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MMA Top 10 Lightweights: Who Deserves the Next Shot?

Filed under: DREAM, UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, Rankings, LightweightsThe UFC’s lightweight division is such a shark tank that it’s incredible that Jim Miller won seven fights in a row against 155-pounders in the Octagon, and won all of them convincing…

Filed under: DREAM, UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, Rankings, Lightweights

The UFC‘s lightweight division is such a shark tank that it’s incredible that Jim Miller won seven fights in a row against 155-pounders in the Octagon, and won all of them convincingly. Even if you’re not fighting the cream of the crop, you’re going to run into trouble at some point when you’re fighting UFC lightweights.

Trouble is just what Miller ran into at UFC on Versus 5, when Ben Henderson hammered him for three rounds on the way to a unanimous decision victory. The Henderson fight was Miller’s chance to earn the next shot at the lightweight title, but instead he gets dropped in the rankings, and it’s back to the drawing board for the UFC, which needs to figure out who’s next for the winner of the upcoming Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard fight.

So who will it be? We take a look at some of the contenders as we rank the Top 10 lightweights in MMA below.

Top 10 Lightweights in Mixed Martial Arts

(Editor’s Note: The fighter’s rankings the last time we ranked the lightweights are in parentheses.)

1. Frankie Edgar (1): The lightweight champion defends his title against Gray Maynard at UFC 136, and one way or the other, we can all hope for a decisive ending so that some new blood can fight for the lightweight strap.

2. Gray Maynard (2): One of the frustrating things about the lightweight division is that we’re going to go two full years with only three men competing for the belt: First Edgar beat B.J. Penn, then he beat Penn in the rematch, then Maynard and Edgar fought to a draw, and now they’re preparing for a rematch. There’s a long line of good lightweights waiting for a title shot.

3. Gilbert Melendez (3): Unfortunately for Melendez, he’s still stuck with Strikeforce, defending his belt against Jorge Masvidal next. Masvidal is a fine fighter, but he’s a step down for Melendez. The sooner Melendez is in the UFC, the better.

4. Clay Guida (6): Edgar, Maynard and Melendez are pretty well established as the Top 3 in the world, but watching the Ben Henderson-Jim Miller fight had me re-assessing the rest of the lightweight division, which is a big jumble of good fighters who are hard to separate from each other. I settled on Guida as the next-best of the bunch because of his current four-fight winning streak, in which he has looked particularly dominant, and especially for his impressive win over Anthony Pettis, who in turn had an impressive win over Henderson. If Kenny Florian or Diego Sanchez were still in the lightweight division, I’d rank either one of them ahead of Guida, as they both beat Guida before his current four-fight streak began. But as it is, I have Guida next in line at lightweight, and probably next in line for a title fight.

5. Anthony Pettis (9): The further we get into the world of the post-UFC-WEC merger, the more impressive it seems that Pettis was the WEC’s lightweight champion. When Pettis beat Henderson to win the WEC lightweight belt, we didn’t know that Henderson was capable of beating a Top 10 UFC lightweight like Miller. Now that we do know, it’s reasonable to re-assess Pettis’s standing in the lightweight division, and that’s what I’ve done in moving him into the Top 5.

6. Ben Henderson (NR): The best thing about Henderson as a fighter? His physical strength, especially in his lower body. He uses those tree trunk thighs to drive right through his opponents, and he completely overpowered Miller — something no one has ever done before.

7. Shinya Aoki (4): Aoki is going to have a tough time staying up high in the lightweight rankings if he doesn’t start beating higher-quality competition. The two guys he’s beaten this year, Rich Clementi and Lyle Beerbohm, are fine, but they’re nowhere near the level of opponents he’d be fighting in the UFC. I still think Aoki is a Top 10 lightweight, but I wish I could see him prove it in the Octagon.

8. Melvin Guillard (8): Guillard is currently on a five-fight winning streak, and if he makes it six in a row against Joe Lauzon at UFC 136, he’d have a good chance of earning the next shot at the Edgar-Maynard winner. It’s hard to believe now that Guillard was once viewed as an example of a guy who had thrown away his talent: Now he’s 7-1 since making his UFC return three years ago, and on the verge of a title fight.

9. Jim Miller (5): Miller is a great jiu jitsu practitioner who’s always looking for a submission, but what he found against Henderson is that he just wasn’t strong enough to deal with a bigger man pounding away at him from the top. He might want to consider a move to featherweight.

10. Eddie Alvarez (7): The longer Alvarez goes without fighting significant competition, the harder it’s going to be for him to stay in the lightweight Top 10. Alvarez is 7-0 since signing with Bellator, which is impressive, but none of his seven opponents is even close to the Top 10. And the last time he did face a Top 10 opponent, Shinya Aoki, he was submitted in 92 seconds. I’d love to see Bellator put Alvarez in the cage with someone who can really let him prove that he’s one of the MMA elite, but the reality is that won’t happen any time soon.

