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The 10 Most Absurd Entries in the UFC’s New Fighter Rankings

(I had no idea what to use for the featured image on this post, so I Googled “puppy taking a shit,” and found this. It fits surprisingly well, I think.)

Last week, we learned that the UFC and FightMetric were organizing a new set of official fighter-rankings, which would be updated often and made available to the public. It was a good idea in theory — for one thing, the rankings would be a helpful reference tool for casual fans trying to keep the rosters straight — but it suffered from two fatal flaws: 1) The rankings would have zero impact on which fights actually get booked, as we were once again reminded today, and 2) If the ranking body is only made up of media members who are on good terms with the UFC, as well as reporters who don’t automatically recognize this exercise as a conflict of interest, the results will inevitably be biased.

The debut rankings list came out today, featuring the opinions of 28 media members, including longtime shills (Franklin McNeil), obscure non-entities (“Burbank Leader”?), and left-field surprises. (Andreas Hale, good to see you my man!) Yeah, I know this sounds like sour grapes from a blacklisted media refugee, but after scanning through the new rankings lists, it’s clear that this thing is as useless as you probably imagined. Here are some notable lowlights…

1. Despite his 0-0 record in the UFC, Gilbert Melendez is listed as the #1 lightweight contender. You know, because he’ll be fighting for the title soon.

2. Other 0-0 fighters on the rankings list: Tarec Saffiedine (#10 welterweight), Luke Rockhold (#7 middleweight), and Gegard Mousasi (#10 light-heavyweight).

3. After losing his featherweight debut against Jose Aldo, Frankie Edgar is now the 4th-ranked featherweight contender in the UFC.

(I had no idea what to use for the featured image on this post, so I Googled “puppy taking a shit,” and found this. It fits surprisingly well, I think.)

1. Despite his 0-0 record in the UFC, Gilbert Melendez is listed as the #1 lightweight contender. You know, because he’ll be fighting for the title soon.

2. Other 0-0 fighters on the rankings list: Tarec Saffiedine (#10 welterweight), Luke Rockhold (#7 middleweight), and Gegard Mousasi (#10 light-heavyweight).

3. After losing his featherweight debut against Jose Aldo, Frankie Edgar is now the 4th-ranked featherweight contender in the UFC.

4. In a related story, Edgar is #9 on the pound-for-pound list — right between Demetrious Johnson and Dan Henderson — despite being on a three-fight losing skid.

5. “Steve Cofield, Mark Daniels, Marc Raimondi & John Silver all ranked Chael Sonnen as a top 10 LHW. Sonnen hasn’t fought at LHW in 7+ years.” Sonnen’s name doesn’t appear on the consensus light-heavyweight list, or the middleweight list, which is just as strange.

6. A dude named Anthony Springer Jr. had Roy Nelson and Pat Barry listed as the UFC’s #3- and #4-ranked heavyweight contenders — based on accomplishments, not personality — and ranked Brian Bowles as the #3 bantamweight, directly over Urijah Faber. Also, Daniel Cormier was in his Top 10 P4P list, but wasn’t included in his heavyweight rankings. This is the caliber of MMA-pundit that they’re relying on, guys.

7. Nick Diaz is ranked above Rory MacDonald on the welterweight list, which is kind of ludicrous if we’re considering their actual recent accomplishments in the welterweight division.

8. Since the UFC only has three fighters in its women’s bantamweight division, a rankings list for that division doesn’t exist.

9. Speaking of weak divisions, the flyweight ranking list has two fighters who sport 0-1 records in the UFC — #10-ranked Ulysses Gomez, and Jussier Da Silva, who managed to place all the way at #5.

10. Ian McCall is winless at flyweight in the UFC. He’s still ranked as the #3 contender, right above John Moraga (2-0).

And there you have it, folks — the difference between rankings and “rankings.” If anything else on the list upsets you, let us know in the comments section.

UFC Teams With FightMetric and MMA Media to Create Sort-of-Official Fighter Rankings

(“In my unbiased opinion as an MMA journalist, Chael Sonnen is the #1-ranked fighter at *all* weight classes. In addition, he has the biggest arm and does the most harm.” Photo via Fuel TV.)

For the first time ever, the UFC will publish fighter ranking lists in each of their weight divisions. The new rankings will be generated by FightMetric, in collaboration with a wide range of media members. Here’s the scoop, via a press release on UFC.com:

FightMetric®, the official statistics provider of the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®), will continue to enhance fans experience by providing UFC Fighter Rankings. UFC Fighter Rankings by FightMetric will poll opinions from sports media worldwide and will be recognized by the UFC and integrated into its broadcast and featured on UFC.com. Voting will be open to media immediately after each live event with results made available to UFC.com within 24 hours.

“We are thrilled to have UFC recognize our fighter rankings and to have them hosted on UFC.com, as well as incorporated into event broadcasts. FightMetric has worked closely with the UFC for several years as an industry-leader in MMA statistics. Sports fans are accustomed to seeing performance data and rankings on their favorite baseball, football and soccer players, and now we can engage UFC fans on a similar level,” said FightMetric creator Rami Genauer.

