MMABlog’s Heavyweight MMA Rankings

 

Below I posted my heavyweight rankings.  My other rankings will be posted today as well.  Certainly the rankings could change a litte bit following UFC 90.  I’d love to hear your debate and arguments as these rankings are somewhat subjective.

 

Rank	Name	Organization	Next Fight
1	Fedor Emelianenko	Affliction	Arlovski (#4) 1/24
2	Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira	UFC	Mir (#11), 12/27
3	Randy Couture	UFC	Lesnar (#16), 11/15
4	Andrei Arlovski	Affliction	Emelianenko (#1) 1/24
5	Josh Barnett	Affliction	1/24
6	Fabricio Werdum	UFC	Do Santos (NR), 10/25
7	Gabriel Gonzaga	UFC	Hendricks (NR), 11/15
8	Tim Sylvia	Afliction
9	Alistair Overeem	DREAM/Strikeforce
10	Cheick Kongo	UFC	Al Turk (NR), 12/27
11	Frank Mir	UFC	Nogueira (#2) , 12/27
12	Ben Rothwell	Affliction
13	Aleksander Emelianenko	Affliction
14	Mirko Cro Cop	DREAM
15	Sergei Kharitonov	DREAM
16	Brock Lesnar	UFC	Couture (#3), 11/15
17	Roy Nelson	Affliction
18	Cain Velasquez	UFC
19	Antonio Silva	EliteXC?
20	Shane Carwin	UFC
21	Heath Herring	UFC
22	Dave Herman	EliteXC?
23	Pedro Rizzo	Affliction?
24	Brett Rogers	EliteXC?
25	Ricco Rodriquez	EliteXC?

Evaluating Affliction

One of the questions that I keep thinking about is whether or not Affliction in here to stay and whether or not they will compete with the UFC.  No one disagrees that UFC is the standard of MMA right now, but Affliction is making up ground quickly.  It has been a tell tale sign of a slight change that Affliction has signed so many guys lately including many of the stars from the now defunt IFL, which was bought by the parent company of the UFC, Zuffa.  Affliction has signed Champs Roy Nelson and Vladimir Matyushenko.  They have signed lightweight star Chris Horodecki and are rumored to have welterweight champ Jay Hieron.  Affliction is cleaning up the free agents and doing better in that regard than even the UFC as of late.  So, what is there to judge a promotion…

1. Fighter Talent – Fight promotions are fight promotions.  There are other factors that come into play, but primarily if a promotion does not have top level talent they will not stay relevant.

2. Show Quality –  While good fighters is essential, the promotion must put on a good show.  They must entertain fans.  This includes exciting fights, good commentators and a solid show production.  Promotions have to build shows people will come to or buy.

3.  Solid Managment –  Managment is important to a fight promotion, not just anyone can do it.  A promotion may suceed or fail based ont he business savvy of the fight promoter or president.  The PR, fighter pay, contracts, TV deals, etc. all come into play here.

With that said, let’s see how Affliction is doing…

1. Fighter Talent…

There is a lot of hype around Affliction’s fighter talent.  Here is who I can think of off hand that they have and will use on their cards

• Fedor Emelianenko
• Andrei Arlovski
• Josh Barnett
• Tim Sylvia
• Ben Rothwell
• Roy Nelson
• Pedro Rizzo
• Paul Buentello
• Aleksander Emelianenko
• Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
• Tito Ortiz
• Vladimir Matyushenko
• Renato “Babalu” Sobral
• Mike Whitehead
• Edwin DeWees
• Vernon White
• Vitor Belfort
• Matt Lindland
• Jay Hieron
• Mike Pyle
• J.J. Ambrose
• Chris Horodecki

I went to HDNet’s Rankings to see how many Affliction Fighters were ranked in the top 100 pound for pound or top in their divisons  here is the results.

