Honorable Mention

Paulo Costa

Promotion: UFC

Fighting out of Brazil, Paulo Costa is one of the more popular fighters at middleweight. Costa has a record of 13 wins and 2 losses. He was in the rankings, however, after he missed weight drastically in his last fight, he will probably have to move up a division. Still, he deserves an honorable mention. 

Top 10 Middleweights

10. Kelvin Gastelum

Promotion: UFC

Kelvin Gastelum is a Mexican American fighter in the UFC middleweight division, who has a professional record of 16 wins 8 losses, and 1 no contest.

 He fought the current champion Adesanya for an interim title back in April of 2019 but lost. However, the fight was incredible and was named as the fight of the year 2019. He has some good wins in the division, however, he has been going through a rough patch recently. 

9. Darren Till

Promotion: UFC

Darren “The Gorilla” Till is one of the biggest MMA stars to come out of England. He has a professional record of 18 wins and 4 losses. 

Till had an excellent start to his career, however, he has recently been going through a rough patch, losing 4 of his last 5 fights. In his most recent fight, he lost to Darek Brunson via submission, and there is no official announcement about his next fight as of yet.

8. Jack Hermansson

Promotion: UFC

Jack Hermansson is a Swedish-born Norwegian professional mixed martial artist. He competes in the UFC and has a professional MMA record of 22 wins and 7 losses. 

Jack Hermansson has won over some big names in the middleweight division including Gerald Meerschaert, David Branch, Ronaldo Souza, Edmen Shahbazyan, and Kelvin Gastelum. 

In his most recent fight, he lost to Sean Strickland, and there is no announcement about his next fight yet.

7. Derek Brunson

Promotion: UFC

At number 7, we have to include Derek Brunson. The American fighter has a professional record of  23 wins and 8 losses. 

He has defeated some of the top-ranked fighters in the division, including Uriah Hall, Kevin Holland, Edmen Shahbazyan, and Darren Till. he was on a 5 fight win streak before he lost to Jared Cannonier in his most recent fight. 

His next fight has not been announced yet.

6. Marvin Vettori

Promotion: UFC

The Italian fighter has a professional MMA record of 18 wins, 5 losses, and 1 draw. 

Vettori has defeated some big names in the division, and also challenged Adesanya for the title, however, he could not win. In his most recent fight, he defeated former title challenger Paulo Costa via a Unanimous decision. 

As of now, there is no official announcement about his next fight.

5. Sean Strickland

Promotion: UFC

At number 5, we have Sean Strickland. The American MMA fighter has a record of 25 and 3 and currently competes in the middleweight division of the UFC. 

Stickland is one of the fresh faces in the UFC middleweight division and is currently on a 6 fight winning streak. He defeated JackHermansson in his most recent fight, and a couple more good wins over ranked fighters could get him in title contention. 

As of now, there isn’t any announcement about his next fight yet.

A little bit of talking the last few ?

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— JmagStats (@jmagstats) February 10, 2022

4. Gegard Mousasi

Promotion: Bellator

Title: Bellator Middleweight World Champion

Gegard Mousasi is a Dutch MMA fighter and former kickboxer, currently competing in the middleweight division of Bellator.

He is one of the best and most decorated middleweights in the world. He is a two-time Bellator middleweight world champion, and also currently holds the title. He is also the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion. 

He has defeated some big names and had a successful run in the UFC as well. He won his last fight against John Salter, and as of now, there is no official announcement about his next fight.

3. Jared Cannonier

Promotion: UFC

Jared Cannonier is a professional MMA fighter from Nigeria, and he competes in the Middleweight division of the UFC. he is also ranked #3 in the UFC middleweight rankings.

He has a professional MMA record of 15 wins and 5 losses, and he has some impressive wins in the UFC over talented fighters like Jack Hermansson, Kelvin Gastelum, and most recently Derek Brunson as well where he overcame being rocked. Cannonier later returned the favor with a heavy elbow in the second round and finished Brunson on the ground.

His next fight has not been announced yet but is campaigning to be next for Israel Adesanya’s championship title.

2. Robert Whitaker

Promotion: UFC

Robert “The Reaper” Whitaker is one of the biggest MMA stars to come out of Australia, and he has a professional record of 23-6. 

Whitaker is the former UFC middleweight champion, he lost the title to Israel Adesanya in 2019. However, he went on a three-fight win streak, beating the who’s who of the middleweight division. Finally getting a rematch against Adesanya. 

However, he lost last night against Adesanya via unanimous decision in a very technical fight.

1. Israel Adesanya

Promotion: UFC

Title: UFC Middleweight World Champion

Adesanya is a Nigerian-born professional mixed martial artist, a former kickboxer, and a boxer fighting out of New Zealand. He has a professional MMA record of 22 wins and 1 loss and is the reigning UFC Middleweight champion. He is also the #3 pound for pound fighter in the UFC

He won the title after defeating former champion Robert Whitiker and has defended it four times since. Adesanya has defeated some of the biggest names in the division and has essentially cleaned out the division of challengers. 

Last night, at UFC 271 Adesanya fought against Robert Whittaker to defend his title. The fight was very slow-paced, and Adesanya kept a consistent offense from the outside. He also got a knockdown in the first round, and eventually won the fight via Unanimous Decision.

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