Honorable Mention

Kelvin Gastelum

Kelvin Gastelum is a Mexican American fighter in the UFC middleweight division, who deserves an honorable mention. 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 fight of the year 2019.

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Top 10 Middleweights

10. Darren Till

Organization: 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 Derek Brunson via submission, and there is no official announcement about his next fight as of yet. 

9. Sean Strickland

Organization: UFC

At number 9, we have Sean Strickland. The American MMA fighter has a record of 24 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 5 fight winning streak. He defeated Uriah Hall in his last fight, and a couple more good wins over ranked fighters could get him in title contention. 

However, there isn’t any announcement about his next fight yet.

8. Jack Hermansson

Organization: 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 6 losses. 

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

In his most recent fight, he defeated talented up and coming fighter Edmen Shahbazyan via Unanimous decision. There is no announcement about his next fight yet.

7. Paulo Costa

Organization: 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 challenged Adesanya for the middleweight title back in september of 2020 however he lost the TKO. In his most recent fight, which was last weekend, Costa lost to Marvin Vettori, and a competitive fight that went the distance. 

This fight did come with some drama. Paulo Costa came in overweight. The first agreement was to make the fight at 195lbs due to Costa missing weight. Later in the week it was changed to a 205lbs match up. 

As of now, there is no official announcement about his next fight but Dana White did say his next fight will be in the Light Heavyweight division.

6. Jared Cannonier

Organization: UFC

Jared Cannonier is a professional MMA fighter from Nigeria, and he competes in the Middleweight division of the UFC. 

He has a professional MMA record of 14 wins and 5 losses, and he has some impressive wins in the UFC over talented fighters like Jack Hermansson, and in his most recent fight, Kelvin Gastelum. 

For his next fight, he will fight Derek Brunson on 22nd january 2022.

5. Marvin Vettori

Organization: UFC

Marvin Vettori is easily the biggest MMA fighter to come out of Italy. 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, which happened last weekend, he defeated former title challenger Paulo Costa via Unanimous decision. 

When he fought Costa, he fought him overweight, taking him on at 205lbs limit. Vettori overcame the drama that took place this past weekend and the unfair size advantage that Costa brought to the cage. 

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

4. Derek Brunson

Organization: UFC

At number 4, we have to include Derek Brunson. The American fighter has a professional record of  23 wins and 7 losses. 

He is currently on a five fight win streak, and has defeated some of the top ranked fighters in the division, including his most recent win against Darren Till. Brunson is set to fight Jarred Cannonier in January of next year.

If he wins his next fight, he could easily be next in line for the title shot against the winner of Adesanya vs Whitiker

3. Gegard Mousasi

Organization: Bellator

Title: Bellator 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. 

2. Robert Whitaker

Organization: UFC

Robert “The Reaper” Whitaker is one of the biggest MMA stars to come out of Australia, and he has a professional record of 23-5. 

Whitaker is the former UFC middleweight champion, he lost the title to Israel Adesanya in 2019. Since then, he has gone on a three-fight win streak, beating the who’s who of the middleweight division. He is the number 1 contender at middleweight, and will possibly fight Adesanya for the world title that could be taking place early next year.

His most recent fight was against Kelvin Gastelum, which he won via UD, and got a fight of the night bonus. 

1. Israel Adesanya

Organization: UFC

Title: UFC Champion

Adesanya is a Nigerian-born professional mixed martial artist, a former kickboxer, and boxer fighting out of New Zealand. He has a professional MMA record of 21 wins and 1 loss, and is the reigning UFC Middleweight champion.

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

He defeated Marvin Vettori in his last fight, and his next fight is probably going to be a rematch against the number one contender, Robert Whitaker. However, there haven’t been any official announcements as of yet but rumor is it will probably take place early next year.

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