Fightmania July Rankings

Another month has passed, and a bit of a slow month for MMA has nonetheless made for some changes in the rankings. Dominick Cruz kicked off the month with a solid title defense against Urijah Faber, while Dan Henderson closed things off by putting away fellow MMA great Fedor Emelianenko in the first round of their Strikeforce bout.

BANTAMWEIGHT DIVISION (135 LBS.)

1. Dominick Cruz
2. Urijah Faber
3. Joseph Benavidez
4. Brian Bowles
5. Scott Jorgensen
6. Miguel Torres
7. Demetrious Johnson
8. Masakatsu Ueda (9)
9. Brad Pickett (10)
10. Takeya Mizugaki (8)

There was action at the top of the division this month, but Cruz did not relinquish his top spot to challenger Faber, instead cementing his reputation as a pound-for-pound great. Faber did well enough that I still feel he deserves the second spot, although he and Benavidez may as well be “2A” and “2B” right now. Mizugaki lost to Jorgensen by decision and drops two spots, while Ueda defeated Rumina Sato with a body kick in Shooto two weeks ago and moves up to the eighth position.

FEATHERWEIGHT DIVISION (145 LBS.)

1. Jose Aldo
2. Hatsu Hioki
3. Kenny Florian
4. Diego Nunes
5. Marlon Sandro
6. Chad Mendes
7. Manny Gamburyan
8. Michihiro Omigawa
9. Dustin Poirier
10. Tyson Griffin

Hioki is now with the UFC, and will debut at UFC 137 against George Roop. Meanwhile, Mendes faces Rani Yahya in a week at UFC 133. Florian will take on Aldo this fall in what Captain Obvious reports will be “one of his toughest fights ever”, and Sandro will keep plugging along in the Bellator featherweight tournament after advancing past the first round last month.

LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION (155 LBS.)

1. Frankie Edgar
2. Gilbert Melendez
3. Gray Maynard
4. Eddie Alvarez
5. Shinya Aoki
6. Jim Miller (7)
7. Melvin Guillard (9)
8. Anthony Pettis
9. Tatsuya Kawajiri (NR)
10. Dennis Siver
Dropped out: George Sotiropoulos (6)

Three fights took place at UFC 132 that affected this month’s rankings. Sotiropoulos drops out after another loss, this time by KO to Rafael dos Anjos, who is on the cusp of joining the top ten with another good performance. Meanwhile, Melvin Guillard starched yet another opponent, putting away Shane Roller in impressive fashion, and he moves up to seventh, leap-frogging Pettis in the process. Finally, Siver won a close decision against Matt Wiman, but didn’t look that great, so the debuting Kawajiri moves into the top ten and past him at the ninth spot. Kawajiri TKO’ed Drew Fickett in the first round in Dream this month. We’re still waiting for Edgar-Maynard 3, and Melendez will be in action next against the capable Jorge Masvidal, who is also just outside my top ten right now.

WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION (170 LBS.)

1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Josh Koscheck
4. Nick Diaz
5. Jake Shields
6. Thiago Alves
7. BJ Penn
8. Carlos Condit
9. Martin Kampmann
10. Rick Story

July presented a second straight month with no movement in the welterweight rankings. Condit soundly defeated Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 132, but he stays put at the eighth spot. I can’t move him ahead of BJ Penn because he knocked Kim silly, can I? He presents a fun, fresh challenger for St. Pierre after St. Pierre faces Diaz, though.

MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISION (185 LBS.)

1. Anderson Silva
2. Chael Sonnen
3. Yushin Okami
4. Nate Marquardt
5. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
6. Vitor Belfort
7. Demian Maia
8. Hector Lombard
9. Brian Stann
10. Mark Munoz

Belfort and Akiyama will face off next weekend at UFC 133. Also, Jacare will take on Luke Rockhold in September, and Silva will fight Okami next month in Brazil. Marquardt couldn’t fight, and I’ll leave him here until we’re sure he’s going to be at welterweight. Now that he’ll be fighting in BAMMA, I’m not sold on him continuing to cut all that weight since he won’t exactly have elite competition blocking his path at middleweight. Jacare will defend his Strikeforce title against Luke Rockhold in September, while Sonnen and Stann will face off in a fight that I’m not sure anyone really wants to see, but make sense for the UFC title picture.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (205 LBS.)

1. Jon Jones
2. Rashad Evans
3. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
4. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
5. Dan Henderson (6)
6. Lyoto Machida (5)
7. Forrest Griffin
8. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal
9. Gegard Mousasi
10. Phil Davis (NR)

Dropped out: Bader (10)

Bader obviously drops out with his stunning loss to Tito Ortiz in early July, his second in a row. I’ll put Phil Davis in there at tenth as a result. Hendo just put away Fedor Emelianenko with a stoppage in a wild fight that forces me to prop him up to fifth. I know, Machida is very good, but what can you do? Dan should be a middleweight and just put away Fedor! Plenty of action awaits this division in the next couple of months, as Ortiz takes on Evans early next month, while Griffin and Shogun will have a rematch of their 2007 fight in Brazil near the end of August. Jones defends his title for the first time against Rampage in September.

HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (up to 265 LBS.)

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

Fedor lost last night by TKO to another legend in Dan Henderson, and many will be dropping them from their top tens. Not I. Why? Well, the Cliff Notes version reads like this: Fedor fights a brawling, wild style, and when you do that you’ll get clipped from time to time. It’s not like getting rocked by Hendo means you have a suspect chin. I still think he beats fighters 8-10 on this list.
Aside from that, the biggest story in the heavyweight top ten in July took place outside of the cage, as Overeem was dropped from Strikeforce after a strange saga that began when Overeem said he wouldn’t be ready to fight Silva in the next round of the Strikeforce grand prix in September (an October date was previously given). Nonetheless, some big fights are already set up in this division, including Velasquez-dos Santos and Nogueira-Schaub. We also have the rest of Strikeforce’s grand prix to look forward to, even if it lost a considerable amount of luster when Overeem departed from both the tournament and the company.

POUND FOR POUND (No Limit)

1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Anderson Silva
3. Jose Aldo
4. Frankie Edgar
5. BJ Penn
6. Dominick Cruz
7. Jon Jones
8. Lyoto Machida
9. Rashad Evans
10. Dan Henderson (NR)

Dropped out: Jon Fitch (10)

We all know that pound-for-pound rankings are imaginary journalist bullshit, but Dan Henderson (along with Silva and Penn) give it a much more literal meaning by moving up in weight and consistently doing well. Hendo just TKO’ed Fedor Emelianenko and he’s champion of a division he really has no business in, how can he not be on the pound-for-pound list?

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Tags: Brian Bowles, Dan Henderson, Dominick Cruz, Fedor Emelianenko, George Sotiropoulos, imaginary journalist bullshit, Masakatsu Ueda, Melvin Guillard, Phil Davis, Ryan Bader, Takeya Mizugaki, Tito Ortiz, Urijah Faber