“UFC Fighter Rankings are a great tool for new and existing fans alike to learn and better keep up with the fast pace of the UFC,” said UFC President Dana White. “We always look for opportunities to engage fans and media, allowing them to connect and voice their opinions, and this just one more way of doing that.”

(“In my unbiased opinion as an MMA journalist, Chael Sonnen is the #1-ranked fighter at *all* weight classes. In addition, he has the biggest arm and does the most harm.” Photo via Fuel TV.)

Media members will vote for top fighters, currently active in the UFC, by weight class and pound-for-pound. A fighter can only appear in one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champions of each division are set in the first and second positions respectively and are not eligible for voting by media. However, champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings. Media voting is by invitation only and interested media members can apply at UFC.com/Rankings.

The UFC’s creation of public rankings is a smart move for two reasons: 1) The rankings will add another mark of legitimacy to a sport that is still battling for public acceptance, and 2) As Dana White mentioned in the release, they’ll help fans — and not just causal fans — keep up with the growing rosters and weight divisions under the promotion’s control. You’d have to be a die-hard fan to know which bantamweights are outside the top-five at any given moment, for example. These rankings will help keep fans clued in, especially when they’re trying to figure out who’s worth watching during the next UFC on FOX Sports 2 card.

So will these rankings have any effect on future UFC matchups, and which fighters get title shots? Not exactly. “Regardless of the rankings, I’ll put together the fights the people want to see,” White reportedly said yesterday, according to Ariel Helwani. So think of them as more of a promotional, informational tool provided by 90 journalists who are on relatively good terms with the UFC, rather than a literal, unbiased look at the pecking order in each division.

We’ll let you know when our application is rejected : (

Juanito Ibarra Ordered to Pay CagePotato’s Parent Company $61,075 in Court Costs Related to 2009 Defamation Lawsuit

(To the victor go the spoils. / Photoshop via MRuss)

Cage Potato is pleased to announce that a troubling legal matter has been settled in our favor. After being named as a defendant in a June 2009 defamation lawsuit filed by MMA trainer Juanito Ibarra, we’ve finally been removed from the frivolous suit, and Cage Potato’s parent company has been awarded $61,075 in attorney fees and associated costs.

The lawsuit stemmed from a September 2008 PunchDrunkGamer.com interview with Tito Ortiz, in which Ortiz claimed that Ibarra had overcharged Quinton Jackson for his training camps, which led to Jackson severing professional ties with Ibarra. Like many other sites, Cage Potato quoted the interview in a blog post, and gave our own thoughts on the matter. Nine months later, Ibarra responded by filing suit against CagePotato.com — as well as Ortiz, Jackson, and over 20 web sites and writers — claiming that we damaged his reputation by publishing false information.

(To the victor go the spoils. / Photoshop via MRuss)

Fortunately, Ibarra wasn’t able to prove his claims in court. In September, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Zaven Sinanian granted a motion by our lawyers to dismiss CagePotato.com from the lawsuit. Our lawyers then filed a counter-suit to recoup attorney fees and other court costs, which was successful. On October 27th, a Los Angeles judge awarded Cage Potato’s parent company a judgment of $61,075.

Ortiz and Jackson are the only remaining defendants in Ibarra’s lawsuit; all of the other media outlets named in the suit have reportedly either settled with Ibarra or have been removed as defendants.

Because Ibarra never offered proof that Ortiz’s statements were false, and because CagePotato.com didn’t re-publish Ortiz’s quotes out of malice towards Ibarra, we always felt that the lawsuit was meritless and motivated by profit — a shakedown, essentially. We applaud the Los Angeles County court system for defending our right to report the news.

So I Guess We’re Not Going to Talk About Joe Rogan Calling a Female MMA Writer ‘Cunty’?

(“Great night of fights, Joe, and I’ll see you next Tuesday.”)

Earlier this week, when the “Rampage motorboating Karyn Bryant” video started to circulate among the MMA blogosphere, our friend Maggie Hendricks at CageWriter.com wrote a post about Quinton Jackson‘s history of reporter-abuse, calling for the MMA media to stop playing along with his old, tired act.

Yesterday, the article was posted on the Underground Forum, which led to an avalanche of posters insulting everything from Hendricks’s writing ability, to her physical appearance, to her perceived jealousy of Karyn Bryant. A series of posts from UG member “The Skywalker” summed up the anti-Maggie sentiment:

“The act is only old and tired to you because you seem not to like the colorful flirtatious nature of his character in the first place. And again, he isn’t assaulting anyone, he’s staying within the lines and giving them great material so they can get more hits, more ad clicks, and make more money…You try to empower yourself by implying that you have the power to take his stage away, when you know damn well that the fans couldn’t care less about who is holding the microphone. You’re not giving him a stage, he’s giving you a job. If you don’t like it, I’m sure that there are lots of other news outlets that would love (lol) to have your CV on file…

(“Great night of fights, Joe, and I’ll see you next Tuesday.”)

