By James Brydon

SPORTSNET.CA

The biggest fight this weekend was obviously the title bout between Patrick Cote and Anderson Silva. Unfortunately, we didn't learn as much as we could have as Cote, who was holding his own against the champion, went down with an old knee injury.

The other fight involved Thales Leites, who made quick work of Drew McFedries. But McFedries can't be considered a top contender anymore.

There are still a bunch of middleweight contenders in the UFC, not to mention some top guys in Pride, Affliction and the now defunct EliteXC, which makes this ranking a little tricky.

But here we go, Sportsnet.ca's first middleweight ranking snapshot.

Top 10 Middleweights

1. Anderson Silva

2. Paulo Filho

3. Gegard Mousasi

4. Patrick Cote

5. Thales Leites

6. Nate Marquardt

7. Yushin Okami

8. Robbie Lawler

9. Yoshihiro Akiyama

10. Michael Bisping

Who's left out?

Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson's moves to light-heavyweight made it easier to compile the top 10, because it would be hard not to include them otherwise. Remember, this is a snapshot, so it breaks down how the division looks at the moment. If either decides to fight at 185 again, they'll make it back onto this list. And after they fight each other in January, one or both could make it onto the 205 list.

Another two I really wanted on the list but didn't have room for were Matt Lindland and Frank Trigg. I justify this by the fact that neither has been in a truly big fight since early 2007 (Lindland lost to Fedor Emelianenko, Trigg lost to Lawler).

What about Bisping?

Since moving into the middleweight division, he has looked really impressive in three fights. Those wins haven't been against the best competition, so I wouldn't put him higher than 10th. But it's also worth noting he has never been finished in a fight and his only "blemishes" are a couple of split decisions (won he probably should have lost to Matt Hamill and one he could have easily won against Rashad Evans). A lot of people don't like him, but I wonder if it is more to do with him outside the cage. To me, he's a top 10 middleweight.

Is Cote too high?

I have felt for a while that Cote has been underrated, and right now is the second best in the UFC's 170-pound division (he was fighting for the title after all). I truly believed he was going to put on a strong performance against the best in the world in Silva, and his freak injury notwithstanding, he didn't disappoint. I hope he gets another shot but it likely won't be a while as he looks to be out 6-8 months. Which he means he probably won't last in that spot for very long.

Other UFC 90 results affecting rankings…

Welterweights: Thiago Alves cemented his position near the top of the 170-pound rankings with his win over Josh Koscheck but didn't do enough to overtake Jon Fitch. And Koscheck, coming in on short notice, didn't lose enough to fall from seventh spot.

Heavyweights: Fabrico Werdum took a tough hit from newcomer Junior Dos Santos, but I don't necessarily like dropping a guy for one unfortunate shot (he was throwing a punch of his own and leaning forward when he was hit with the uppercut that downed him). If it happens a second time -- like in Chuck Liddell's case -- that's a different story.

Lightweights: You'll have to wait one week for that...