Author: McKinley Noble

UFC Official Rankings: Anderson Silva Leads, Jon Jones Tops Georges St-Pierre

Back when the UFC first announced that the company would be doing their own official rankings, there was a lot of speculation about where the top fighters would land.Now, we have our answer.In the first update to the rankings following UFC 156, the pou…

Back when the UFC first announced that the company would be doing their own official rankings, there was a lot of speculation about where the top fighters would land.

Now, we have our answer.

In the first update to the rankings following UFC 156, the pound-for-pound list is led by none other than middleweight champion Anderson Silva, with light heavyweight champion Jon Jones not far behind at the No. 2 position.

Here’s the pound-for-pound lineup so far, via the UFC’s official webpage:

1. Anderson Silva
2. Jon Jones
3. Georges St-Pierre
4. Jose Aldo
5. Benson Henderson
6. Cain Velasquez
7. Dominick Cruz
8. Demetrious Johnson
9. Frankie Edgar
10. Dan Henderson

Notably, UFC 156 co-headliner Frankie Edgar remains on the list, despite being on an 0-3 losing streak with two defeats to lightweight champion Benson Henderson and featherweight Champion Jose Aldo.

Additionally, interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao is the only UFC champion (besides Ronda Rousey) to not place on the company’s official pound-for-pound list, even though he holds a 30-fight unbeaten streak (29 wins, 1 no contest) since May 2005.

Oddly, Chael Sonnen is also absent from the update this week, with no ranking in the light heavyweight or middleweight division.

It should also be pointed out that some members of the media panel did not vote on every division, while others choose not to vote at all.

As noted by UFC president Dana White and official press releases, the UFC official rankings are judged by invitational voting from 90 members of the MMA media, with data supplied by FightMetric.

Updates to the rankings will be provided on Mondays after every major UFC event on pay-per-view, Fox, FX and Fuel TV.

Read up on the entire UFC’s official rankings to see where 88 other fighters ended up in the men’s divisions from heavyweight to flyweight, with a panelist breakdown right over here.

(Note: Since the women’s bantamweight division is still being built and has yet to host a bout, it is not yet represented in the UFC rankings.)

To provide general feedback regarding the latest round of official fighter rankings, you can send messages to the UFC’s official Twitter account or comment at the bottom of the rankings’ webpage by logging in with your Facebook account.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and FightFans Radio writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld and PC World. Talk with him on Twitter.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Dana White: Cyborg vs. Ronda Rousey UFC Title Fight ‘Has to Go to 135 Pounds’

Stick a fork in it, folks. Negotiations for a UFC superfight between Ronda Rousey and Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino seem to be done for now.Unfortunately, the two top-ranked female MMA fighters in the world haven’t been able to agree on a set weight, as t…

Stick a fork in it, folks. Negotiations for a UFC superfight between Ronda Rousey and Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino seem to be done for now.

Unfortunately, the two top-ranked female MMA fighters in the world haven’t been able to agree on a set weight, as the massively-muscled Cyborg has continually states that a 140-pound limit is as low as she can physically go.

That’s not good enough for UFC president Dana White.

White, a firm supporter of Rousey, recently confirmed to MMA Junkie that while he’s still interested in making this fight happen, Cyborg likely won’t be fighting for a title if Rousey meets her at a 140-pound catchweight:

It’s not a title fight. If that’s what [Cyborg] is willing to do is go to 140, let’s let Ronda defend her title a few times and see if Ronda wants to go to 140. If I know Ronda, she probably would anyway, so let’s see what happens. But if [Cyborg] wants to fight for a title and have a title fight, she has to go to 135 pounds.

A fight at 140 would be a fan fight because everybody wants to see it, but it’s not one of those fights that makes sense.

White’s stance effectively kills a superfight between Rousey and Cyborg, although, it remains to be seen if the Brazilian will attempt to cut down to the 135-pound bantamweight limit.

It may be possible, as White previously told TATAME that famed MMA nutritionist Mike Dolce could possibly get Cyborg to trim the 10 pounds.

For her part, Cyborg and her trainer, Tito Ortiz, don’t seem to like this turn of events.

Taking to Instagram in response to White’s claims (via UFC Tonight) that Cyborg wanted “nothing” to do with Rousey, the former Strikeforce featherweight queen called her rival a “bitch,” challenging her to “step up” to 140 pounds.

