2010
02.04
02.04
Often little is known about MMA organizations outside of the UFC. It is common for one to wonder what happened to the fighter they used to enjoy. Did they retire? Injury? Well, all too often they have just moved to another organization. There have been many organizations over the years that have cropped up, some to fail, but others to continue. These same organization often employ the former UFC fighters that you once enjoyed watching. Organizations like PRIDE, Strikeforce, and DREAM were handling names such as Rampage, Fedor, and Goodridge. Just like in other sports, MMA fighters are sold and bought, always chasing the better deal.
The following list serves as an attempt to look across the organizational spectrum and to establish a ranking of all top MMA fighters. Are there surprises on this list? Yes. It is a surprise to see Randy Couture ranked 23rd in the light heavyweight division. Are there other surprises? Is there anyone missing? You tell me!
As always, what say you?
~Pastor Bob
Follow Pastor Bob @pastorbobmma
MMA Rankings- Heavyweights:*
- Fedor
- Brock Lesnar UFC Champion
- Cain Velasquez (+200)
- Junior Dos Santos (+300)
tons of confidence now - Josh Barnett (+320)
- Frank Mir (+320) still way behind the top guys
- Big Nog (+340)
- Shane Carwin (+400)
- Alistair Overeem (+400) Strikeforce Champion
- Brett Rogers (+420)
- Aleks Emelianenko (+420)
- Gabriel Gonzaga (+420)
- Cheick Kongo (+420)
young guns are all moving past him - Fabricio Werdum (+420)
- Antonio Silvia (+420)
- Bobby Lashley (+420) lot a questions still, but hes a physical force.
- Pat Barry (+440)
- Andrei Arlovski (+440)
- Ben Rothwell (+480)
- Heath Herring (+600)
- Stefan Struve (+600) successfully handled an experienced striker
- Tim Sylvia (+620)
- Jake O’Brien (+700)
- Kimbo Slice (+700) Lots of holes, but he’s more fun than everyone else
MMA Rankings-Light Heavyweights:
- Lyoto Machida UFC Champion
- Quinton Jackson (+60)
- Rashad Evans (+80) gains strength showing effective wrestling
- Gegard Mousasi (+120) Dream MW GP Champion, Strikeforce LHW Champion
- Dan Henderson (+140)
- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (+160) impressive win over Cane
- Shogun Rua (+180)
- Thiago Silva (+200) frustrated by Rashad’s effective wrestling
- Jon Jones (+280)
- Forrest Griffin (+280) solid win over Tito
- Luiz Cane (+280) tough loss to Lil Nog, but don’t give up on him yet.
- Vitor Belfort (+280)
- Keith Jardine (+280)
- Rich Franklin (+280)
- Ricardo Arona (+280)
- Babalu Sobral (+320)
- Brandon Vera (+340)
- Brian Stann (+340)
- Steve Cantwell (+360)
- Krzysztof Soszynski (+400)
- Wanderlei Silva (+400)
- Sokoudjou (+420)
- Randy Couture (+460)
- Tito Ortiz (+460) very limited offense
MMA Rankings-Middleweights:
- Anderson Silva UFC Champion
- Dan Henderson (+40)
- Nate Marquardt (+100)
- Jake Shields (+120) Strikeforce Champion
- Jon Jones (+120) tough matchup for anyone
- Robbie Lawler (+140) great win over Manhoef, but still sits outside the top 5
- Hector Lombard (+240) Bellator Champion
- Melvin Manhoef (+240) stays put despite loss to Lawlor
- Jorge Santiago (+240)
- Ronaldo Souza (+240) he fits somewhere in here, tons of potential
- Demian Maia (+240)
- Alan Belcher (+240) lots of talent, inconsistent. needs to prove himself vs a top opponent
- Yoshihiro Akiyama (+240)
- Kazuo Misaki (+240)
- Tom Lawlor (+240) crisp standup to go with great takedown defense
- Matt Hamill (+240) Bones Jones destroyed him
- Michael Bisping (+240)
- Chael Sonnen (+240)
- Yushin Okami (+240)
- Benji Radach (+240)
- Aaron Simpson (+240)
- Mamed Khalidov (+240)
- Kendall Grove (+240) Ricky Story (+500always dangerous
- Jake Rosholt (+240) dominated Kendall, but still inexperienced
- Dan Miller (+240)
- Rousimar Palhares (+260) starting to see he’s very one dimensional
- Wilson Gouveia (+260) will mix it up, too many losses
- Johny Hendricks (+280) another solid win
- Muhammed Lawal (+290) talented… immature… beatable
- Nate Quarry (+290)
- Scott Smith (+290) what can you say? another last second KO.
- Denis Kang (+290)
- Ricardo Almeida (+290)
- Jorge Rivera (+300)
- Cung Le (+480)
MMA Rankings-Welterweights:
- Georges St. Pierre UFC Champion
- Josh Koscheck (+320) big win over a top fighter, Rumble.
- Jake Shields (+320)
- Jon Fitch (+320)
- Thiago Alves (+360)
- Anthony Johnson (+360) competed well against Koscheck
- Nick Diaz (+360) Stikeforce Champion possibly the only real threat to GSP?
