Fightmania July Rankings- Part 3
In part 3 of my July rankings, you’ll find the top ten lists for the heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions. If you missed out on the other divisions, be sure to check part 2 for middleweights, welterweights and lightweights, and part 1 for featherweights and bantamweights, as well as my pound-for-pound top ten list, too. August promises to shake up all of the divisions with plenty of big fights on tap, so check this rankings out while they last.
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.
Tags: Brock Lesnar, Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko, Lyoto Machida, Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua, MMA rankings, Rashad Evans, Strikeforce, UFC