The reason we are making fun of your looks is that it is obvious that your attitude about gender relations is the result of an emotional reaction to how you have been treated, not an objective rational thought process. Nobody “expects” you to be a supermodel, because you’re a reporter. That’s something you have invented in your own mind, and looking back over your history, it’s perfectly obvious that this is nothing new. Karyn is obviously no supermodel either, and that is a large part of why Rampages joke was SO FUNNY…You might not be able to CONTROL how [your articles] are perceived, but you can control the tone of your own writing. And thus far, you have come off like a sandy-crotched whiney teenager who just got done reading Atlas Shrugged for the first time.”

Okay, normal MMA-forum banter so far, right? So then, Joe Rogan chimes in. Yes, that Joe Rogan, the color-commentator from the UFC. (It’s on page 12 of the thread, if you’re curious):

“I think Rampage occasionally gets out of line, and I think some of what he does in interviews [is] unfortunate. I also think that’s a part of his charm. He’s not a fucking dentist, he’s a cage fighter, and he’s one with a very unique personality. I don’t think he should be given a free pass for some of the questionable things he does, but I do think that this woman in question is all kinds of cunty. The Skywalker broke down everything that’s wrong with her and her shitty, cunty brand of writing to a fucking T. That, was worthy of the #BOOM.”

I’m a big fan of Joe Rogan’s work for the UFC — I was before this, and I will be after this. But how is it appropriate for an official commentator of a sport with major-league aspirations to refer to a female member of the media as “cunty”? What the hell? Even if he and Maggie have personal beef (pretty sure they don’t), it’s not something you ever say in public. Joe has a wife, a daughter, a mother, female co-workers — that word really shouldn’t be in his vocabulary.

I expected Joe’s post to grab the blogosphere’s interest this morning, just like when Joe called MMA writer Tomas Rios a “faggot” last year, which led to a smirking non-apology that also managed to incorporate the word “cunty.” But for some reason, no other MMA sites have touched it. I think it’s because the amount of outrage that Joe’s latest gaffe created was nearly non-existent. (Draw your own sad conclusions about that, and what it says about the place of women in the MMA media. By the way, Karyn Bryant was totally cool with being motorboated while her husband filmed the segment in question. Heather Nichols was not, and never covered MMA again. So no, Rampage’s antics aren’t always taken in the spirit which they’re intended, and I think Maggie’s post was dead-on.)

In a way, all stories like this feel manufactured, in the sense that us members of the media care about them, despite the fact that the majority of sports fans don’t give a rat’s ass. It’s just not part of their conversation. Nine out of ten UFC fans will side with Quinton Jackson and Joe Rogan every time, because Rampage and Joe are awesome, and motorboating is hilarious, and who the fuck is Maggie Hendricks anyway? Seriously, here’s another representative comment from the UG thread from member ‘Bat21′:

“shitty cunty?!?!? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!
Fuck, I’m still laughing after 5 minutes. You’re the man, Joe.”

Jesus. If this is the mindset of the average UFC fan, then good luck being taken seriously, guys.

A high-profile commentator for the NFL or NBA couldn’t get away with throwing around slurs like this in public forums. I know that the fast-and-loose quality of the UFC’s frontmen and fighters has been part of the brand’s great success to this point. But there will come a time (we hope) when MMA is so popular that guys like Rampage and Rogan will have to behave like gentlemen — so they may as well start practicing for it now.

–Ben Goldstein

Roy Nelson Talks MMA Media, The Art of Self-Promotion and Lays Out His Plans for 2011

(Besides his go-for-broke style of fighting, Big Country’s penchant for telling it like it is has made him a fan favorite.)
Roy Nelson stopped by The Bum Rush Radio Show recently and as always, the outspoken UFC heavyweight contender didn’t pull a…

(Besides his go-for-broke style of fighting, Big Country’s penchant for telling it like it is has made him a fan favorite.)

Roy Nelson stopped by The Bum Rush Radio Show recently and as always, the outspoken UFC heavyweight contender didn’t pull any punches when discussing the topics we broached.

When asked about his recently publicized contract dispute with Roy Jones Junior’s Square Ring Promotions, "Big Country" says the frivolous lawsuit, which came about eight months ago is old news and that reports that he didn’t have his manager or lawyer read through the contract are false. He says that he was given the impression that SRP was no longer promoting MMA events and that his obligation to the organization (who only promoted two events and at time of writing has no other cards planned) was completed.

"It’s pretty much eight-month-old news. There’s nothing really new and exciting. It’s just a lot of legal processes. In the United States anybody can sue anybody. This has been going on for months and if this is a new story that people are writing about now, somebody hasn’t done their homework," Nelson says. "From my understanding, there was no further obligation with them. We were trying to get some fights with them and we helped them out a bit [with setting up some matches] because they were doing some smaller shows and they wanted to get into the MMA business. Now, apparently they aren’t getting into the MMA business."