He then spent years at light heavyweight before eventually moving back to middleweight in the UFC. Mousasi was a force in Japan's DREAM, winning the 2008 middleweight grand prix. He never captured UFC gold at middleweight, costing him some points in the legacy department, but Belfort was a monster among the 185-pound ranks. That said, Belfort was a wrecking ball at middleweight and picked up wins over Rockhold and Bisping as well as multiple wins over Dan Henderson - though one was at light heavyweight. He also didn't simply win, he was a finisher, stopping some of the toughest in the game before a late-career shift back to light heavyweight.īelfort's legacy is complicated by testosterone replacement therapy and allegations that go beyond the controversial practice. The names during Franklin's run at middleweight aren't as impressive as some of the others, but in the mid-2000s, Franklin proved himself ahead of the rest of the pack in the pre-Silva UFC. He was the face of the UFC middleweight division before Silva came in to blow the division away. Rich Franklinīefore there was Anderson Silva, there was Rich Franklin.

There's still plenty of time for Whittaker to further build his legacy and finish his career even higher on the all-time rankings. Then, Whittaker was taken out by Israel Adesanya with a second-round knockout, ending an odd run as middleweight champion. Though, the rematch is further complicated by Romero missing weight for the fight. Whittaker beat Romero at UFC 213 to become interim champion and then won a split decision in the rematch - a decision many felt was awarded to the wrong man. That is, in large part, due to his run of title fights. With an 8-1 career record as a middleweight and a run as champion, Whittaker still ended up at No. Whittaker may be the ultimate example of how tight middleweight really is. Knockout wins over Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman don't hurt Romero's standing in the division. Each of those fights had a contingent of fans who believe Romero should have been awarded the victory. He has not clearly lost a fight at 185 pounds in his career, dropping two fights to Robert Whittaker and fights to Paulo Costa and Israel Adesanya. You can make a legitimate case that Romero should be undefeated at middleweight and should be the current UFC champ.

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