WKR's January Rankings

Here at Watch Kalib Run we thought it would be a great idea to expand our MMA coverage by offering monthly rankings. Don't confuse these with USA Today/SB Nation's Consensus Rankings, which reflect the views from the entire MMA community. Plus those are attached to USA Today and newspapers don't like us.

These rankings are an attempt to inform our readers what the WKR writers are thinking when it comes to each division so when we make outrageous claims you will now know what we are "thinking".

All of WKR writers submitted their top-ten list as well as potential "Breakout Fighters" who could be breaking in to the top-ten in the next year.

Note: Each fighter's ranking from last month can be seen in parentheses.

Heavyweights

1. Fedor Emilianenko (1)
   
2. Brock Lesnar (2)
   
3. Frank Mir (4)
4. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (3)
5. Shane Carwin (5)
   
6. Junior dos Santos (8)
7. Cain Velasquez (6)
   
8. Brett Rogers (7)
   
9. Josh Barnett (9)
   
10. Fabricio Werdum (10)
    

Receiving Votes - Alistair Overeem and Andrei Arlovski

Breakout Fighter: Todd Duffee, Stefan Struve

WKR Analysis: The only top-ten heavyweight to fight in January was Junior dos Santos. His first round knockout victory over Gilbert Yvel moved him up but he couldn't jump Carwin who is fighting for the interim title in March.

Light Heavyweight

1. Lyoto Machida (1)
2. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (2)
3. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (6)
4. Rashad Evans (3)
5. Anderson Silva (4)
6. Gegard Mousasi (5)
7. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (7)
8. Forrest Griffin (8)
   
9. Dan Henderson (10)
10. Thiago Silva (9)
    

Receiving Votes: Keith Jardine, Randy Couture, Rich Franklin and Luiz Cane

Breakthrough Fighter - Jon Jones, King Mo,

WKR Analysis: Rampage punishment for his pseudo-retirement is now over and based upon Evan's third round woes against Thiago Silva Jackson was able to jump back to where he belonged. Luckily these two will fight at UFC 114 in May. Thiago Silva wasn't punished to much for his loss to Evans but was dropped a single spot.

Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva (1)
   
2. Nate Marquardt (2)
   
3. Dan Henderson (3)
   
4. Vitor Belfot (4)
5. Demian Maia (5)
   
6. Jake Sheilds (6)
   
7. Chael Sonnen (7)
   
8. Yoshihiro Akiyama (8)
9. Robbie Lawler (9)
10. Jorge Santiago (10)

Receiving Votes: Paulo Fliho, Michael Bisping and Yushin Okami.

Breakout Fighter - Wanderlei Silva, Mamed Khalidov

WKR Analysis: Nothing meaningful happened in the middleweight division in January though look forward to Dan Henderson fighting Jake Shields in April. As well as a fight between Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen at UFC 109 in early February.

Welterweight

1. Georges St. Pierre (1)
   
2. Jon Fitch (2)
   
3. Thiago Alves (3)
   
4. Josh Koscheck (4)
   
5. Dan Hardy (5) 
6. Paul Daley (6)
7. Jake Shields (7)
8. Mike Swick (8)
9. Paulo Thiago  (9)
10. Marius Zaromskis (10)
    

Receiving Votes: Carlos Condit, Martin Kampmann,  Anthony Johnson and Jay Hieron

Breakout Fighter - Tyrone Woodley, Rory MacDonald, Jay Hieron and Anthony Johnson

WKR Analysis: Paul Daley's victory over Dustin Hazelett was impressive but not enough to move him past Hardy though WKR has doubts about both of these two fighters. There are still serious question marks regarding Daley's ground game and his upcoming fight against Josh Koscheck will tell us how much "Semtex" has really improved. Shields' middleweight ranking hurt his welterweight stock though he is still a top-ten welterweight.

Lightweight

1. B.J. Penn (1)
   
2. Shinya Aoki (2)
   
3. Eddie Alvarez (3)
   
4. Kenny Florian (4)
   
5. Gray Maynard (5)
6. Frankie Edgar (6)
7. Diego Sanchez (7)
   
8. Tatsuya Kawajiri (8) 
9. Gilbert Melendez (N/A)
10. Joachim Hansen (9)

Receiving Votes: Ben Henderson, Josh Thomson and Joe Stevenson.

Breakout Fighter - Donald Cerrone, Ben Henderson

WKR Analysis: Gray Maynard may not have looked his best against Nate Diaz but his decision victory over Frankie Edgar keeps the TUF 5 alum ranked above Edgar. Gilbert Melendez's victory over Josh Thomson gets him in the top-ten. The news that Joachim Hansen will drop to featherweight knocks him down a peg though we will have to wait and see if such a move in permanent.