Fightmania July Rankings- Part 2
Previously posted in Part 1 were my selections for the top ten fighters in the bantamweight and featherweight divisions, as well as my top ten pound-for-pound fighters. In Part 2, you’ll find my July rankings in the middleweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. The top spots may be pretty obvious, but there’s plenty of room for debate (or just plain argument) throughout the rest of the spots, so click the jump and give your thoughts!
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.
Tags: Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, Chael Sonnen, DREAM, Frankie Edgar, Georges St. Pierre, Jon Fitch, MMA rankings, Strikeforce, UFC, WEC