(Pound for Pound Rank, Divison Rank)

Fedor Emelianenko (2, 1)

Andrei Arlovski (25, 4)

Josh Barnett (27, 5)

Tim Sylvia (55, 7)

Ben Rothwell (81, 12)

Roy Nelson (84, 13)

Pedro Rizzo (NR, 19)

Paul Buentello (NR, NR)

Aleksander Emelianenko (76, 10)

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (85, 13)

Tito Ortiz (87, 15)

Vladimir Matyushenko (66, 12)

Renato “Babalu” Sobral (92, 16)

Mike Whitehead (NR, NR)

Edwin DeWees (NR, NR)

Vernon White (NR, NR)

Vitor Belfort (NR, NR) – Unfairly I’d admit

Matt Lindland (22, 5)

Jay Hieron (59, 11)

Mike Pyle (NR, NR)

J.J. Ambrose (NR, NR)

Chris Horodecki (NR, NR)

Put this into perspective, out of the top 100 the promotions faires like this in pound for pound top 100 fighters…

• UFC -39
• Affliction – 13
• DREAM -12
• WEC – 10
• EliteXC – 10
• Strikeforce – 5
• World Victory Road – 3

The point is that Affliction’s talent is overrated. 

• They are right about the level of DREAM talent wise
• They are no where near the talent level of the UFC
• 10 of the Affliction guys that appeared on the rankings list have fought in the UFC before.  Some have been sucessful.  There are several former UFC champs (Sylvia, Barnett, Rizzo, Ortiz and Arlovski), however most of them did no better than fair in the UFC (see Matyushenko, Hieron, et. al)
• Most of the top Affliction guys are in the second half of their careers and are past their prime.  They still have fight left in them, don’t get me wrong, but not for the long haul
• What happens if two or three of those gusy get injured?  Affliction is hanging their hat on Fedor, Barnett, Arlovski and Ortiz.  They cannot keep putting everyone on every card, they will run out of match-ups.
• To their credit, they can put on good fights.  The talent isn’t bad.  Their guys can fight exciting fighter, but they have exciting fights at tough man competitions. They need to sign younger talent and more talent.

Show Quality…

• I cannot judge them solely on their sole show.  Affliction needs to improve their show quality as far as commentating, interviews and production is concerned
• Also, I thought with the exception of the last 3 fights the card wasn’t what it was billed to be
• They are nowhere near the UFC level as far as enjoyability to watch

Solid Managment:

• The UFC with Dana White and the Fertitas is still the managment standard.  I have problems with the UFC and Dana White’s managing style.  I don’t like his constant expletives, I don’t like the way he trashes other promotions, I don’t like the stubborness he exhibits with signing guys like Lindland and Barnett, and even Fedor.  However, Dana is crafty.  Atencio is no Dana White.  Watch his video below where he can’t remember Josh Barnett’s name and he is the main event for the second show. 
• Affliction does have the deep pocketed Donald Trump behind them which helps.  Trump is a business guiness, but he doesn’t neccessarily know MMA.  The money helps thought he same way it helped having Lorezon and Frank in the UFC early days when they lost tons of money.

Here is the point folks…Affliction is a solid upstart company.  They may be around for a while, but before we jump ont he bandwagon and label them peers to the UFC and competitors to the UFC let them get through a few shows first.  Let’s see how much money they lose after 3 events.  Let’s see how many fights they can do after 3 card.  They could compete, but as for now it is the UFC and then everyone else.  Zuffa is sitting pretty in the MMA world.  They are the big leagues, everything else is just the minors.  Affliction, EliteXC and DREAM are in the same boat and in a year from now at least one of them will be non-existent.

Best Non-UFC Fighters

Here are the best non-UFC fighters.  This shows where the UFC is stacked and where they lack.  There competition is mainly in Affliction at heavyweight and DREAM at lightweight.  Here are the best non-UFC guys that the UFC should look to sign if possible. 