Notably, Ortiz has also criticized Rousey on The MMA Hour (via MMA Fighting) for buying into her own hype, opining that the UFC women’s champion “hasn’t proven anything” yet.

White’s response to Ortiz was explosive to say the least, as the UFC president slammed his former light heavyweight champion (via MMA Weekly), stating that Rousey’s early MMA career “smokes” Ortiz’s own achievements by comparison.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and FightFans Radio writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld and PC World. Talk with him on Twitter.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 156 Results: Five Fights for Antonio Silva to Take Next

Everyone raise your hands if you expected Antonio Silva to defeat Alistair Overeem at UFC 156 via crippling knockout blows.Really? Just a few of you in the back row?That’s not a problem—many of us didn’t expect him to win, either.But regardless, …

Everyone raise your hands if you expected Antonio Silva to defeat Alistair Overeem at UFC 156 via crippling knockout blows.

Really? Just a few of you in the back row?

That’s not a problem—many of us didn’t expect him to win, either.

But regardless, “Bigfoot” Silva has pulled off one of the biggest upsets in UFC heavyweight history, defeating the very same man who ushered his departure from the Blackzilians camp in Florida.

Question is, what the heck does the UFC do with Silva now?

Read along as we rack our brains to figure out Bigfoot’s place in the UFC heavyweight division, with a particularly long look at a rematch with the current champion.

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UFC 156 Results: 5 Fights for Alistair Overeem to Take Next

Interestingly enough, Alistair Overeem has a wide-open field of possible fights thanks to his embarrassing knockout loss at UFC 156.To most MMA fans and pundits, “The Reem” was simply killing time against the dangerous-but-flawed Antonio Silva while tu…

Interestingly enough, Alistair Overeem has a wide-open field of possible fights thanks to his embarrassing knockout loss at UFC 156.

To most MMA fans and pundits, “The Reem” was simply killing time against the dangerous-but-flawed Antonio Silva while tuning up for a title fight against current heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.

Surprisingly, “Bigfoot” Silva smashed those plans.

Fighting back from a losing position on the judges’ scorecards, Bigfoot eventually started to chip away at Overeem’s unprotected chin, stunning and dropping the Blackzilian star in the third round and flipping over a whole division.

It’s a stunning upset, but what happens now?

Overeem is still a star in the UFC, so he’s not likely to get shoved far down the line—and with that in mind, here are five matches that make the most sense for him.

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UFC 156 Results: 5 Fights for Alistair Overeem to Take Next

Interestingly enough, Alistair Overeem has a wide-open field of possible fights thanks to his embarrassing knockout loss at UFC 156.To most MMA fans and pundits, “The Reem” was simply killing time against the dangerous-but-flawed Antonio Silva while tu…

Interestingly enough, Alistair Overeem has a wide-open field of possible fights thanks to his embarrassing knockout loss at UFC 156.

To most MMA fans and pundits, “The Reem” was simply killing time against the dangerous-but-flawed Antonio Silva while tuning up for a title fight against current heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.

Surprisingly, “Bigfoot” Silva smashed those plans.

Fighting back from a losing position on the judges’ scorecards, Bigfoot eventually started to chip away at Overeem’s unprotected chin, stunning and dropping the Blackzilian star in the third round and flipping over a whole division.

It’s a stunning upset, but what happens now?

Overeem is still a star in the UFC, so he’s not likely to get shoved far down the line—and with that in mind, here are five matches that make the most sense for him.

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UFC 156 Results: 12 Memorable Moments from Saturday’s Aldo vs. Edgar Card

Although betting odds made UFC 156 look like one of the more one-sided main cards in ages, the underdogs came out swinging on Saturday.From the preliminary bouts all the way to the main event, just about every fight had its memorable moments, with seve…

Although betting odds made UFC 156 look like one of the more one-sided main cards in ages, the underdogs came out swinging on Saturday.

From the preliminary bouts all the way to the main event, just about every fight had its memorable moments, with several former Strikeforce fighters putting their stamp on the UFC in emphatic fashion.

And while Bobby Green, Tyron Woodley, Isaac Vallie-Flagg and Antonio Silva all walked away with big wins, even the overmatched Frankie Edgar was admirable in defeat, taking the fight to featherweight champion Jose Aldo in his usual “comeback” style.

It’s been a while since a UFC card was that surprising, and it serves as a brilliant reminder of why MMA is such an unpredictable sport. Read along as we recap a dozen of the most memorable moments to come out of UFC 156 from Las Vegas.

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