Tyson Griffin vs. Takanori Gomi

Frankie Edgar, Sean Sherk and Evan Dunham. Besides having beaten Tyson Griffin, what those three have in common is a good wrestling base mixed with solid, fundamental boxing. Believe me when I say that this is what it takes to beat Griffin, and I’m not sure that Gomi still has the goods. At the peril of tipping my hand just three sentences in to my preview for this fight, let’s establish one of the worst-kept secrets in MMA: Gomi’s not what he used to be.

Of course, the UFC has done him no favors by welcoming him into the fold with Kenny Florian and now, Griffin. While the Florian fight wasn’t quite a foregone conclusion before Florian’s smart strategy of mixing kicks and well-timed takedowns made us all wonder how Gomi could ever win that fight, this matchup just looks ugly for Gomi, even on paper.

Gomi has always been a power puncher, and thus relies on getting up close and personal to ply his trade. The problem is that Griffin will benefit even more from the close proximity that Gomi requires, as he will be able to overcome his lack of reach while inside, as well as take Gomi down at will. I think Gomi still has plenty of power and is dangerous because of it, but Griffin is pretty fundamentally sound and will likely use a steady mix of leg kicks and crisp punches, especially after watching Florian-Gomi. It’s sad to say, but I think Gomi may end up leaving the UFC without so much as a win, unless they keep him around for one last shot following this one (and hopefully, some friendlier matchmaking).

Prediction: Griffin by decision

John Howard vs. Jake Ellenberger

A good fight on paper may turn out to be somewhat anticlimactic in reality as Howard takes on Ellenberger. Howard is undefeated in four UFC fights (14-4 overall), but a closer look reveals that two of his wins come by split decision and no one that he’s faced has had the wrestling skills of Ellenberger. Ellenberger was very impressive in his second round TKO of Mike Pyle, and will undoubtedly be hungry to be the first fighter to defeat Howard in the Octagon.

Howard has several things that Ellenberger does not: namely, quickness and jaw-shattering power. However, Ellenberger does not make a practice of becoming an easy target, and if Howard is too eager to plant his feet to throw a big punch, he will quickly end up on his back. From the top position, Ellenberger is patient and fundamentally-sound, while Howard is easily at his worst while on his back. Even if Howard manages to find himself on top via a scramble, he tends to make mistakes while going for broke from inside an opponent’s guard, which would conceivably allow Ellenberger to sweep or get back to his feet. Unless Howard can pull off an explosive finish, this could be a long, anticlimactic decision win for Ellenberger.

Prediction: Ellenberger by decision

Yushin Okami vs. Mark Munoz

It can be easy to over-simplify an MMA matchup and fall victim to a faulty prediction as a result. Hey, I’ve fallen for that trap many times, often predicting the “better wrestler” to come through in a fight like Okami-Munoz. The problem is that the better wrestler is not always the better wrestler.

What I mean is though Okami can’t contend with Munoz’s credentials in amateur wrestling, he doesn’t need to. If Georges St. Pierre has taught us anything, it’s that blending your wrestling skills (and tweaking them, when needed) for MMA is what really counts, and Okami has been doing that en route to wins since long before Munoz made his professional debut. Meanwhile, Munoz has not been able to put it all together, as he seems to be confused whether to take advantage of his admittedly impressive power by swinging for the fences, or rely on his bread and butter by constantly shooting for takedowns.

The problem is that Okami is no slouch when it comes to grappling, and will make Munoz work hard even if he ends up on his back. In that case, I don’t expect Munoz to be able to do much as Okami will continue to push the pace by challenging Munoz with submissions, tying him up and getting back to his feet, depending on the situation. Meanwhile, when the two are standing, Munoz will show why he has some of the ugliest standup technique this side of Matt Hamill, while Okami’s underwhelming, yet effective striking will allow him to score points and keep his opponent off balance. Munoz is a good enough fighter, but will need some additional work before putting away a legitimate contender like Okami.

Prediction: Okami by decision

Jon Jones vs. Vladimir Matyushenko

At first sight, this looks like a good challenge for Jones: a veteran fighter who recently has had a career resurgence and has good enough wrestling skills to test the up-and-coming prospect. However, a closer look gives a much different perspective of this bout.

Matyushenko has never been an elite wrestler, and while he has won eleven of his last twelve, actually watching the fights reveals that not much has changed about the veteran combatant. He’s still not going to blow you away with anything he does, though it’s true that he does know how to use his experience to get an edge, and he will take advantage of any silly mistakes an opponent makes.

Still, it won’t be enough against a pure athlete the caliber of Jones, who will be able to fend off Matyushenko’s takedown attempts via athleticism and strength alone. Furthermore, once Jones has defended the initial shot, Matyushenko will be forced to abandon his takedown attempt or go high into the clinch, where Jones is at his strongest. There, Jones can muscle around the veteran and use his ridiculous sense of balance and timing to toss Matyushenko to the mat, or at least keep him off balance and working hard. I don’t expect much of this fight to take place at striking range, as Matyushenko will keep the pressure on, but Jones is much better in that area, too. Matyushenko is a tough guy, but Jones is just too explosive and too good.

Prediction: Jones by KO/TKO

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Steve Steinbeiss vs. Rob Kimmons

Steinbeiss has fought once in the WEC and once in the UFC, but is no doubt best known for quite frankly being screwed over in his bout with Ryan Jensen last September. Caught in a guillotine, Steinbeiss gave a thumbs-up to indicate that he was fine, only to have referee Gary Ritter stop the bout, anyway. It would be a shame if Steinbeiss’ back was against the wall now in his fight against Kimmons, but the reality of today’s UFC means that it probably is.

Kimmons has been a mixed back in his four UFC bouts, winning against Rob Yundt and Joe Vedepo while losing to Dan Miller and longtime veteran Jorge Rivera. With 27 pro bouts, Kimmons is no rookie himself, and must defeat Steinbeiss to prove that he belongs in the UFC, at least in the immediate future. In my eyes, he should be able to do just that. He’s a better grappler than Steinbeiss and will work hard to get him to the mat. Steinbeiss doesn’t have the necessary power to put Kimmons on his butt, and may win the striking exchanges, but I just don’t expect those exchanges to happen very often.

Prediction: Kimmons by submission

Darren Elkins vs. Charles Oliveira

Elkins has some high-profile names on his record, with wins over Pat Curran, Gideon Ray, and most recently, Duane Ludwig (who suffered a gruesome ankle injury in their fight, forcing a stoppage). Meanwhile, Oliveira is unknown to all but those who follow the world MMA scene, as he has racked up twelve wins against no losses while fighting mostly in Brazil.

