Top Five Rankings

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Big Red Jericho Punk

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I got this recent writing gig at this website called TJRSports.com. I'm doing NFL, NBA, and MMA coverage over there. I'm not going to post all my stuff here but I want to get your take. I'll admit I'm not an expert on UFC but I think I got a good mind for it being a fan since 2009. I know guys like NMS, Dademo, Chase, and Cork are more knowledgeable so I would like to know your take on my rankings. I've done from lightweight to light heavyweight so far with heavyweight coming next week. I explain the rankings rules in my first post meaning that its the top five fighters in the world but at least has a future in the UFC meaning no retirement or jumping promotion.

UFC Top Five Rankings (Lightweight & Welterweight)

UFC Top 5 Rankings (Middleweight & Light Heavyweight)
 

No More Sorrow

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I'll check this out again later and make a proper response when i get out of work, I read what you had to say and i Mostly agree with everything though.
 

Dod Draper

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Not got the time right now to read these articles properly so I only skimmed. Overall I like your rankings. Think I'd have Nick Diaz over Kampmann at 170 but other than that I've not got any disputes.
 

The Cork

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Rankings are subjective so remember people have their own favourites and will disagree no matter what, but you have it fairly accurate.

Lightweight is pretty solid to call, outside of Bendo at #1 it's a toss up. You could have Edgar as #2 on his wins alone and that he is currently #1 contender, or you could just rank the next guy in line Nate Diaz as #2 and I don't think anyone would have a major issue with it, beating Gomi, Cerrone and Jim Miller in succession is a great feat.

After that, I'd prol go with Pettis at #4 (don't like him personally, but it just seems 'right') although his record isn't as impressive as others. Joe Lauzon creeping in at #5 by virtue of him actually having a win last fight while Cerrone, Varner, Miller, Gullilard and the rest are coming off bad streaks.

If it was an 'MMA' list and not a UFC one, slot Melendez in at #2 and push the rest back a spot.
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Welter seems like an easy one, you have it right I reckon. Unless someone wants to be a dick and rank Nick Diaz highly even after losing to Condit (f-u Dod), #1 & #2 take care of themself. I wanna rank Kampmann third, because if it wasn't for judging robberies against Sanchez & Shields he'd be unbeaten since 2009 and have wins over Condit, Alves and Ellenberger on his rec too.

#4 Hendricks, although he looked fucking awful against Kos last time out. #5 Rory Mac, solely because he won't fight GSP so whats the point in even ranking him any higher while GSP is a 170er.


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No point in arguing who #1 is @185, this goes without saying.

Sonnen.

lol j/k.

#2 has to be Belcher for me, I don't really think it's close either unless Rashad dropped and got a win at the weight. Belcher is the only guy I could see troubling Anderson now.

#3 probably Weidmann, I'm sort of shocked he only got an hon mention although I don't rank him that highly either. Still hasn't got any major scalps on his resume, although Munoz was an impressive win.

#4 I agree it has to be Bisping, he probably beat Chael on the Jan Fox show, but didn't get the decision so here we are. He seems to be a jack of all trades but a master of none, which is why he doesn't stand out as a top contender most the time. He isn't dominant enough in winning, and lost to washed up Wandy not that long ago. #5 could be anyone, the division is so poor that Rich Franklin could be ranked here. Stann, Le, Palhares, Boetsch, whoever really.

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When you rank light heavy it goes -
#1 Jon Jones
#2 - #5 whoever got their ass whipped the least by Jon Jones.

#2 is Hendo obviously as you have it, he'll go back to the bottom after his inevitable pasting though.

#3 yeah it's Machida, I don't like him, find him incredibly boring to watch, but his style gives him the best shot of competing with Bones, he gave him a tiny bit of trouble in their first fight, and has had some spectacular KO's I guess.

Gustaffsson @ #4 for me, nice, rangy fighter who has some characteristics the same as Jones but isn't a carbon copy like Joe Rogan puts over he is. #5 is maybe Bonnar here, I am biased, the guy is on a roll with some exciting fights and he still has some milage in the tank. Plus he didn't go life and death with Brandon fucking Vera.


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tl;dr - didn't mean to write such a long ass post but went off on a tangent somewhere......
 

Big Red Jericho Punk

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Thanks for feed back and I look forward to other feed back.

I don't get how Gray Maynard doesn't get ranked for you Cork. The guy has mostly been top notch and could have been champ if he had better cardio. Diaz could be higher than him though but Pettis? I need to see more of Pettis before I can rank him higher Maynard. The rankings went out before UFC on Fox so I didn't give much consideration to Joe Lauzon. After his performance on Fox, I should because he really impressed me.

Only reason I didn't rank Diaz is because i have no idea his status is right now. All I'm hearing is that he wants to fight Anderson Silva so who knows. I didn't bother trying to rank him. Rory over Kampmann seems a bit harsh looking back on it but I'm not high on Kampmann. He puts on great fights but he always seems to come up short. Hendricks is another one I'm concerned about but he has the track record and has some impressive wins. I hope he evolves his game though because he just seems like a pure striker with not much else to offer.

Wow you must hate Vitor Belfort. Middleweight isn't good at the moment but you have to give Belfort some credit. It's a strange division that can go either way by including Stann or Weidman. Some people don't like my Belcher inclusion but he's won some fights in conclusive fashion recently so I had to put him on. Rich Franklin should retire at this point even though he impressed me against Wanderlei.

Shogun has to be on top five. Stephen Bonnar is fun to watch but no way he makes top five for me. Same goes for Rashad although I'm worried about him going forward.

I appreciate the feedback.
 

