking: 4
    Up next: Out injured, return uncertain

    dos Santos

    5. Junior dos Santos
    Points:154
    Affiliation: UFC (heavyweight champion)
    Weight class: Heavyweight
    Record: 15-1
    Last outing: TKO2 Frank Mir
    Previous ranking: 5
    Up next: Title defense vs. Cain Velasquez, date TBA

    Henderson

    6. Benson Henderson
    Points: 131
    Affiliation: UFC (lightweight champion)
    Weight class: lightweight
    Record: 15-2
    Last outing: W5 Frankie Edgar, Feb. 25
    Previous ranking: 6
    Up next: Title defense vs. No. 7 Frankie Edgar at UFC 150, Aug. 11

    Edgar

    7. Frankie Edgar
    Points:71
    Affiliation: UFC
    Weight class: Lightweight
    Record: 14-2-1
    Last outing: L5 Benson Henderson, Feb. 25
    Previous ranking: 8
    Up next: Rematch vs. champion No. 6 Benson Henderson at UFC 150, Aug. 11

    Melendez

    8. Gilbert Melendez
    Points: 69
    Affiliation: Strikeforce (lightweight champion)
    Weight class: Lightweight
    Record: 21-2
    Last outing: W5 Jorge Masvidal, Dec. 17
    Previous ranking: 9
    Up next: Nothing scheduled

    Henderson

    9. Dan Henderson
    Points: 54
    Affiliation: UFC
    Weight class: Light heavyweight
    Record: 29-8
    Last outing: W5 Mauricio Rua, Nov. 19
    Previous ranking: 8
    Up next: Title challenge vs. champion No. 2 Jon Jones at UFC 151, Sept. 1

    Condit

    10. Carlos Condit
    Points: 45
    Affiliation: UFC (interim welterweight champion)
    Weight class: Welterweight
    Record: 28-5
    Last outing: W5 Nick Diaz, Feb. 4
    Previous ranking: 10
    Up next: Nothing scheduled

    Others receiving votes: Joseph Benavidez, 26; Rashad Evans, 11; Cain Velasquez, 11; Gray Maynard, 6; Eddie Alvarez, 3; Chael Sonnen, 3; Daniel Cormier, 1.

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

    Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
    Adrian Wojnarowski: Pistons deal Ben Gordon, protected pick to Bobcats for Corey Maggette
    Les Carpenter: Elvis Akpla's incredible grab at Montana State helped catch Eagles' eye
    Dan Wetzel: BCS has a stake driven through its heart, but bowls and big bucks still reign

    Loading...

    Kevin Iole

    • Like
    • Follow
    Author

    Award-winning veteran sportswriter Kevin Iole is the national boxing and mixed martial arts reporter for Yahoo! Sports. Kevin previously covered boxing for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and other publications, writing on some of the biggest names and bouts in the sport.