Still, Oliveira should be the favorite in this one, because he has a high-level skill that allows him to finish the fight at a moment’s notice. Elkins, who is pretty good all-around, does not. He has the best edge in the striking game, where Oliveira is similar to many Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialists in that he has a lot of work to do. However, Oliveira is capable of getting the mat to the floor by any means necessary, and Elkins is just as likely to make a bad decision by taking Oliveira down, himself. I think if Elkins could keep this standing the majority of the time, he’d have a good shot to expose the Brazilian’s weaknesses, but I see this fight hitting the mat early and often, with Oliveira taking advantage.

Prediction: Oliveira by submission

James Irvin vs. Igor Pokrajac

This may be the first fight I’ve ever predicted where the deciding factor was the weight class that the fight is taking place in. After seeing Irvin weigh in while looking like Christian Bale in “The Machinist” before losing a middleweight fight to Alessio Sakara in explosive fashion, there’s no way I’d predict him to beat just about anyone at 185 pounds. Thankfully, Irvin won’t be making us look at an emaciated version of himself tomorrow at the weigh-ins, as he has wisely decided to jump back up to light heavyweight.

He will take on Pokrajac, who like Irvin, carries a two-fight losing streak with him into the Octagon on Sunday night. Pokrajac unquestionably wants to be on the mat in this one, as his striking is easily the biggest hole in his game, and happens to be Irvin’s strength. Speaking of strength, Irvin’s advantage in pure power will help him to keep the fight standing, especially if Pokrajac comes in high in order to clinch and work for takedowns against the cage. I think that Irvin eventually lands something that Pokrajac won’t be able to come back from in this one.

Prediction: Irvin by KO/TKO

Mike Massenzio vs. Brian Stann

This one is a tough fight to pick. Massenzio is a once-promising fighter who has been sidelined by injuries that have kept him out of the Octagon since December of 2008. Meanwhile, Stann is a hard-nosed competitor who has pretty good all-around striking and very suspect takedown defense. Both are sporting even records in the UFC, and both are coming off of losses, so this may be yet another fight-for-your-job bout on the prelims for Sunday.

Massenzio will undoubtedly be thinking “takedown” throughout the fight. Stann would be an obvious favorite in a kickboxing match, but the threat of takedowns will keep him from being able to confidently plant his feet and swing like he would prefer to. Furthermore, we don’t know how the weight cut to middleweight will affect him. He seems like he should be fine (he was never a big light heavyweight), but who knows? At the same time, Massenzio has plenty of “ring rust” from his long layoff, and who knows whether he’s completely healthy or not?

Really though, I think ring rust is kind of a farce, since fighters are actively training whether they are in the cage or not. Really, what’s the difference between waiting six months to fight (as UFC fighters routinely do nowadays) or a year and a half? Either way, it’s a long-ass time, right? I’m going to go with Massenzio here, because I think he can get enough takedowns to grind out a competitive decision.

Prediction: Massenzio by decision

DaMarques Johnson vs. Matt Riddle

Johnson has won two in a row since losing to James Wilks on the finale of “The Ultimate Fighter 9″, while Riddle has a 4-1 record in the organization (Riddle is the rare pro fighter to have had all of his fights take place in the UFC). Johnson is pretty much the guy that you saw on TUF: dynamic, athletic, but prone to mistakes and lapses in judgment that can cost him against a competent opponent. In fact, Riddle is pretty much the polar opposite of Johnson- he doesn’t do anything that will be likely to headline a highlight reel, but he will stick to his strengths and happily grind out a win when he’s able to do so.

The tricky thing here is that Johnson is able to crank out a win at any point in this fight, which makes choosing Riddle by decision a bit of a crap-shoot. I don’t think Johnson is nearly as dangerous to Riddle on the mat, however, as Riddle is usually pretty solid when it comes to his top game. The mat is also where I expect the majority of this fight to take place, especially if Riddle is to win, which I’m picking him to do.

Prediction: Riddle by decision

Paul Kelly vs. Jacob Volkmann

It’s a hard-knock life being a UFC lightweight, as the division is now chock-full of capable and dangerous opponents, making it hard for the Paul Kellys and Jacob Volkmanns of the world to do much besides stay afloat. Both fighters are coming off of wins, but Volkmann has won just 1 of his last 3, while Kelly has split his last two bouts. The road won’t get much easier for either fighter with this bout, as each of the two has the skills to potentially exploit the weaknesses of the other.

In Volkmann’s case, that would mean working tirelessly for takedowns and maintaining control until he can wear Kelly down. For Kelly, that means keeping the fight vertical and working a high-volume striking strategy to pile up the points and eventually overwhelm Volkmann. Of course, neither path to victory is a given, as Kelly has pretty good takedown defense and can scramble to his feet on many occasions, while Volkmann provides a rather easy target but does have some power to threaten Kelly with during exchanges.

In such a case, it’s sometimes best to just pick the best overall fighter, so I’ll do that and pick Kelly. I don’t know how he’ll do it, but I think he’ll pull it out in a very difficult fight.

Prediction: Kelly by decision (maybe)

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Of course, it should be noted that Ryan will be fighting on the Strikeforce Challengers 10 card, not on a “regular” Strikeforce card, or even better, a CBS-aired Strikeforce event. So, at least we know that Sarah Kaufman won’t be too angry. In that respect Couture begins a bit below the curve when compared to fellow Strikeforce rookie Herschel Walker, whose possession of an ages-old Heisman trophy allowed him to skip the Challengers series altogether.

Like Walker, though, Couture will face an opponent who is no doubt not intended to give him more than a mild challenge. Couture will face Lucas Stark, who is 2-4 as a professional and got one of his two wins by split decision, no less. However, Couture himself was just a competent 4-1-1 as an amateur, with the one draw coming in a fight where Sean Bollinger knocked him out with a triangle choke, only to have the referee rule that Couture went out after the bell sounded to end the second round.

Nonetheless, predicting the outcome of two relatively inexperienced fighters is not as interesting as taking a look at this and other seemingly strange moves on the behalf of Strikeforce. Whether you look at the signings of fighters like former WWE wrestler Bobby Lashley (or rumored future Strikeforce signee Dave Batista), Herschel Walker, and now the very green Couture, it’s clear that many of these names are attached to a higher-level promotion because of…well, their names.

Lashley is an exception, as he had plenty of collegiate wrestling experience prior to his “sports entertainment” days, but Walker and Batista had no real experience (please, don’t write me to debate that Walker’s years of tae kwon do equal valuable MMA experience) to bring with them. For crying out loud, even Jose Canseco has been attached to Strikeforce through rumors. Sure, he may never fight for the promotion, but the fact that we all kind of believe he could end up there says a lot, doesn’t it? (By the way, I’m not so elitist that I would deny having interest in a Walker-Canseco bout. Make it happen, Coker!)