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MMA Top 10 Light Heavyweights: A Tough Call at No. 2

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, Light HeavyweightsJon Jones is the undisputed champion of the light heavyweight division, but figuring out who deserves to be No. 2 at 205 pounds is tough.

Is it Rampage Jackson, who gets the next crack at Jone…

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, Light Heavyweights

Jon Jones is the undisputed champion of the light heavyweight division, but figuring out who deserves to be No. 2 at 205 pounds is tough.

Is it Rampage Jackson, who gets the next crack at Jones’ title? Is it Shogun Rua, the previous champion? Is it Rashad Evans, who beat Jackson? Is it Lyoto Machida, who beat Evans? Is it Dan Henderson, who ran through the Strikeforce light heavyweight division and then beat an opponent who outweighed him by 16 pounds in Fedor Emelianenko?

Good arguments can be made for any of them. So who do I have at No. 2? Find out below.

Top 10 Light Heavyweights in MMA
(Editor’s note: The fighter’s ranking the last time we did light heavyweights are in parentheses).

1. Jon Jones (1): Jones was in Denver on July 19, his 24th birthday, for a press conference promoting his upcoming fight with Rampage Jackson. Jones said several times that now that he’s 24 he doesn’t think anyone should call him young anymore, but the reality is that Jones is both the best fighter in the division and the youngest in the Top 10. His age is an important part of why people are so excited about what he can do: He could be a long-reigning champion in a division that has seen a great deal of turnover at the top.

2. Rashad Evans (4): Evans’ impressive victory over Tito Ortiz at UFC 133 moves him back up to No. 2 in my book. Evans looked as good as he’s ever looked, and it was especially noteworthy that he looked physically stronger than he ever had before. The way he picked Ortiz up and slammed him down with a minute left in the first round was particularly impressive. Whether Jones or Jackson is the light heavyweight champion after their UFC 135 fight, Evans will be a very worthy opponent.

3. Shogun Rua (2): We’ll learn a lot about Shogun when he takes on Forrest Griffin at UFC 134. If Rua can avenge the loss to Griffin from four years ago and come out of the fight healthy, he’ll be in the mix (as Dana White likes to say) for a shot at the light heavyweight title some time in 2012. But Rua’s knees have given him so many problems that it’s hard not to wonder, even though he’s only 29, if he’s on the down side of his career.

4. Lyoto Machida (3): Machida’s decision to turn down a fight with Evans was a surprise, because Machida thoroughly whipped Evans when they fought two years ago. If Machida had accepted that fight and won, he’d probably be next in line for a title shot. Now he may be sidelined for an extended period of time, as most of the other top light heavyweights already have fights lined up.

5. Rampage Jackson (5): Jackson looked sluggish in his UFC 130 victory over Matt Hamill, and at age 33 he doesn’t seem to have the punching power he once had: In the last four years, Rampage has fought 23 rounds inside the Octagon, and other than his knockout of Wanderlei Silva at UFC 92, he’s never been particularly close to finishing anybody. If we’re going to see an upset of Jon Jones at UFC 135, we’re going to have to see a much better Rampage than we’ve seen recently.

6. Dan Henderson (6): Henderson is the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, but his impressive win over Fedor Emelianenko was probably his last fight in Strikeforce: His return to the Octagon is likely coming soon. Machida would be a good opponent for him in his UFC return.

7. Forrest Griffin (7): Griffin will have a great chance to move up in the rankings when he takes on Shogun Rua at UFC 134. A win over Rua, whom Griffin has already beaten once, would vault Griffin into the Top 5 and probably put him only another win away from another shot at the light heavyweight title.

8. Phil Davis (8): A knee injury forced the 9-0 Davis to pull out of his scheduled UFC 133 fight with Evans, and there’s no word yet on when he’ll return to the Octagon. With five UFC wins in less than 14 months from February of 2010 to March of 2011, Davis had been building up a lot of momentum that this injury slowed down. But he’ll be back and quite likely fighting for the light heavyweight title by the end of 2012.

9. Thiago Silva (9): Silva is currently serving a one-year suspension for using a banned substance and cheating on his UFC 125 drug test. Some will drop him from the rankings for that, but Silva’s record (14-2 with 11 wins by knockout, two wins by submission and losses only to Evans and Machida) is strong enough that I don’t think you can put together a list of the Top 10 light heavyweights without him.

10. Rafael Cavalcante (10): The former Strikeforce champion, Feijao will face a largely untested opponent, the 4-0 Olympic wrestling silver medalist Yoel Romero, in his return to the cage on September 10.