Rank	Heavyweight	Light Heavy	Middleweight	Welterweight	Lightweight
1	Fedor Emelianenko	Antonio Rogerio Nogueira	Paulo Filho	Jake Shields	Takanori Gomi
2	Andrei Arlovski	Ricardo Arona	Matt Lindland	Carlos Condit	Shinya Aoki
3	Josh Barnett	Rafael Feijao	Robbie Lawler	Jay Hieron	JZ Calvancante
4	Tim Sylvia	Vladimir Matyushenko	Kazuo Misaki	Nick Thompson	Eddie Alvarez
5	Ben Rothwell	Babalu Sobral	Gegard Mousasi	Mach Sakurai	Mitsuhiro Ishida
6	Mirko Cro Cop	Tito Ortiz	Vitor Belfort	Mike Pyle	Joachim Hansen
7	Roy Nelson	Steve Cantwell	“Jacare” de Sousa		Tatsuya Kawajiri
8	Aleks Emelianenko	Brian Stann	Jason Miller		Josh Thomson
9	Antonio Silva		Melvin Manhoef		Gilbert Melendez
10	Alistair Overeem		Murilio Rua		Vitor Ribeiro
11			Cung Le		Jamie Varner
12			Denis Kang		Ryan Schultz
13			Joey Villasenor		KJ Noons
14			Frank Shamrock		Nick Diaz
15			Yoshihiro Akiyama		Caol Uno
16			Jorge Santiago
17			Chael Sonnen

My Thoughts on Affliction: Banned

Let me share the negatives first:

• The fights went as expected.  Out of the 9 fights that I predicted I got 9 right.  There were not any upsets
• The announcers were sub par to say the least
• I did not like that fights were cancelled last second like the Aleksander Emelianenko fight, it seemed to show some disorder
• I thought the fights were slow paced, but the last 3 fights were good as was the Nogueira fight and the Belfort fight.

The Good:

• Fedor.  Let the debate begin as to who the number one pound for pound fighter is.  Only two names are in the discussion (Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko).  In my opinion, both guys helped plead their cases for that title last night.  Fedor crushed Silva.  I didn’t expect that bad of a beating.  I picked Fedor, but I thought it would last more than one minute.  Fedor beat Sylvia easier than he beat Hong Man Choi.  He punched him and dropped him.  He did what Randy could not do and that is finish the fight with Sylvia.  Fedor was the highlight of the show
• Josh Barnett looked great.  I know many people want to see Fedor vs. Couture next, and Randy was even brought into the ring to hype that fight, but Josh Barnett may be deserving of that fight.  The next card may feature Barnett vs. Arlovski and Couture vs. Fedor with the winners squaring off on the third card. 
• Arlovski looked imrpessive as well.  He looked better than he had previously in the last few fights in the UFC.  His boxing looked crisp and good.
• Vitor Belfort is back.  He looked great at 185.  I’d love to see Lindland vs. Belfort at 185.  Affliction has said they will likely use the winners of these fights on their next card, that fight is very possible.
• Congrats to Paul Buentello, Babalu, Matt Lindland, and Mike Pyle who also won as expected. 
• Apparently they sold out with over 13,000 people in attendance.  The crowd was loud at times.

If Affliction is going to use winners of this card to set up match ups for the next card the card could look like this:

• Fedor Emelianenko vs. Randy Couture
• Josh Barnett vs. Andrei Arlovski
• Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort
• Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral
• Tim Sylvia vs. Ben Rothwell
• Paul Buentello vs. Aleksander Emelianenko

My Affliction: Banned Predictions

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia

I believe this to be an interesting fight.  I also think that Fedor’s last fight with Hong Man Choi was a great prep course for Tim Sylvia.  The biggest problem Fedor will have with Tim Sylvia is his size.  Sylvia is 6’9″  He is huge.  Fedor will want to take this fight down to the ground, and I imagine that he will do it.  Tim has no ground game at all.  I don’t know how long it will take Fedor to get the fight down, but once he gets it down the fight won’t last long.  I pick Fedor Emelianenko to win this fight in round 2. 

Andrei Arlovski vs. Ben Rothwell

I know many people like Ben Rothwell, and that many rank him highly among the heavyweights, but I honestly do not know how good he is.  I do know how good Arlovski can be.  He hasn’t looked great lately, but he is by far the most talented guy Rothwell has fought.  I think Arlovski will win by TKO in round 3.

Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo

Barnett is looking for redemption.  In my opinion, Rizzo is not in his prime any more.  Barnett is very talented and very experienced.  I do not see Rizzo beating Barnett again.  I think that Josh Barnett wins this fight by unanimous decision.

Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Negao

This is a mis-match.  Lindland is one of the best 185ers in the world.  Fabio is unknown.  Lindland may have been too busy lately with politics to train the right way for this fight, but I don’t think it will matter here.  Lindland will win this fight by submission in round 1.

Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. Mike Whitehead

Mike Whitehead was a UFC flop.  Babalu is very good.  Babalu will submit Whitehead in round 2.

Paul Buentello vs. Aleksander Emelianenko

Don’t overlook this Emelianenko.  He is a good fighter in his own right.  Aleks wins by decision.

Vitor Belfort vs. Terry Martin

Vitor at 185?  Believe it.  He has been an up and down guy and so has Terry Martin.  Terry Martin is not bad, but Belfort is very good.  I think belfort will KO Martin in round 1. 

Edwin Dewees vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Don’t overlook this Nogueira.  He is not a bad fighter in his own right.  This is a huge mismatch.  Nog is btter than DeWees.  Edwin hasn’t had proper time to prepare.  Nogueira will win this fight easily. 

Ray Lazama vs. Justin Levens

J.J. Ambrose vs. Mike Pyle

Mark Hominick vs. Savant Young

Affliction News: Fedor vs. Sylvia for Heavyweight Title

It seems that the Fedor vs. Sylvia fight will be for a Heavyweight title.  Most belts outside the UFC mean very little, but this would be prominent because Affliction is stacked at Heavyweight.  Perhaps this would also be for the top heavyweight spot.  I don’t know if a win makes Sylvia the best heavyweight, in fact I think it makes Randy Couture the best heavyweight, but Sylvia is up there win or lose.  Also the Affliction: Banned card is shaping up nicely.  Recently a middleweight bout has been added between Vitor Belfot and Terry Martin. 

Here Are my Affliction Rankings by divison:

Heavyweight:

1. Fedor Emelianenko

2. Tim Sylvia

3. Josh Barnett

4. Andrei Arlovski

5. Ben Rothwell

6. Aleksander Emelianenko

7. Pedro Rizzo

8. Paul Buentello

Light Heavyweight

1. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

2. Renato “Babalu” Sobral

3. Mike Whitehead

4. Vernon White

Middleweight

1. Matt Lindland

2. Vitor Belfort

3. Terry Martin

4. Fabio Negao

Welterweight

1. Mike Pyle

2. J.J. Ambrose

Donald Trump and Affliction

It has been learned that multi millionaire Donald Trump has some involvment with the upstart MMA promotion Affliction.  Affliction will host a huge show on July 19th featuring many great fighters.  MMARated reports:

at tomorrow’s Affliction press conference in Manhattan, Donald Trump will be announcing that former UFC heavyweight champion, Andrei Arlovski, has officially signed with the upstart promotion. The Executive Vice President of The Trump Organization and the Special Counsel to Donald J. Trump, Michael D. Cohen, confirmed the news with MMARated.com.

It has long been rumored that Arlovski would be facing Ben Rothwell on the inaugural Affliction card but Mr. Cohen would not officially comment on when “The Pit Bull” would be making his debut. We should, however, find out more tomorrow.

Trump will also announce that he has become an equity partner in the Affliction promotion. When asked what percentage of the organization he now owns, Mr. Cohen would only say “a significant amount.”

Finally, when asked if Trump’s relationship with Tito Ortiz would help bring the former UFC light heavyweight champion to Affliction, Cohen said:

“Everything that Donald Trump does is the biggest and the best and the “Afflcition: Banned” show will be just that.

Due to the status of the Trump mark, and Donald Trump as a mogul business man, Mr. Trump has received dozens of phone calls from fighters who are interested in joining the Affliction family.”

Obviously, the point is that Donald Trump has deep pockets.  That will obviously help Affliction.  Many fighting promotions get off to a bad start, but not Affliction.  It seems that financially Trump will be willing to invest in them.  Also, is addition to the money Trump has the know how to run a busisness and run it well.  He will be a bonus for Affliction.  The upstart promotion is also expected to officially announce what I reported several days ago, that Andrei Arlovski was signed to a deal and would take on Ben Rothwell.  Affliction has many good fighters and a good card set up.  Their divisons look like this:

Heavyweight:

1. Fedor Emelianenko

2. Tim Sylvia

3. Josh Barnett

4. Andrei Arlovski

5. Ben Rothwell

6. Aleksander Emelianenko

7. Pedro Rizzo

8. Paul Buentello

Light HeavyWeight

1. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

2. Renato “Babalu” Sobral

3. (Possibly Tito Ortiz)