Even the two women’s divisions that Strikeforce currently hosts are examples of Strikeforce doing things differently than the other big name promotions do. That’s not to say that having fighters like Kaufman and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos compete under the Strikeforce banner is akin to bringing in 40-something year old ex-wrestlers, football players and baseball stars, but like I said, it shows that Strikeforce understands that they can’t beat the UFC at their own game.

In other words, even though it may appear to be pretty bush league to sign a guy and probably put him on television for his first professional fight, I think it’s actually a pretty crafty move. Couture has name recognition thanks to his pa, but won’t command the kind of price tag that someone like a former WWE wrestler or well-known athlete from another sport would. Putting him on the Strikeforce Challengers 10 card will interest at least a few people to get them to watch the show when they otherwise would not. That in turn will allow other fighters that are being showcased on said card to be seen by more fans. All in all, it’s not a bad move.

In fact, I would argue that this has to continue to be Strikeforce’s game plan…at least for the foreseeable future. They may snag a Dan Henderson every now and then, but their biggest opportunity is going to be to provide what the UFC can’t- or more accurately, won’t. At this point, that includes women’s divisions and “freak show” fights, along with signing the occasional prospect like Couture, who is more noteworthy for his name than potential at this early point in his career. At the same time, they must continue to snap up any talented fighters that they can and promote the talent that they do have.

Coker has said in the past that he doesn’t want Strikeforce to be perceived as a company that takes the UFC’s cast-offs. I say, “why not?” Why not sign Paul Daley? People are going to want to see what the crazy bastard who swung at Josh Koscheck after the bell will do next, right? And are you going to tell me that Keith Jardine isn’t good enough to be on a light heavyweight roster that currently lists Mike Kyle as one of the better title contenders?

Coker has done a good job, but one thing he may want to remember is that he can’t beat the UFC at their own game- at least not yet, and not anytime soon. Don’t worry about whether you have to sell the occasional novelty fight or bring in the occasional UFC cast-off, as long as people are actually watching.

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Injuries Knock Thiago Silva, Phil Baroni Out of Upcoming Bouts

While nothing has happened yet this year to rival last winter when it comes to injuries, UFC 117 and 118 will be undergoing changes due to unfortunate injuries to Thiago Silva and Phil Baroni. Thiago Silva was due to face Tim Boetsch, who is making his UFC return after three straight wins in various shows over the last year and a half. Boetsch was released from the UFC following a decision loss to Jason Brilz in March of 2009. Now, Boetsch will draw Todd Brown in place of Silva, who brings an 11-1 record with him into the Octagon.

Meanwhile, Phil Baroni will not be able to take on John Salter at UFC 118 due to an injury to his collarbone. Instead, Salter will face the tough Dan Miller, who has lost three consecutive bouts (all by decision) to the likes of Chael Sonnen, Michael Bisping and Demian Maia. Nothing to be ashamed of there, but Miller will be desperate for a win against Salter, who is 5-1, including a 1-1 record in the UFC. Salter has beaten Roberto Traven and James Hammortree of “The Ultimate Fighter: Liddell vs. Ortiz”. In the UFC, Salter has lost to Gerald Harris by TKO and won against Jason MacDonald, where Salter faced some criticism for celebrating like a madman after an awkward takedown resulted in a badly broken leg for MacDonald.

Boetsch unquestionably gets an easier fight (though against an unknown commodity) with the Silva injury, but Salter is really unlucky with the injury to Baroni. Salter is a grappler who would likely have taken Baroni down and worked where Baroni was weakest, but he will face a much more difficult task against Miller. Lesser columnists would make some kind of comment about “karma” here because of Salter’s celebration after MacDonald’s injury, but I do not personally believe in such silliness.

Sonnen (Yaaawwwwn) Is At It Again

One hopes that Chael Sonnen’s in-cage performance on August 7th will be half as good as his outside of the cage performance has been up to this point. Love him, hate him, or anywhere in between, you can’t deny that Sonnen has brought quite a bit of entertainment to us all through his increasingly nonsensical and just plain crazy comments. Therefore, you just knew Sonnen would be bringing the thunder during the customary pre-event conference call with himself, Anderson Silva, and constant third wheel Ed Soares.

While Sonnen disappointingly recycled much of his earlier material (is he running out?), such as his claim that Silva has only fought the likes of a “math teacher from Ohio” (Rich Franklin) and “a one-legged fighter from Canada” (Patrick Cote), he did have a few amusing lines. Much of his talk centered around obvious frustration that he has been the only one “promoting” the fight with Silva. Sonnen pointed out that Silva was usually only bothering to answer questions with a simple “yes” or “no”, and said none of the fans care about Silva. He even said that no one wants to sponsor Silva because of this supposed fact.

Sonnen did his standard tough guy talk during the call, saying he can “drag Anderson Silva outside the hotel and beat him” whenever he wants, and claiming that he has a better overall MMA record than Silva, even though he concedes (with rare sensibility) that Silva has had the more accomplished UFC career. He also says that he will beat Silva, then Dana White will the former Chute Boxe fighter the next day.

For his part, Silva avoided being sucked into Sonnen’s games, saying that he finds Sonnen’s trash talk “amusing” and denying that Sonnen was not worthy to challenge for the belt. Surprisingly enough, Silva also said that he isn’t bored with the middleweight division, and he intends to stay there right up until he retires. He seemed disinterested with hypothetical bouts with Georges St. Pierre at welterweight and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at light heavyweight, saying that other fighters could come to his division if they wanted to face him.

Tito Ortiz will face Matt Hamill at UFC 121

I once theorized that one of the reasons that the always-crafty Tito Ortiz supposedly took Matt Hamill under his wing on “The Ultimate Fighter” is to avoid having to one day face him. After all, Ortiz may be in trouble against a superior wrestler, and he wasn’t above using “friendship” to avoid fights in the past. However, the fight will happen anyway, as Ortiz and Hamill will face off at UFC 121, on the same card where Brock Lesnar will defend his heavyweight title against Cain Velasquez.

Hamill is already the slight betting favorite in the bout, and Ortiz is already playing up the friendship angle in his comments. Ortiz says having to fight Hamill “sucks, but this is business.” On the same card, we will see the UFC debut of Jake Shields, who is a heavy favorite right out of the gate to defeat fellow top ten welterweight Martin Kampmann.

