Fightmania July Rankings- Part 1
Rankings this epic have to be done in installments, my friends. Well, I may be overstating the value of what are essentially just opinions, but still…here are my July rankings for the featherweight and bantamweight divisions, as well as my top ten pound-for-pound MMA fighters. The other rankings and discussions will follow shortly for all of your entertainment and debate-inciting needs.
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.
Tags: Anderson Silva, Dominick Cruz, DREAM, Georges St. Pierre, Jose Aldo, Joseph Benavidez, Manny Gamburyan, MMA rankings, Sengoku, Strikeforce, UFC, WEC