4. Mike Whitehead

5. Vernon White

Obviously, following that they do not have much competiton in the other weight classes.  Also, we may wonder how many possible match-ups can they have with 8 Heavyweights.  They do have some solid big guys, they have 6 top ten type fighters in the world.  I expect that they sign more fighters as time goes on.  The age and mileage on the guys they have is a worry for me, but the July 19th fights ought to be good and we ought to see not only good Affliction match-ups, but also good inter-promotional match-ups.  Affliction could make the Couture vs. Fedor fight happen.  Affliction could utilize other guys as well from organizations willing to work with others like EliteXC, Strikeforce, DREAM, and IFL.  With the Donald on their side Affliction instantly became a competitor with the UFC in the likeness of PRIDE.  They will attract fighters on the promise of better pay and better treatment as well as flexibility to work with other promotions.  I don’t look for Affliction to flop quickly.

My Thoughts on Affliction

Affliction looks to be doing great.  They have a host of recognizable names under contract and Affliction: Banned on July 19th looks to be a good card.  I cannot guarantee much, but I can promise half the guys on their card will win their fights.  Affliction seems to have signed two more notable guys to fight on that card in Andrei Arlovski and Vitor Belfort.  Just look at who they have signed it looks like an all star cast: Fedor, Tim Sylvia, Ben Rothwell, Josh Barnett, Arlovski, Belfort, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Babalu, Mike Pyle, Mike Whitehead, Matt Lindland, Fabio Negao, Pedro Rizzo, and Aleksander Emelianenko.  They may not be done either.  I think they could sign Tito Ortiz.  Here are my thoughts.  Affliction’s roster kind of reminds me of the senior circuit of professional golf.  If ten years ago you looked at a senior gold tournament you may have seen names like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player along with a host of other well known guys, but they are in the senior circuit because they cannot compete with the younger guys anymore.  Now, I know some of Affliction’s guys can compete with anyone still, but none are up and coming.  They are all here and going.  Even their best guys are beyond their prime.  Don’t get me wrong they will attract crowds and make interesting match ups.  I will order it and watch with excitment, but I still think they are overrated.  Look at who they have signed…

Fedor: Universally ranked as the best heavyweight in the world, but refuses to fight top level competiton.  Sylvia will be the best guy he has fought in a while.  He could be the best heavyweight in the world, but he hasn’t proven it yet.

Sylvia:  Lost to Nogueira and Couture.  Is probably past his prime and when he gets on the ground he is done for.  He is over the hill. 

Lindland: More interested in politics then fighting now, and that is not an insult.  He is still a top 10 middleweight, but he isn’t going to be forever. 

Barnett: He isn’t old, but he has fighter mileage on him.  How much longer can he go

Pedro Rizzo: 5 years ago this would have been huge

Arlovski: Has been fairly boring in his last few fights. He isn’t the Arlovski of old. 

Belfort: Way past his prime.  Still can probably fight though.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Aleksander Emelianenko: In the shadow of their brothers.  Both are good and maybe underrated, but neither are their brothers.

Okay, so their guys will win fights.  Some are top ten guys for now, but the fact is they won’t be for much longer.  These guys are all on borrowed time.  Perhaps Affliction will attract more fighters and compete well with the UFC, but right now they are nothing more than the sernior circuit of MMA.   Go ahead sign the MMA stars of five years ago.  Go sign Cro Cop and Ortiz.  You may put one some good cards and make some money.  I will watch and see some good fights, but I am not watching to see the stars of MMA, I am watching because I am nostalgic.  If Affliction wants to do great it needs to develop talent.  These guys they have signed are just a band aid and will keep them going for a while, but not forever.