Quick Shots

–”Big” John McCarthy will be making his return to refereeing in the Octagon this weekend on the UFC’s second live card to be aired on Versus. McCarthy, who briefly retired from the gig, has not reffed a UFC fight since December of 2007. He is not currently an active referee in Nevada, which many believe is due to his public criticisms of the UFC following his initial retirement. However, he has been an active referee in California for some time, where he has officiated big fights for the likes of Strikeforce, Affliction and others. This Sunday’s event will take place in California, and MMAFighting.com reports that though McCarthy will be taking part, it is not yet known which specific fights he will be officiating.

–Current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has said that he plans to fight again in December of this year or January of 2011. In a video interview on Sherdog.com, Rua said that his knee injury to repair his ACL went well, and that there was nothing wrong with his meniscus or other areas of his knee. He stuck to his story that the injury happened during the second Machida fight, saying that his knee popped when he defended Machida’s second takedown attempt in the bout. Rua also acknowledged that Rashad Evans is likely to be his first challenger, though he says nothing has been discussed with him officially.

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Jared from Pensacola, FL says:

Don’t you think Sarah Kaufman is crazy for complaining about her place in the Strikeforce hierarchy? Not too long ago, women fighters didn’t even have a shot to get on television in the U.S., now Kaufman’s complaining because she’s not on the show that she wants to be on. Also, I’m curious to get your take on women’s MMA as a whole. You seem to be supportive of it.

I don’t know if she’s crazy, but I don’t think it’s her best possible move. While Scott Coker and the rest of the Strikeforce/Showtime crew haven’t proven to be as vindictive as Dana White, questioning your boss(es) on television not once but twice is generally not a good idea. At first I would have been likely to support her opinion that she deserves to be on a regular Strikeforce card instead of the Challengers series. After all, women’s 145 lb. champ Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos always is, right?

However, if you look into the ratings during Kaufman’s fights, her argument holds much less weight. Kaufman seems to think that she should be on a high-profile card because she’s the champion of her division. However, Strikeforce (and most of all, Showtime) is going to put an emphasis on which fights are drawing the most eyeballs, not which ones have a fancy belt involved. I like watching Kaufman fight, but the many people who left the building early during her fight against Takayo Hashi or turned the channel beforehand are not so open-minded. I personally question the intelligence of leaving a live MMA event before the end of the show, but that’s just me. I also wouldn’t be someone who would arrive halfway through the main card of a UFC event when I have fourth row tickets, but I’m clearly not the kind of person who gets such seats, either.

I support women’s MMA in that I am willing to watch it, follow it and in that I generally enjoy watching women compete just like I do with the guys. I don’t necessarily think that women “deserve” to have spots on a high-profile Strikeforce card, in the UFC, or anywhere else automatically, though. I don’t see that as sexist, I just understand that MMA is a business and that not everyone is going to be accomodated. Now, this is different than saying that I don’t “want” Kaufman to get a good spot on a Strikeforce card or to see women fight in the UFC. It’s the word “deserve” that I have problems with. Like I said, this is a business and if people aren’t interested in seeing you fight, that’s just the way it is, whether I agree with it or not.

Carano-Cyborg (and the other fights that the two have been involved in) proved that women’s MMA could succeed under the right circumstances, but problems such as fans leaving during Kaufman’s fight against Hashi and her relegation to the Challengers series show how far it still has to go. Still, unless fans start to show more interest in her fights and in the 135. lb. division in general, she’ll be stuck in Challengers events, which is only sensible.

Jordan from Battle Creek, MI has some thoughts on trash talking in MMA…

You’ve talked a lot about the ridiculous comments of Chael Sonnen over the last few months, and there have always been plenty of other trash talkers in MMA, too. However, it seems to me that more and more trash talking is going on as time goes by, and a lot of the honor and respect that used to define MMA is disappearing. I personally don’t think it’s necessary, and it doesn’t make the fights any more interesting, either. Look at Rampage vs. Rashad, all that trash talking and then a slow-paced fight afterwards. I don’t know what can be done about it, but the trash talking is getting old.

There’s nothing that can be done, really. Unless it’s something like Frank Mir’s comments about wanting to kill Brock Lesnar from awhile back, promoters are just going to let the fighters say what they want about each other, which makes sense. Like it or not, trash talking between fighters is good for business. I know for a fact that many people who generally don’t care to see Melvin Guillard or Rich Clementi fight would love to see them face each other once more, simply because of the bad blood that exists between them, for instance.

While MMA is a sport and two fighters don’t have to dislike one another in order to compete against each other, there’s no denying that a fight can be made more compelling by bad feelings between competitors. It helps promoters to sell tickets and pay-per-views, it gets mainstream fans excited about the sport, and it even gives the fighters a bit more motivation to train and be at their best. As far as the “honor” part goes, there’s always been honor in the sport, but there’s also been plenty of disrespect. I’m pretty sure honor was already out the door when Keith Hackney used Joe Son’s balls as a speed bag way back at UFC 4.

Now, does trash talking really help fighters in any real way? I don’t know about that. For someone like Tito Ortiz, who has been able to stay in the limelight and draw out his career over several years despite only a couple of impressive wins in that time frame, it clearly helps. However, if you hope to “get into the head” of a proven competitor like Anderson Silva in the way Chael Sonnen is attempting, don’t expect much for results.

Blake doesn’t list a location, but does have a bone to pick with me:

I don’t get why you keep on crapping on Rampage. It seems like whenever he fights, you pick him to lose, and now you’re saying he doesn’t match up well with Machida? Come on. Rampage has been a top fighter for years and if Shogun knocked Machida out, what will Rampage do to him? It seems like everyone just wants to hate Rampage because he started doing movies.

Actually, I do like Rampage. I may like him a bit less than I used to, but I’m still a fan. I even named one of my cats after him. I ask of you, is that the kind of thing that a hater would do? Well, you know…unless I did that just so I could continually abuse said cat as some sort of sick voodoo experiment.

The problem with Rampage is…well, there’s more than one, isn’t there? For one, he doesn’t seem that dedicated to the sport. I know that all fighters are at least partially in it for the money, but Rampage seems as if he’s only in it for that reason. Now, if you’ve ever done something that you used to enjoy and then started getting paid for it, you know what can happen. For whatever reason, you just don’t like it as much as you used to. (No comment on whether that applies to writing MMA columns)

In Rampage’s case, he doesn’t seem to like being a fighter much at all. He hates training, hates dieting, and says he would retire if he had made enough money to justify doing so. This may not seem like a big deal…lots of people hate their jobs, right? But hating your job as a checkout worker at Wal-Mart just means that you’ll be scowling at customers all day like 90% of their employees used to. You might get a couple of nasty remarks and you may even get stuck stocking shelves if the managers don’t like your attitude. However, when you fight really tough guys for a living and your heart isn’t in it, things can get much nastier.