No More Sorrow

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You got Welterweight nailed in my opinion, I guess you could make the argument for Nick Diaz to be up their but until his suspension is up I guess it’s pointless I’d also have Kampmann before Hendricks as he looked great in his last two fights while Hendricks looked great against Fitch but he was pretty awful against Koscheck but those aren’t major issues at all they're fighting at UFC 154 anyways so that situation will get fixed on it's own. Lightweight is pretty accurate but outside of Ben Henderson being number one it's a toss up pretty much, I wouldn’t have Gray Maynard in the top 5 just yet though, I’d have Nate Diaz in his place as he’ll be up for a title shot after Edgar this Saturday and I’d move Pettis up to 4th(even though he doesn’t really deserve it at all) and I’d honestly have Joe Lauzon at number 5. Agreed with Cork about Melendez being ranked number two If this was all of MMA and not strictly UFC.

As for Middleweight, you pretty much nailed it once again. Middleweight is kind of a mess right now and there’s no argument whatsoever that Silva shouldn’t be number one, and pretty much everybody else that you listed in that weight class could be considered a contender. I would’ve swapped Belcher for Chris Weidman though.

You couldn’t have been more accurate at Light Heavyweight I honestly would’ve put Gusstafson in their instead of Shogun, but I can understand the argument of why you didn’t. A fight between the two is inevitable and then if Gusstafson wins you could make the case that he should be a top 5 contender.

The whole thing was a really good read though, great job with it.
 
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Big Red Jericho Punk

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Thanks for checking it out. I'm a huge Gusstafson fan but just couldn't put him in top five yet. I think by the end of 2012 when he beats Shogun, he'll be in there for sure. I'm a huge Weidman fan and he was up for serious consideration but I need to see some more.

Top five Heavyweights and top ten fighters in the UFC rankings will be up next week, then Ill just probably do some preview or recaps for the site along with posting on here of course.
 

The Cork

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Thanks for feed back and I look forward to other feed back.

I don't get how Gray Maynard doesn't get ranked for you Cork. The guy has mostly been top notch and could have been champ if he had better cardio. Diaz could be higher than him though but Pettis? I need to see more of Pettis before I can rank him higher Maynard. The rankings went out before UFC on Fox so I didn't give much consideration to Joe Lauzon. After his performance on Fox, I should because he really impressed me.

Only reason I didn't rank Diaz is because i have no idea his status is right now. All I'm hearing is that he wants to fight Anderson Silva so who knows. I didn't bother trying to rank him. Rory over Kampmann seems a bit harsh looking back on it but I'm not high on Kampmann. He puts on great fights but he always seems to come up short. Hendricks is another one I'm concerned about but he has the track record and has some impressive wins. I hope he evolves his game though because he just seems like a pure striker with not much else to offer.

Wow you must hate Vitor Belfort. Middleweight isn't good at the moment but you have to give Belfort some credit. It's a strange division that can go either way by including Stann or Weidman. Some people don't like my Belcher inclusion but he's won some fights in conclusive fashion recently so I had to put him on. Rich Franklin should retire at this point even though he impressed me against Wanderlei.

Shogun has to be on top five. Stephen Bonnar is fun to watch but no way he makes top five for me. Same goes for Rashad although I'm worried about him going forward.

I appreciate the feedback.




I'll be honest and tell you I forgot about Maynard :p (come on, that Guida fight was very forgettable) but he's in or around there anyway. Like everyone says, theres a bunch of guys you could rank in there and I wouldn't have an issue with.

Belfort is a hard one because I do really like him, but since returning the the UFC he's only beat an out of shape, out of sorts mentally and physically Rumble Johnson (who weighed in at heavyweight for a middleweight fight :lol:), a shot Akiyama who's lost every fight he's had in USA apart from a robbery against Belcher, and Franklin at light heavy IIRC. He even had an easy fight against Wandy lined up......hes been fed so many cream puffs by the UFC that Krispy Kreme should sponsor him :lol:

Rashad would be top 5 at either 185 or 205, it's just he's in limbo right now so I didn't think it fair to rank him. Sonnen is in the same situation really.
 

Big Red Jericho Punk

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Good points especially about Belfort. Middleweight is a really annoying division, really can't stand that division. Clay Guida is a joke, that fight was very forgettable I agree.
 

Dademo

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In Lightweight, I'd have Nate Diaz and Gray Maynard switch rankings imo. Nate's coming off three impressive wins while Gray's last fight (coming off a championship loss) was rough.

Welterweight is spot on, can't disagree there. Nick Diaz would probably be #6 on that ranking for me though.

I feel like Chael either drops out of the top 5, or is #5 in the rankings right now. I'd put Weidman and Stann above Belfort too.

And I agree 100 % with the LHW rankings.

But it's all opinion, solid rankings bro.
 

No More Sorrow

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I like your rankings for heavyweight.

For your overall in the UFC it's pretty accurate, but obviously everybody is going to have a different opinion. I wouldn't have had Aldo and Condit on my top 10 overall. Your top 5 though is probably how I'd have mine also, nice that you included Benson and Dan Henderson.
 

Big Red Jericho Punk

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Who else would you have Domenick Cruz? I really wouldn't know who to pick if you won't put Condit or Aldo. I haven't got any heat for taking Mir over Carwin which I'm a bit surprised.
 

No More Sorrow

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Yeah i probably would've went for Cruz over Condit not because i don't like Condit i just don't see him as a top 10 guy, if he can some how defeat GSP then I'd have no problem with it. Jose Aldo is debatable though, some think he's the pound for pound best fighter others don't it's pretty much just preference.

And Mir is my favorite heavyweight so that's why i didnt' have any issues. :lol:
 

The Cork

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I was going to disagree with Mir until I realised theres like, nobody else worthy of a top 5 ranking.