Affliction…

When it was announced that Affliction was starting, I was skeptical that they would be able to do very well.  I still have some doubts, but they do have a monster event lined up with some big names of their card.  I will pay to watch these fights.  They keep signing big time guys.  They just signed Antonio Rogerio Nogueira yesterday, the brother of Minotauro Nogueira.  I don’t fully understand this move on his part because all the light heavyweight competition is in the UFC.  So things are looking good for Affliction.  They have many good things that UFC doesn’t.  1. They are reportedly paying their fighters very well.  Fedor will make over one million dollars and Sylvia can make one million with a win.  2. Their managment looks to be all busisness.  My criticism of Dana White has been he doesn’t look like a commish.  He often going on rants, he is proud, he will trash his fighters (e.g. Tito and Randy) ranther than taking the high ground, and he lets out more expletives that you can imagine which destorys any parent allowing their children to watch.  3. They are making good moves.  Affliction will air the undercard of this event on Fox Sports Net.  4. They have built their hevayweight divison strong.  They have Fedor, Barnett, Sylvia, Aleksander, Rothwell, maybe Arlovski, Buentello, and Rizzo.  We know people like the heavyweights.  They have recognized this.  Affliction’s one problem is that many of their fighters are veterans.  That may be good for locking up pay-per view buys, but they are older.  This means that they may be past their primes.  Time will tell if that is true or not.  I have to say as a big UFC fan that I am excited for Affliction: Banned.  Here is their July 19th card…

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia  

Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo

Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Negao

Ben Rothwell vs. TBA (Arlovski ?)

Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Paul Buentello

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Vernon White

Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. Mike Whitehead

Mark Hominick vs. Savant Young    

Brett Cooper vs. Mike Pyle

J.J. Ambrose vs. Patrick Speight

Ray Lazama vs. Justin Levens

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Who Benefited Most From PRIDE’s Collapse?

When PRIDE fell they were clearly the biggest competitors with the UFC, having many of MMA’s top guys.  They had some big time stars. Then PRIDE got into trouble and was bought by Zuffa.  So who benefited the most from PRIDE’s deminse?  There was a mad scramble to sign those guys who were now unemployed. I have been critical of the UFC’s ability to sign top PRIDE guys like Fedor, Gomi, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Arona, Kang, Mousasi, Melendez, etc. However, it looks like the UFC has done great due to PRIDE’s fall.  I ranked the PRIDE guys at the time of their collapse in order of who I would want to sign and the UFC benefited from it.  Now, the guys they have signed haven;t had huge success, but they are popular and will win eventually.  Can you imagine the UFC heavyweight divison without the influx of Nogueira, Werdum, and Herring???  The light heavyweight divison also was greatly boosted with the signings of Shogun, Wanderlei, Dan Henderson, Nakamura, and Sokoudjou.  UFC just struggles to get the lightweights. UFC signed 13 of those guys I listed and they have faired well, this doesn’t even include other guys who came in before the fall of PRIDE like “Rampage” Jackson.  Out of those guys you have some stars now in the UFC, some guys that can draw a crowd and one of them owns the belt (Nogueira).  DREAM and Affliction seemed to clean up what UFC couldn’t sign.  DREAM picked up the ligtweights, signing 8 of those PRIDE guys.  Affliction has a few signings.  So while I am critical of the UFC, let us give Dana and the UFC brass some credit for signing many of the top PRIDE guys.  I still would like to see the best of the best in one place, but it won’t happen, so this puts things into perspective and the UFC did good and benefited the most from PRIDE’s fall.

 

Name	Fight Organization Signed With
Fedor Emelianenko	Affliction
Wanderlei Silva	UFC
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua	UFC
Mirko Cro Cop	UFC (DREAM)
Takanori Gomi	World Victory Road
Dan Henderson	UFC
Josh Barnett	Affliction
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira	UFC
Paulo Filho	WEC
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira	HCF
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou	UFC
Ricardo Arona
Gilbert Melendez	Strikeforce
Fabricio Werdum	UFC
Gegard Mousasi	DREAM
Denis Kang	DREAM
Aleksander Emelianenko	Affliction
Marcus Aurelio	UFC
Akihiro Gono	UFC
Kauo Misaki	DREAM
Ricardo Almeida	UFC
Heath Herring	UFC
Joachim Hansen	DREAM
Ryo Chonan	UFC
Kazuhiro Nakamura	UFC
Tatsuya Kawajiri	DREAM
Mitsuhiro Ishida	DREAM
Alistair Overeem	Strikeforce
Kevin Randleman
Phil Baroni	EliteXC
Hayato “Mach” Sakurai	DREAM
Murilio Bustamante
Murilo “Ninja” Rua	EliteXC

UFC’s Best Divison

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.