Then there’s his skills. Rampage’s best skill is his boxing. He defends fairly well, throws good combinations and has power in both hands. However, he is also terrible at checking leg kicks (ie: he just doesn’t check them) and has not added anything new to his striking in a long time. On the mat, he’s competent but not a danger to do anything but pound on you from the top position, and his wrestling has always been overrated, thanks to his many slams against Japanese guys with no wrestling experience and diminutive sluggers from the Ukraine. How many slams have we seen since Rampage moved stateside and started fighting in the UFC?

I think Rampage matches up well against a good number of fighters in the UFC, but Lyoto Machida isn’t one of them? Why? Well, you’ll have to wait for my preview of that fight to see why. Come on, I can’t just give that up for free already. I will say, though, that saying that “fighter a knocked out so-and-so, so fighter b could too” is foolish thinking. Machida-Rampage is a whole different fight than Machida-Shogun.

[Ed. Note:This article was edited on 7/29/2010 to indicate that it was Keith Hackney that hammered away on the testicles of Joe Son, not the other way around. Thanks to mmaff312 for pointing out the mistake.]

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Depending on your perspective, the highlight of the night was likely either the main event between Shane del Rosario and Lolohea Mahe or the Strikeforce Women’s 135 lb. Championship bout between Sarah Kaufman and Roxanne Modafferi. Del Rosario is a decent enough prospect and remains undefeated, but I was more interested to see the Kaufman-Modafferi bout, in all honesty. For nearly three rounds, the two fought a grappling-intensive bout that seemed to be mostly evenly-matched, though Kaufman clearly had Modafferi outclassed whenever the two took to striking one another from a distance.

Modafferi showed little to no head movement and routinely made the mistake of simply pulling her head back (chin in the air) to avoid Kaufman’s straight punches before usually resorting to rushing Kaufman and clinching her to get out of trouble. Once, Kaufman even briefly brought vintage Vitor Belfort to mind as she showed off her hand speed while pinning Modafferi to the cage with shot after shot. Modafferi looked to be in serious trouble, but she was able to survive and close the distance yet again.

Though Kaufman enjoyed the clear advantage when it came to striking, she didn’t seem to mind the lengthy portions of the bout that took place in the clinch, where she used her strength advantage to nullify much of Modafferi’s technical abilities. Modafferi, who is experienced in both judo and jiu-jitsu, often tried for trips, throws and takedowns but Kaufman was able to shake most of them off. Modafferi was resourceful enough to try to pull guard, as well, but Kaufman’s strength bailed her out of that attempt as she simply picked Modafferi off of the mat and pinned her against the cage in a moment that foreshadowed the fight’s explosive finish.

With just over 15 seconds to go in the third round, Kaufman was posted up in Modafferi’s guard, and Modafferi appeared to be going for a triangle choke. Kaufman started to pick Modafferi up in response to the attempt, which Modafferi tried to counter by hooking her opponent’s leg with her right arm. However, she wasn’t able to keep Kaufman from lifting her up high, then slamming her down to the mat in a moment reminiscent of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s unforgettable slam of Ricardo Arona back in Pride. Modafferi was knocked out from the impact, and Kaufman immediately recognized that and began celebrating without following up on the slam while Modafferi was attended to.

Perhaps just as notable was Kaufman’s surprisingly bold comments before and after her fight. With a smile that only partially masked her frustration, Kaufman noted in a pre-fight interview that she wasn’t happy with being relegated to fighting on the Strikeforce Challengers series shows, and wanted to get on a high-profile card. She even went as far as to say that her fight against Modafferi would be her last on a Challengers show, and again brought up the subject in her post-fight interview. We’ll see if her campaigning will do any good soon enough, but it may depend on whether her fight with Modafferi did better in the ratings than her previous Challengers appearances.

The night’s other memorable moment came when Shane del Rosario stunned Lolohea Mahe with a sudden knee from the clinch that led to several unanswered blows and a referee stoppage in the first round of their heavyweight fight. Del Rosario had Mahe pinned against the cage in the clinch when Mahe leaned his head a little far towards del Rosario’s left shoulder. In an instant, del Rosario took advantage of the mistake by using his flexibility to land a knee to Mahe’s head which visibly rattled Mahe’s cage. Del Rosario recognized his opponent’s dazed state right away and pounced on the opportunity to keep the shots coming, while Mahe simply turned away and fell to his knees, prompting the referee stoppage.

It’s good to see that Strikeforce is trying to build up some prospects, though it is also clear that del Rosario will need to have a step up in difficulty for his next opponent. It is hard to really gauge how far he can go in the suddenly-stacked heavyweight division until he faces someone who can present him with a better challenge.

Other notable fights included UFC veteran Mike Kyle making his first Strikeforce appearance since last August’s loss against Fabricio Werdum, as he took on Ron Humphrey in the light heavyweight division. Kyle was able to take advantage of Humphrey’s difficulties in the striking department, firing away straight punches whenever he got the chance while Humphrey awkwardly ducked his head and extended his arms in response. However, it was Kyle’s grappling that would finish the fight, as he sunk in a rear naked choke midway through the second round to force Humphrey to tap.

Curiously enough, the commentary team took several opportunities to mention that the winner of the Kyle-Humphrey bout would be right in the mix for a title opportunity. Now, I know that Strikeforce treats their titles with about as much respect as Mel Gibson treats his dates, but really? So Kyle is in the running for a title shot because he won twice in King of the Cage (including a title bout against Tony Lopez that he won by split decision) and then against Humphrey? And Humphrey was in the mix because of his guillotine choke win over George Bush (yes, that’s his name) at Strikeforce Challengers 7, I presume? Surely the light heavyweight division isn’t that thin.

In other bouts, Bobby Voelker won a questionable split decision against Cory Devela and Caros Fodor defeated Ousmane Thomas Diagne by unanimous decision. The next Challengers show is scheduled to take place on August 13th.

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Scott Coker Says “Psssssssh” to Fedor-Werdum 2

Scott Coker is growing on me. Part of this is because he doesn’t engage in public flame wars with fans (or YouTube tirades directed at journalists), and part is because he’s finally sticking up for himself a little bit. In the past, Coker has turned the other cheek when UFC president Dana White has tried to bait him into a war of words, and has had to tiptoe around the “crazy Russians” themselves that make up Fedor Emelianenko’s management team.

