ESPN.com
Monday, Feb. 6
For as banged up and out of service as some of the UFC's elite are to start 2012, the promotion still nearly ended up with three savory grudge matches. Rashad Evans has finally navigated his way through a couple of tripwire fights to a 205-pound title shot against the author of foul moods, Jon Jones. The one-time Jackson's teammates have long had a score to settle that has gone through every phase of human drama over the last year -- bitterness, envy, betrayal, resentment, swagger jacking, all of it. Come April in Atlanta, two of the game's best pound-for-pound fighters will have a go at it.
Meanwhile, Chael Sonnen capitalized on a narrow split decision victory over Michael Bisping to get his long-awaited rematch with MMA's best, Anderson Silva. That middleweight title fight is tentatively slated to take place this June in Brazil, in what could become the biggest MMA event in history. That set the table for UFC 143, where many were hoping Nick Diaz would follow suit and punch his ticket to a fight with Georges St. Pierre.
However, Carlos Condit prevented that particular grudge match from coming to pass by decisioning Diaz in a strategically disciplined bout. That means current welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre won't get his wish of facing Diaz right away, and will instead prepare for Condit. It also means that Diaz falls from this week's Power Rankings.
See how they were ranked here.| Pound-for-pound Power Rankings | |||||
| RANK | FIGHTER | TRENDING | COMMENT | ||
| 1 |  Anderson Silva  Middleweight 31-4-0 | -- Last Rank: 1 | Well, it's his cross to bear, but looks like Silva will have to revisit the Chael Sonnen saga this summer. The good news is that the fight will happen in front of 100,000 of his countrymen, which is about as good as it gets. | ||
| 2 |  Georges St. Pierre  Welterweight 22-2-0 | -- Last Rank: 2 | Must have been torture watching Nick Diaz fight from an idle front row seat, but that's what knee injuries do to a man. Eh, whether it's Diaz or Condit, we're still talking GSP, whose game plan is always better than the other guy's. | ||
| 3 |  Jon Jones  Light Heavyweight 15-1-0 | -- Last Rank: 3 | After going 4-0 in 2011 against the 205-pound division's best, the champ asked for a few months off. Then he decided that was silly, and asked to get right back in there. Why? Because nobody has won back-to-back FOTY awards. (At least not yet). | ||
| 4 |  Jose Aldo Featherweight 21-1-0 | -- Last Rank: 4 | That was impressive stuff against Mendes, and right now there's no disputing he's the king of the feathers. But he might want to avoid jumping into the crowd after his victories going forward. Reed Harris hates security detail. | ||
| 5 |  Frankie Edgar Lightweight 14-1-1 | -- Last Rank: 5 | So, he has the quicks, can outwrestle, outstrike and outlast just about anybody. He has some power, as he showed Maynard in the 11th round of their series. And he has a chin. If that's anything beatable, Ben Henderson intends to find out. | ||
| 6 |  Dominick Cruz Bantamweight 19-1-0 | -- Last Rank: 6 | Cruz moves in fast forward, and as such is nigh impossible to hit. The one guy who knows how to hit him is Urijah Faber, and that's who he gets again. But first, six weeks of coaching opposite each other on TUF. What sadistic fun! | ||
| 7 |  Gilbert Melendez Lightweight 20-2-0 | -- Last Rank: 7 | Melendez has literally wiped out all viable contenders in Strikeforce, but that's where he'll stay. As such, it's not so much "who's there to challenge him?" as "who are they bringing over to challenge him?" As usual, nobody knows. | ||
| 8 |  Dan Henderson Middleweight 29-8-0 | -- Last Rank: 8 | Henderson is fine fighting legends like Fedor Emelianenko and Mauricio Rua, but what he wants is Jon Jones and/or Anderson Silva. Both have waiting lists. At 41-years old, it'll be hard to wait it out, but it looks like that's the plan. | ||
| 8 |  Junior dos Santos Heavyweight 14-1-0 | 2 Last Rank: 10 | From all reports, Junior is healthy and ready to go whenever the UFC needs him for his title defense against Alistair Overeem. And that's a fun thing to type -- Junior dos Santos will be fighting Alistair Overeem. Say it with us. | ||
| 10 |  Rashad Evans Light Heavyweight 17-1-1 | 1 Last Rank: 11 | Much of the talk heading into his bout with Phil Davis was who was the better wrestler. Guess what? Evans was. But that was only half of it. He made Davis look spinach green, and there's only one man left in his way now. You Know Who. | ||
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