Fighting Organizations Rankings

I have ranked the organizations before, but here is the updated rankings of who has the best product.

1. UFC – Still the best of the best.  Has more ranked fighters by far.  Has the most recognizable names in the likes of Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Shogun, Wanderlei Silva, Rampage Jackson, Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Georges St. Pierre, Matt Hughes and B.J. Penn.

2. Affliction – By far the best competitive heavyweight divison with Fedor, Tim Sylvia, Aleksander Emelianenko, Josh Barnett, Ben Rothwell, Pedro Rizzo and maybe Arlovski.  Not to mention Lindland, Whitehead and Babalu. 

3. WEC –  The WEC has some star power, but is in the UFC’s shadow majorly.  The growing featherweight divison will help them as will the bantamweight with star Miguel Torres.  Guys like Condit, Stann, Filho and Faber give WEC the name recognition.  WEC still seems to be the minor league UFC.  Their success will not come with the bigger fighters, but with lightweights, featherweights and bantamweights. 

4. EliteXC –  Their CBS deal will help them.  Kimbo can be a star.  They do great partnering with other promotions like Strikeforce and allowing guys to fight in DREAM. 

5. DREAM – DREAM 1-3 have been solid with solid fighters especially lightweights and middleweights. Has guys like Aoki and Ishida as well as Caol Uno and Kwajiri. Has other guys fight for them like Alvarez, Gilbert Melendez, JZ Calvancante, Diaz, Cro Cop, Jason Mayhem Miller, Manhoef, Denis Kang, Mark Hunt, Jacare, Kid Yamamoto, Sakurai and Hansen. 

6. Strikeforce – They have a few good fighters which helps them greatly.  They have Thomson, Le and Melendez

7. World Victory Road –  They don’t have an American appeal, but they do have Gomi and some other solid Japanese fighters.  Also they have Kazuo Misaki, Kevin Randlemen, Jeff Monson, and Nick Thompson

HCF Is Done

Hardcore Championship Fighting is done.  Another fight promotion is our of busisness.  Sherdog reports:

The unexpected news comes after a period of optimism for the Canadian organization. HCF was expected to announce this week that it had been bought by Canadian television network The Score, which airs HCF fights.

Crawford hoped that selling to the network would put the promotion among the few legitimately vying for the No. 2 spot behind the UFC.

This shows that fight promotions are difficult to run.  Many promotions are collapsing.  HCF had a couple big named fighters signed including: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Babalu Sobral, Gegard Mousasi and David Loiseau.  Also they had guys like Aleksander Emelianenko, Mike Pyle, Rob MacDonald, and Joe Riggs assosicated with them.  I wonder where these guys will land.  Babalu and Nogueira may just go to the UFC.  Mousasi is linked with DREAM.  Those two guys would make for a stacked light heavyweight divison in the UFC.  Being the MMA fan that I am, I want the best guys to fight the best guys and the best light heavyweights are in the UFC.  9 of the top 10 are in the UFC, this would make a monopoly on that divison.  Nogueira having his brother in the UFC may help, and I look for a push for Nog to be signed to the UFC. 

Who can beat Anderson Silva?

UFC’s middleweight divison is the weakest divison with the strongest champion.  So the title picture at middlewight is not bright.  Can anyone beat Anderson Silva?  I would say yes, but there aren’t many who can.  The middleweight division is tough and UFC is making an effort to remedy it.  The next Ultimate Fighter will feature middleweights, but I doubt any will seriously be able to contend any time soon.  Michael Bisping is dropping down to 185, he is good and will be a top 5 guy in middleweight, but not the top middleweight.  If Matt Hammil could rock him standing up, Anderson Silva would destroy him.  I am glad to see Dan Henderson dropping to fight Anderson, makes for another good unifcation bout.  I will rank my middleweights according to who has the best chance of beating Anderson Silva and in my opinion unlike the light heavyweight divison they should line up to beat Anderson Silva.  Again, this is not the same as my rankings.  My UFC middleweight rankins would be: 1. Anderson Silva 2. Dan Henderson 3. Rich Franklin 4. Yushin Okami 5. Michael Bisping.  Prior to Bisping and Hendo dropping the top four always included Silva, Franklin, Okami and McDonald, but none of them could challenge Anderson.  In fact there is a huge gap between Anderson and Rich and then Rich and the rest of the pack.  Poor Franklin is between a rock and a hard place.  He won’t get another title shot until Anderson is dethroned.  So here are my guys most likely to be Anderson Silva. 