Then, something happened. Fabricio Werdum tapped Fedor in sixty-nine seconds. Suddenly, Coker was a new man. He stopped paying for late pizza deliveries, went to White’s house just to knock on the door and then flip him off, and told Fedor’s management team that the immediate rematch with Werdum that they wanted wasn’t gonna happen.

Well, he did one of those things, anyway.

Taking the words right out of my mouth, Coker was reported by Sherdog.com as having said, “To me, it’s only been a month. We saw the Werdum fight already.” He went on to list Alistair Overeem, Antonio Silva or Sergei Kharitonov as possible opponents for Fedor’s last fight on his current contract. When asked what he would do if Fedor’s notoriously-stubborn management team tried to play hardball, Coker was uncharacteristically assertive, saying, “I just don’t think they’ll have a choice.”

This is a great move for Strikeforce. If I was them, I wouldn’t put him in there with Overeem either…that is, unless it was a title match and Fedor was locked up in the event that he won the title. That way, if Fedor fights Silva or Kharitonov, then splits to fight somewhere else, Strikeforce still has an untarnished champion and Werdum, who already beat Fedor. There’s no reason for Strikeforce to let Fedor avenge his loss to Werdum or beat their champion in a non-title match if he’s just going to bolt when his contract’s up, anyway.

Rampage Likely to Face Machida Next

According to MMAWeekly.com, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s next fight will be no easy test, as he will face former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida. Though there is no reported date for the bout, it would obviously take place in the fall, with most believing that November’s event in Germany would be the most likely choice. For his part, Rampage just about confirmed the rumor on his Twitter, saying that he was going to be fighting someone whose name he couldn’t spell. That doesn’t exactly limit the possible options, but let’s just go ahead and believe the Machida rumor for now.

I don’t think this is a particularly good matchup for Rampage, though Machida having been knocked out by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua adds a certain amount of intrigue, since Rampage has heavy hands and all. Still, it would be a great fight to see, and would help to shorten the line for a title shot in 2011.

Mir-Nogueira 2 Tops List of Upcoming UFC Fights

UFC 119 is looking to be awesome. UFC 120? Not so much. The UFC officially announced a rematch between Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, which will headline UFC 119 on September 25th. Meanwhile, Nogueira’s brother, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, will take on Ryan Bader in what should be an outstanding fight, as well. Finally, Chris Lytle will get to avenge the controversial decision loss to Matt Serra that kept him from getting a title shot at Georges St. Pierre when those two hook it up again that night.

UFC 120, however, is looking Ultimate Fight Night-tastic. Michael Bisping will headline the London-based event on October 16th against Yoshihiro Akiyama, who has not been as impressive as fans would have hoped in his first two UFC bouts. Meanwhile, Dan Hardy will make his first appearance since getting dominated by St. Pierre as he takes on Carlos Condit in what should be a good fight, if also one that isn’t really worthy of being the co-main event on a UFC card. John Hathaway vs. Mike Pyle is the only other offically announced fight on the card, though Cheick Kongo and Spencer Fisher are among the high-profile fighters rumored to be taking part in other fights that night. Hey, it’s going to be on Spike TV though, so I shouldn’t complain! In fact, just go ahead and forget that I did.

Finally, UFC 121 will take place just one week after UFC 120, and the card finally has another officially announced fight to join the title bout between Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez. In the newly-announced bout, Paulo Thiago will fight Diego Sanchez in another fight to help sort out the middle of the ultra-competitive welterweight division.

Quick Shots

–Randy Couture is fighting James Toney in the surefire winner of 2010’s “WTF Award for Head-Scratching Matchmaking” in just over a month, but that hasn’t kept him from commenting on some other fights that interest him in the light heavyweight division. The UFC Hall of Famer told SBNation.com that he would love to fight both Anderson Silva (at 205 lbs., of course) and Lyoto Machida. Shortly after, I told no one in particular that I would be interested in watching either one of those hypothetical fights, as well.

–Josh Koscheck may have pulled a no-no, announcing on his Twitter that his fight with Georges St. Pierre will take place on December 11th. Actually, he said that he will become the welterweight champion on that particular day, but I reserve the right to edit comments for excessive craziness. Actually, forget that. I haven’t been editing any of Chael Sonnen’s pre-fight smack talk, after all.

–In WEC news, Jamie Varner confirmed on his official website that he will be facing Donald Cerrone for the second time at WEC 51, which will be going down on September 30th. This will be a rematch of their controversial 2009 bout, where Varner took an illegal knee to the head in the fifth round, which took the fight to the scorecards early and earned Varner a split decision win.

–If you’re not into any of the above fights, perhaps Houston Alexander vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou is more your speed? That barn-burner will take place at Shark Fights 13 (no, I haven’t heard of it, either), which takes place on September 11th. And…are you ready for this? It’s not even the main event! THAT designation rests with the highly-anticipated bout between recent UFC castoff Keith Jardine and Trevor Prangley. Prangley is apparently the Shark Fights champion, but won’t be putting his strap on the line against Jardine. Booooooooooooooo!!!

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Heavyweight

1. Brock Lesnar
2. Fabricio Werdum
3. Fedor Emelianenko
4. Shane Carwin
5. Cain Velasquez
6. Frank Mir
7. Junior dos Santos
8. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
9. Alistair Overeem
10. Josh Barnett

Lesnar ascends to the top position with a gutsy comeback win against Carwin, all after Fedor left the door wide open with his first loss in ten years. If Fedor had lost to someone like Brett Rogers, who had just one other big win at the time of their fight, he would have still remained above Rogers in my rankings. However, Werdum has a number of quality wins in the division, and for now has earned the number 2 spot. Carwin’s loss to Lesnar and Velasquez’s comparative lack of quality opponents keep them below Fedor. I have Carwin on top of Velasquez because he impressed me while almost beating Lesnar in the first round of their bout. Velasquez could shoot up the rankings in the near future when he gets his own shot against Lesnar, of course.

Frank Mir looked awful against Carwin in his last fight, but he has a better resumé than the surging dos Santos, who could nonetheless leapfrog Mir with an impressive victory over Roy Nelson, who was just outside of my top ten. Nogueira has not been what we expected during his UFC tenure, at times looking excellent and at other times, looking downright awful. Still, I keep him on top of Overeem, who hasn’t lost a bout since September of 2007, but also hasn’t fought anyone of note during that time except Brett Rogers. Finally, I put Barnett on the list over Antonio Silva, though that may have been a mistake. Barnett has not had quality opponents of late, and that doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon.