- Dan Hardy (+400)
- John Hathaway (+400)
- Ricky Story (+440)
- Mike Pierce (+460) had Fitch in trouble late
- Matt Hughes (+500)
- Carlos Condit (+500)
- Matt Brown (+500)
- Ben Saunders (+500) impressive win over a quality striker, beat Davis at his own game
- Jake Ellenberger (+500) two solid performances in the UFC
- Mike Swick (+500)
- Paul Daley (+520) one dimensional?
- Lyman Good (+520) Bellator Champion
- Martin Kampmann (+540) gets hit too easily
- Marcus Davis (+540) badly beaten, may have missed his window
- Jay Hieron (+540)
- Marius Zaromskis (+540) Dream Champion
- Rory Markham (+540)
- Danillo Villefort (+560)
- Dustin Hazelett (+560) terrible against Daley
- Spencer Fisher (+560)
- James Wilks (+560)
- Matt Serra (+560)
- Chris Lytle (+580)
MMA Rankings-Lightweights:
- BJ Penn UFC Champion increases margin over the division
- Tyson Griffin (+200)
- Diego Sanchez (+320) no punishment for losing to bj
- Kenny Florian (+320) impressive win, still improving
- Joe Stevenson (+380)
- Gray Maynard (+400)
- Shinya Aoki (+400) Dream Champion
- Joachim Hansen (+400)
- Eddie Alvarez (+400) Bellator Champion
- Frankie Edgar (+420)
- Tatsuya Kawajiri (+440)
- Takanori Gomi (+440)
- Jim Miller (+440) needs to fight better competition
- Hayato “Mach” Sakurai (+440)
- Gesias Calvancante (+460)
- Sean Sherk (+480)
- Clay Guida (+500) lost to a superior fighter
- Gleison Tibau (+500)
- Sam Stout (+500) showed great combinations and a complete game vs Lauzon
- Ross Pearson (+500)
- Gilbert Melendez (+500) Strikeforce Champion great win over Thomson, but he gets beat by the UFC LWs
- Josh Thomson (+500) on even terms with Melendez
- George Sotiropoulos (+500) great submission game, still improving.
- Nate Diaz (+500)
- Ben Henderson (+500) WEC Champion
- Donald Cerrone (+500)
- Mark Bocek (+500) another solid victory, but he needs to a quality win
- Matt Wiman (+500) starting to see a complete fighter having success
- Jamie Varner (+500) hard to figure, talented when things are right
- Mizuto Hirota (+500) Sengoku Champion
- Vitor Ribeiro (+520)
- Anthony Njokuani (+520)
MMA Rankings- Featherweights:
- Jose Aldo WEC Champion
- Mike Brown (+120)
- Urijah Faber (+180)
- Dominick Cruz (+280)
- Joseph Benavidez (+320)
- Wagnney Fabianno (+380)
- Raphael Assuncao (+420)
- Antonio Carvalho (460)
- Darren Uyenoyama (+480)
- Hatsu Hioki (+480)
- Josh Grispi (+480)
- Masanori Kanehara (+500) Sengoku GP Winner
- Bibiano Fernandes +(500) Dream Champion
- Akitosha Tamura (+520)
- Joe Warren (+520)
- Joe Soto (+520) Bellator Champion
- Cub Swanson (+520)
- Hiroyuki Takaya (+520)
- Leonard Garcia (+520)
*Statistics taken from Zewkey.com
How are these ranking determined? I’m not too sure i can take them all that seriously when Jon Jones is ranked at MW and Rashad is ranked below Rampage even though Rampage has not thought in a loooong time and Rashad is the most recent champion behind Machida. Rashad also has a victory (one could even make the argument he is #1 contender after Shogun if Rampage isn’t back and a fight signed before May) over top 10 Thiago Silva.
Nice idea, but relatively flawed and universally useless unless fighters are all in one org.
This is just another style of ranking that means nothing because the UFC don’t sign matches in accordance to rankings in any regard and it is hard to rank anyone above anyone without taking into account mutual opponents and ultimately having people people dispell it as “MMAth”.
Ranking are a source for argument. The best top 3-5 is usually pretty clear with the majority being a toss up after that.
Best rankings i’ve seen. Some up-n-comers in there, not the same OLD retreads at the top of every division
yeah I’d have to agree and say that these rankings are a little odd. Seems a little too scattered. Can’t see why Hammill and Bones Jones are underneath MW and Benavidez isn’t even a FW right now. Not trying to rip on the article just pointing out a few things that I find mildly puzzling. I’d probably have Shogun ranked higher as well as Rashad Evans. imo Rampage has fallen from being considered a Top 5 LHW due to his less then stellar performance against Jardine and his lack of recent activity. Also I’d rank Mamed Khalidov a bit higher on the list as he just defeated Sengoku champ Jorge santiago in supremely impressive fashion in a non-title fight.
The top 10 or so in LW really throws me off as well. BJ is clearly number 1 but Shinya and Alvarez should most certainly be higher then Kenflo and I’d even argue that the top 5 of that list should be BJ, Shinya, Alvarez, Kenflo and Griffin just based on the list with Maynard bring up the rear.
I’m not sure if the list was taken directly from the site referenced at the bottom or if it’s just all you Bob but if it was from the site I’d love to see your own top 10-15 list for each weight class in March as I believe it would look much better then this.