I went to HDnet’s fighter rankings and based this on which UFC weight divisons had the most top 20 fighters. I know there are other ways to judge the best, but this is interesting…
1. Light Heavyweights – They are stacked in the UFC. This is where the light heavyweight competition lies. They have the top 11 (Jackson, Henderson, Griffin, Liddell, Jardine, Machida, Wanderlei, Evans, Thiago Silva, and Sokodjou) guys in the world and 20 of the top 25 guys. This is a great divison, full of star power.
2. Welterweights – They have 10 of the top 20 (St. Pierre, Fitch, Hughes, Serra, Koscheck, Sanchez, Alves, Parisyan, Davis and Gono), but 8 of the world’s top ten. They have a near top ten monopoly only missing out on Shields and Condit. I feel that there are other UFC guys to mention in top 20 talk (Chris Wilson and Chris Lytle), but the divison is strong and has the top tier welterweights in the world.
3. Lightweights – In most rankings the UFC gets cheated in the lightweight divison. The system I used ranked 8 of their guys as top 20 in the world (Penn, Sherk, Huerta, Stevenson, Florian, Guida, Tyson Griffin, and Gray Maynard). I know some of those other guys are good, but they are overrated. Gomi can’t beat UFC guys. Nick Diaz, B.J. Penn and Marcus Aurelo all beat him. Aoki, Melendez, Calvancanti and bunch are unproven in my opinion against top guys. Plus I feel some guys unfairly got left out of rankings. Where is Marcu Aurelio? FranK Edgar? or Joe Lauzon? or even Nate Diaz? You mean to tell me Edgar is not a top 20? This divison is stacked and has more contenders than any UFC divison. DREAM does have some great lightweights. I’d love to see a fight card of UFC’s top lightweights against DREAM’s top lightweights. I think UFC would win easily.
4. Middleweights – They have 7 of the top 20 fighters in the world at this divison (Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin, Dan Hemderson, Marquardt, Okami, Bisping and Leites. I put this above heavyweights first of all because I believe there are some guys that could be in the top 20 mix (Quarry, MacDonald, Leben, Cote, Kampmann and Almeida). It still is weak, not because it isn’t deep, but because they can’t find anyone to compete with Anderson Silva. Anderson Silva is the second reason I put this divison above Heavyweights…enough said.
5. Heavyweights – They also have 7 of the top 20 fighters in the world at Heavyweight (Nogueira, Werdum, Gonzaga, Kongo, Vera, Mir and Herring). Only 3 of those guys are top ten in the world. All this assumed Arlovski signs with Affiction. If that happens Affliction will have 6 of the top ten (Fedor, Sylvia, Barnett, Rothwell, Arlovski and Aleksander Emelianenko) plus Pedro Rizzo. This is a weak divison for the UFC, but they do have some good prospects in Carwin, Lesnar and Velasquez. This divison was once strong, but since has lost Couture, Cro Cop, Sylvia, Arlovski, and O’Brien.
Filed under: Affliction, Aleksander Emelianenko, Anderson Silva, Andrei Arlovski, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, B.J. Penn, Ben Rothwell, Brandon Vera, Brian Stann, Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Carlos Condit, Cheick Kongo, Chris Leben, Chris Lytle, Chris Wilson, Chuck Liddell, Clay Guida, Dan Henderson, Diego Sanchez, DREAM, Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko, Forrest Griffin, Frank Edgar, Frank Mir, Gabriel Gonzaga, Georges St. Pierre, Gesias Calvancante, Gilbert Melendez, Gray Maynard, Heath Herring, Jake O'Brien, Jake Shields, Jason "Mayhem" Miller, Jason MacDonald, Joe Stevenson, Jon Fitch, Josh Barnett, Josh Koscheck, Karo Parisyan, Keith Jardine, Kenny Florian, Lyoto Machida, Marcus Aurelio, Marcus Davis, Martin Kampmann, Matt Hamill, Matt Hughes, Matt Lindland, Matt Serra, Michael Bisping, Mirko Cro Cop, Nate Diaz, Nate Marquardt, Nate Quarry, Nick Diaz, Patrick Cote, Paulo Filho, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Randy Couture, Rashad Evans, Ricardo Almeida, Rich Franklin, Roger Huerta, Sean Sherk, Shinya Aoki, Takanori Gomi, Thales Leites, Thiago Alves, Thiago Silva, Tim Sylvia, Tito Ortiz, Tyson Griffin, Wanderlei Silva, Wilson Gouveia, Yushin Okami | Tagged: Akihiro Gono, Aleksander Emelianenko, Anderson Silva, Andrei Arlovski, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, B.J. Penn, Ben Rothwell, Brandon Vera, Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Carlos Condit, Cheick Kongo, Chris Leben, Chris Lytle, Chris Wilson, Chuck Liddell, Clay Guida, Dan Henderson, Diego Sanchez, Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko, Forrest Griffin, Frank Edgar, Frank Mir, Gabriel Gonzaga, Georges St. Pierre, Gesias Calvancante, Gilbert Melendez, Gray Maynard, Jake O'Brien, Jake Shields, Jason MacDonald, Joe Lauzon, Joe Stevenson, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Karo Parisyan, Lyoto Machida, Marcus Aurelio, Martin Kampmann, Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Michael Bisping, Mirko Cro Cop, Nate Marquardt, Nate Quarry, Nick Diaz, Patrick Cote, Pedro Rizzo, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Randy Couture, Rashad Evans, Ricardo Almeida, Rich Franklin, Roger Huerta, Sean Sherk, Shane Carwin, Shinya Aoki, Takanori Gomi, Thales Leites, Thiago Alves, Thiago Silva, Tim Sylvia, Tyson Griffin, Wanderlei Silva, Yushin Okami | Leave a comment »