Light Heavyweight

1. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
2. Lyoto Machida
3. Rashad Evans
4. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
5. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal
6. Forrest Griffin
7. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
8. Gegard Mousasi
9. Rich Franklin
10. Thiago Silva

The top four slots fill themselves out quite easily. In the eyes of many, Shogun has essentially beaten Machida twice, who in turn absolutely destroyed Evans not too long ago. I still think that Machida, who is now being underrated somehow, would present a difficult matchup for the others on this list, particularly Rampage, who I think Machida could possibly dominate with his speed and counter-punching. Evans just beat Rampage, and though he could beat Machida with the right game plan (read: takedowns), he has to prove it in the cage after their previous one-sided bout.

The other spots? Not so easy. The 5 spot was wide open, and I took a gamble by handing it to King Mo. I know that Mo hasn’t beaten many fighters, with Mousasi being his most notable win. However, there is no questioning his outstanding wrestling credentials, and I think he’s got a favorable matchup against many of the fighters on this list. I think he will have a better gas tank in his next fight, and I was impressed with his perseverance in the Mousasi fight. Plus, Forrest Griffin and Lil’ Nogueira, who I had also considered, haven’t exactly set the world on fire lately. Griffin had a close decision win over Tito Ortiz, who’s not on ANYONE’s top ten, and Nogueira essentially lost against the game (but no-name) Jason Brilz.

I wouldn’t argue with any possible order of the final three spots. I put Mousasi at number 8 because he has shown a lot less chinks in his armor than Franklin and Thiago Silva. I also would pick him to win against either of those two fighters. Franklin hasn’t done a lot at 205, but we all know he’s a quality fighter and I think that his win over Liddell is being unfairly minimized because of the (false) perception that Liddell has nothing left. The only people to beat Franklin in the last six and a half years? Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson (by split decision, no less) and Vitor Belfort. Silva stays in the top ten largely because the next best choices (Ryan Bader, Randy Couture and Jon Jones, in that order) haven’t had the quality wins that they need to be considered.

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Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva
2. Chael Sonnen
3. Nate Marquardt
4. Dan Henderson
5. Demian Maia
6. Vitor Belfort
7. Yushin Okami
8. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
9. Alan Belcher
10. Jorge Santiago

First of all, Jake Shields isn’t on this list, since he’s fighting at welterweight in the UFC. Anyway, there’s no question about the top spot on this list. I didn’t relish the thought of putting Sonnen at number 2, as I think Marquardt could beat him with a more focused effort, as well as Henderson, Maia and others below him. There are a lot of holes in his submission defense and his striking is average at best, too. However, everyone else has slipped up recently, and Sonnen hasn’t. What can you do? Marquardt stays on top of Henderson due to Hendo’s inability to capitalize on two first-round knockdowns against Jake Shields, as well as the lethargic performance that followed in his Strikeforce debut.

I think that Maia represents the end of the top tier in the division, and he is markedly better than those below him. Though I’m not completely sold on Belfort’s latest revitalization, he has wins over Franklin and Matt Lindland in his last two fights, and hasn’t lost since 2006. He may never reach the number one spot, but he has also never lost to a fighter who wasn’t at the top ten at the time of their meeting, so this is right where he belongs. Okami was out-wrestled by Sonnen (and likely would be again in a rematch), but bounced back against Lucio Linhares with a rare TKO victory. He’ll face Mark Munoz in an interesting fight next month.

Jacare is a supremely-talented fighter whose only loss in the last six years was when he was KO’ed by an upkick from Gegard Mousasi in 2008. I expect him to shoot up the rankings as he faces some of the better middleweights that Strikeforce has to offer. Belcher is another one to watch. I’m glad he’s facing Maia in September, as he deserves a shot at a top fighter. Santiago, the only fighter signed to a Japanese promotion on this list, split bouts with Mamed Khalidov to stunt his development, but still has wins over Jeremy Horn, Trevor Prangley and Kazuo Misaki over the last few years.

Welterweight

1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Thiago Alves
4. Josh Koscheck
5. Jake Shields
6. Nick Diaz
7. Martin Kampmann
8. Dan Hardy
9. Paulo Thiago
10. Paul Daley

The first few picks here are easy, as well. I did muddle things up a bit with my decision to put Jake Shields in the welterweight rankings, even though he most recently fought at middleweight in Strikeforce. Still, with his intention to fight at welterweight in the UFC (and his already-inked bout with Kampmann), ranking him in middleweight and not here just seems…dumb. Still, I couldn’t put him above Koscheck, Alves or Fitch just yet, even though he’s fought some really good fighters in the past. Still, those fighters have generally presented Fitch with a blueprint for victory, which generally involves getting easy takedowns, controlling and possibly submitting. I want to see that he can do that to the likes of Koscheck, Fitch and GSP before I give him credit for actually doing so.

Now that I’ve written a complete paragraph about the number 5 fighter on the list, let’s discuss the rest of the top five. GSP is a cinch and anyone who doesn’t have him in the top two pound-for-pound is crazy. Fitch is just as obvious for the second spot, with an astounding 19 wins in his last 20 fights (the only loss coming to GSP). Alves is locked into the third spot, although the second Fitch-Alves bout will settle a bit of the logjam up top. I have Koscheck higher than some others, because I think he’s a different fighter now that he’s rededicated himself to his wrestling. I think he’s a very tough matchup for everyone on the list, and he will give GSP a better fight than folks are predicting.

Spots 6-10 could have many different configurations, but of course, I’m biased towards mine. I have Hardy and Daley ranked so low because they’re one-dimensional. I have doubts in either of their ability to even stay on this list, until they can show some semblance of takedown defense. Hardy is far ahead of Daley in terms of escaping submission and getting out of bad spots on the ground, though. Diaz gets the 6 spot because of both his skills and the quality of his performances since leaving the UFC. He has been able to go on a tear even without using his most dangerous asset (his ground game), becoming a deadly striker in his own right.

Kampmann and Thiago put themselves in order with their June fight, and Kampmann has a huge opportunity to prove he can go even farther in the division during his bout with Shields. Thiago is a good fighter who can’t seem to break into the upper echelon, though I wouldn’t rule out a breakthrough from ever happening for him.

Lightweight

1. Frankie Edgar
2. BJ Penn
3. Gilbert Melendez
4. Kenny Florian
5. Shinya Aoki
6. Gray Maynard
7. Eddie Alvarez
8. Evan Dunham
9. Ben Henderson
10. Josh Thomson

I’m not going to fight to the death over whether Edgar or Penn gets the top spot. I didn’t have any huge issues with the judges’ decision, so I have Edgar at the top spot, personally. Also, Penn has a problem that Edgar doesn’t: he simply doesn’t SHOW UP at times. In such a tough division, that gives me enough ammo to shoot Penn down to the second position. I think Melendez belongs near the top for his wrestling and striking, as well as a very good ground game. He’s one of the most well-rounded fighters in the sport, and a nightmare of a matchup for anyone.

