Text Box: WORLD POUND-FOR-POUND RANKINGS By Mark Ona Lightweight Frankie Edgar BJ Penn Kenny Florian Gilbert Melendez Shinya Aoki The lightweight division won’t see much change until UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn 2 hits pay-per-view. Edgar, who won a controversial unanimous decision victory over Penn, will be making his first title defense against the “Prodigy” in Boston, Massachusetts for the city’s first ever UFC event. Also on the card, is #3 lightweight fighter Kenny “KenFlo” Florian vs. #6 lightweight fighter Gray “The Bully” Maynard. The winner between these two fighters will become the next recipient for the lightweight crown. Welterweight Georges St. Pierre Jon Fitch Nick Diaz Thiago Alves Josh Koscheck Do not be surprised to see Georges St. Pierre at the top of this list for quite some time. He, along with Anderson Silva of the middleweight division have been two of the most dominant fighters in MMA history. St. Pierre will be making his fifth title defense against the well-deserved #5 welterweight fighter Josh Koscheck. Koscheck, who recently beat #6 welterweight Paul Daley, already holds a unanimous decision loss to St. Pierre back in 2007. Expect a very strategic and chess-like battle between these two, as both fighters already have experience with one another in the octagon. Middleweight Anderson Silva Vitor Belfort Chael Sonnen Jake Shields Demian Maia Although Anderson Silva may have given an embarrassing performance at UFC 112, he continues to be the #1 fighter in the middleweight division as he made history in Abu Dhabi by being the only fighter in the UFC to defend a championship title six times and hold a win streak record of 11 wins. Light Heavyweight Mauricio Shogun Rua Rashad Evans Lyoto Machida Quinton Jackson Anderson Silva Mauricio Shogun Rua is the new Light Heavyweight Champion of the world and all he had to do was beat the previously unbeaten Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida. As you might imagine, not only did Shogun beat Machida, he beat Machida convincingly, knocking him out with 1:25 left in the first round. Also, Rashad Evans earned the chance to face Rua for Rua’s first title defense. Unfortunately, it might not be for quite some time as Rua will be expected to be absent from the octagon until March of 2011 due to knee surgery. Heavyweight Brock Lesnar Shane Carwin Fabricio Werdum Fedor Emelianenko Alistair Overeem One of the biggest upsets – if not, the biggest – in MMA history happened two weeks ago in San Jose, California. The reigning heavyweight king of MMA was dethroned as he gave a submission victory to Fabricio Werdum via triangle choke. This victory sets up a match against current Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, who recently knocked-out top contender Brett Rogers. Now with Brock Lesnar taking down Shane Carwin, we have a new heavyweight on top of the P4P. Mark Ona can be reached mark@cageandringfan.com for questions and comments.