1. Paulo Filho.  Some content Filho is the best middleweight in the world even ahead of Anderson Silva.  They are great friends and don’t want to fight.  I believe the fight would be great and translate to big bucks.  I’d love to see Paulo move over from WEC to the UFC.  Since both are Zuffa owned will his contract allow him to fight in UFC?  This to me would be one of the most anticipated fight in MMA.  If Silva wins and Filho looses in WEC anytime soon look for the move. 

2. Dan Henderson.  Dan is better at middleweight then light heavyweight.  I think he can beat Anderson.  he has to have a good night and Anderson has to have a bad night.  Dan showed against Rampage he could take a hit, but he has to be more aggressive then he was against Rampage.  He has to stun Silva to beat him.  I look forward to their match and I look forward to seeing Dan at middleweight.   He may take the belt. 

3. Matt Lindland.  Rumor us he has been talking to Dana White about a return to the UFC.  He wants to fight Anderson.  I think Dana needs to put his pride aside and sign a top 3 middleweight in the world.  I don’t know if Lindland can beat Silva, but he is a serious contender, and would be a good boost for the middleweight divison.  If he can’t beat Silva at least it would be some competition to the 2-10 spots in the divison.

4. Denis Kang.  He is a fantastic fighter who has a great resume and has fought some of the best, but I think he is a long shot, but nevertheless I would love to see him in the UFC

5. Matt Hughes.  Matt mentioend going up to fight Silva.  It could happen.  Matt has the rapport to get the fight if he wants it, but size may hurt him.  If he could ground and pound Anderson he may win, but I believe Anderson’s clinch and stand up is too much for one of my favorite fighters. 

6. Robbie Lawler. I would love to see Lawler back in the UFC.  Was his stint as a coach with Matt Hughes a starting point.  I don’t see him laying down his EliteXC belt though, and don’t see him loosing it.  I think he could really compete here.  He is a hard hitter, however he may get knocked out.  If Nick Diaz can knock him out I imagine Anderson Silva could too. 

7. B.J. Penn This would be a huge move up for B.J.  He can get the weight class, but I don’t know if he can beat Anderson.  I am a B.J. Penn fan, and on the ground he could contend, but does he have the desire to do it?  I have heard talks of it, but this one I dount will ever materialize.  Now, I believe we could see B.J. fight for the welterweight belt again some time in 2008 or 2009, but he would have to get in line behind Matt Serra, Jon Fitch and Karo Parisyan. 

8. Yushin Okami.  He hold a win over Anderson Silva, but he didn’t beat Anderson Silva.  Okami is a big guy, but that won’t beat Anderson Silva.  I wouldn’t mind the fight being booked, but Okami needs to beat one or two more quality guys before he gets a title shot.  He may not be very exciting, but he has been effective in the UFC, so perhaps he has earned his shot. 

9. Ninja Rua. Okay, I would much rather see Shogun move down to fight Anderson, but Ninja is a good fighter even though he lost to Lawler.  He is a legit top ten middleweight.  I’d like to see him in the UFC regardless and think he could be a good fighter in there and on a lucky day maybe he could get the best of Anderson Silva.  Now Shogun vs. Anderson would be exciting. 

10. Rich Franklin. He is the #2 or #3 middleweight in the world still, but we have been there and done that. Rich has pushed his luck with Anderson and should be thanking God that he survived two fights with Silva.  One more he may be done.   

It will never happen, but I woudl love to see one of those fights where Fedor fights a middleweight.  Fedor killed Matt Lindland and I suspect he would be Anderson Silva.  That is it!  Notice I didn’t even include “Twinkle Toes” Trigg or “Mayhem” Miller as I don’t see they have a shot.  There are some other guys who may get a chance guys like Nate Quarry.  Anderson has already beat all your other middleweights in the UFC worth anything (Leben, Marquardt, and Lutter).  Well if Dan Henderson can’t beta him and if Dana can’t get Filho or Lindland to fight him look for a long reign for Silva.