Florian goes above Aoki and the rest for me, and I’ve often said that he’d be the UFC champ if Penn wasn’t in the division. He faces a big test with my number six lightweight, Gray Maynard in their upcoming bout. I was tempted to knock Aoki down even further after his awful display against Melendez. I simply think any wrestler with decent striking is almost a lock to beat him, at least in North America. Still, you can’t deny his submission skills, and he has submitted Alvarez in the not-too distant past.

The final three spots came down to six fighters: Tatsuya Kawajiri, Evan Dunham, Ben Henderson, Tyson Griffin, George Sotiropoulos, and Josh Thomson. I took Griffin out of contention because he just lost to Dunham and hasn’t beaten any elite lightweights in his UFC tenure. Kawajiri was just submitted in no time flat by Aoki (which isn’t really a huge embarrassment, let’s face it), and was dangling on the bottom part of the rankings even before that. I’m really tempted to put Sotiropoulos in after seven straight wins and impressive wins over Kurt Pellegrino and Joe Stevenson, but…I can’t.

Instead, Dunham makes the list based on being an even better version of Griffin. I’ll take Ben Henderson at number nine, though I would love to see how he would do against the UFC’s lightweights. Finally, I’ll put Josh Thomson at the ten spot, as he has a previous win over Melendez and great striking and jiu-jitsu.

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Featherweight

1. Jose Aldo
2. Manny Gamburyan
3. Mike Brown
4. Bibiano Fernandes
5. Michihiro Omigawa
6. Marlon Sandro
7. Josh Grispi
8. L.C. Davis
9. Diego Nunes
10. Hatsu Hioki

The top spot is a no-brainer here, as Aldo is the top featherweight and one of the top overall fighters in the sport, and has a firm grasp on the number one spot here. Gamburyan shocked me by absolutely destroying Brown in their bout in April, and awaits a title shot at Aldo in September. Brown doesn’t have a next fight lined up yet, but I wouldn’t count him out to at least earn another title shot in the not-too-distant future.

The rest of the list includes good fighters who haven’t been able to string enough wins together to be elite featherweights, as well as a few young fighters who are on the rise. Fernandes has a bright future, as he lost two out of his first three career fights (against “Kid” Yamamoto and Urijah Faber), but has won seven in a row since, including against Joe Warren and Joachim Hansen. Omigawa has quality wins over L.C. Davis, Marlon Sandro, Hatsu Hioki, and Micah Miller over the last two years, with only a loss by split decision to Masanori Kanehara in that span.

Sandro is next, more for his combination of grappling skills and raw power than anything that he has accomplished already, though the loss to Omigawa is the lone blemish during his strong six-year career thus far. The next four could go in just about any order, but I have Grispi seventh due to a great first-round submission win over Davis, as well as his overall 14-1 record. Even though Davis beat Nunes, I have him below Diego because he’s lost 2 of his last 5 fights. He needs to evolve past just using his wrestling in order to improve, as well. Finally, Hioki picked up the Shooto championship in May, and has put together a solid run over the last two to three years.

Bantamweight

1. Dominick Cruz
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Brian Bowles
4. Miguel Torres
5. Urijah Faber
6. Scott Jorgensen
7. Takeya Mizugaki
8. Damacio Page
9. Shuichiro Katsumura
10. Masakatsu Ueda

Like most of the other classes, the top spot here is clear. Cruz will get a chance to cement his status further with a rematch against Benavidez at WEC 50, though Benavidez has a lot of work to do to improve upon his performance in the original fight, where Cruz confused and confounded him over the course of the bout. I have Benavidez over Bowles, but I can see it being the other way around, too. Torres is an obvious choice for the fourth spot, and I do believe he will bounce back at WEC 51 against Charlie Valencia.

I ranked Urijah Faber in this division, since he announced his plans to fight at 135 pounds, and even had a scheduled fight against Mizugaki until a recent injury forced him out. I’m tempted to rank him higher based on skills and resumé, but I’ll let him work his way up from the fifth spot, instead. Jorgensen has been very impressive over his last four fights, and his fight with Antonio Banuelos just continued that trend. He faces Brad Pickett at WEC 50, though he can’t be far from a title shot at this point. Mizugaki is a great fighter to behold in action, and it’s a bummer that his fight with Faber won’t be happening yet.

I think the talent drops off a bit after Mizugaki, and I have Page eighth because he’s won seven out of eight fights, including a decision win over Jorgensen. I would rather have Ueda above Katsumura, but I wouldn’t feel right doing so since Katsumara just recently upset Ueda via submission in March. Ueda has won since, but his win over Akitoshi Tamura, though a dominant one, doesn’t warrant bumping Katsumara down.

Pound-For-Pound

1. Anderson Silva
2. Georges St. Pierre
3. Jose Aldo
4. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
5. Frankie Edgar
6. Dominick Cruz
7. BJ Penn
8. Lyoto Machida
9. Jon Fitch
10. Joseph Benavidez

The pound-for-pound rankings are always tough to do. With seven weight classes that I personally rank (some include even more), many divisions have only one fighter (if even that) that’s worthy of inclusion. Similarly, many fans automatically blow up when seeing their favorite fighter ranked near the end of the top ten in anything- nevermind that there are seven divisional champions, plus other fighters to consider for a ten-fighter list.

A lot of writers and fans have “punished” Anderson Silva for his crazy performances by dropping him out of the top pound-for-pound slot. However, this is about SKILL, and I’m not going to knock Anderson out of the top spot simply because I hate the way that he fights sometimes. He still has been leagues beyond anyone that he’s fought over the last few years, and is a solid choice for the top spot (though GSP is, also). Aldo is an easy third on the list, in my mind. His athleticism, range of skills and dominance in a tough weight class earn him that status. My placement of Shogun at fourth is an assessment of a great career and a recent ascension to his old form.

I was tempted to place his two-time rival, Lyoto Machida higher, but didn’t want to put him above divisional champions or BJ Penn. There’s a good chance that Edgar could lose to Penn in their rematch, but he won’t fall off the list, most likely. He’s a great talent, regardless of your feelings on the judging of the first fight between the two. Finally, Fitch could be ranked even higher, but what can you do with such a stacked list? I don’t have any heavyweights ranked…it’s hard to do so when the most successful fighters in the division are near the 265 lb. max, none of whom have stacked up resumés that warrant their inclusion here.

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