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MMA World Women’s Pound-for-Pound Rankings

It’s been four years since Gina Carano and Julie Kedzie lit up the EliteXC cage in the bout that pushed women’s MMA over the mainstream threshold. Since that bout, fans have been chomping at the bit for more female action. Unfortunately, th…

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MMA World Women’s Pound-for-Pound Rankings

Official B/R MMA Rankings June 2011: Top 10 Welterweights in MMA

Some of Bleacher Report’s best MMA writers have come together to give their opinions on who is the best-of-the-best in June. Each respective division voted on by these writers. Going along with Bleacher Report’s continuing efforts to provide our readers with the most unique content, we are also taking strides to compile consensus MMA rankings […]

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Official B/R MMA Rankings June 2011: Top 10 Welterweights in MMA

MMA Top 10 Heavyweights: Two Stand Above the Rest

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, HeavyweightsCain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that they’re the two best heavyweights in mixed martial arts. The rest of the division is a jumble.

Velasquez has dominated…

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, Heavyweights

Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that they’re the two best heavyweights in mixed martial arts. The rest of the division is a jumble.

Velasquez has dominated the best two opponents he’s fought, Brock Lesnar and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, finishing them both in the first round. Dos Santos has dominated the best two opponents he’s fought, Fabricio Werdum and Shane Carwin, finishing Werdum in the first round and brutalizing Carwin in the first round before coasting to a decision victory. None of the other top heavyweights in MMA has been so impressive against such high-quality opposition.

So in our latest rankings of the top heavyweights in MMA, Velasquez and dos Santos are a clear 1-2. See where 3-10 stack up below.

(Editor’s note: The individual fighter’s ranking the last time we did heavyweights are in parentheses.)

1. Cain Velasquez (1): Although the 9-0 Velasquez deserves to be considered the No. 1 heavyweight in the sport as long as he stays unbeaten, his inactivity because of a torn rotator cuff is going to raise serious questions about whether he’ll be able to return at 100 percent. He’s tentatively scheduled to defend his title on November 19, which is 392 days after he won the belt from Brock Lesnar. It’s never easy for a fighter to return after more than a year off, even if he’s completely healthy.

2. Junior dos Santos (2): After the whipping dos Santos put on Shane Carwin, it’s easy to see why the oddsmakers installed him as the favorite against Velasquez. Dos Santos is an amazing physical specimen whose striking technique is superb. He’s also younger than Velasquez and healthier than Velasquez, and there’s every reason to think he’ll return to the cage looking even better than he did against Carwin.

3. Alistair Overeem (7): I don’t want to diminish what Overeem accomplished against Fabricio Werdum: Overeem handily beat a man who had himself handily beaten Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Silva and Mike Kyle in his last three fights. But Overeem didn’t do anything to make me think he’s on the same level as Velasquez and dos Santos.

4. Brock Lesnar (3): From all indications, Lesnar will sit out for well over a year when it’s all said and done: He fought Velasquez on October 23, 2010, and he likely won’t fight again until 2012. With his health problems and long periods of inactivity, it’s hard to see Lesnar ever becoming the champion again.

5. Fabricio Werdum (5): Werdum is the best heavyweight grappler in the world, but he’ll never be the best heavyweight MMA fighter in the world until he figures out a way to really exchange with good strikers. Werdum’s usual method is to get passive when a good striker hits him. Sometimes that works — as it did against Fedor, who foolishly jumped into Werdum’s guard after knocking him down. But usually it fails, as it did in Werdum’s decision losses to Overeem and to Andrei Arlovski. (Of course, Werdum’s stand-up really failed when he fought dos Santos, who knocked him cold in 81 seconds.)

6. Antonio Silva (6): Bigfoot will provide an interesting stylistic matchup with Overeem in the next round of the Strikeforce tournament: Like Werdum, Bigfoot has better Brazilian jiu jitsu skills than Overeem. And unlike Werdum, Bigfoot is big and strong enough to take Overeem down and keep him there. I think Overeem’s superior striking will earn him the win in that fight, but Silva is a threat.

7. Shane Carwin (4): The heart and determination Carwin showed against dos Santos was admirable, but that fight also demonstrated how far removed Carwin is from the truly elite of the heavyweight division. Carwin is still a powerful puncher and a potent force in the heavyweight division, but he’s 36 years old and on the down side of his career.

8. Frank Mir (8): Mir has now won two in a row since the beating he took at the hands of Carwin, and he’s been making noises about getting a second shot at Carwin. That’s a fight the UFC should consider booking.

9. Fedor Emelianenko (9): The greatest heavyweight in MMA history is on a two-fight losing streak and hasn’t won since beating Brett Rogers in 2009. Fedor’s upcoming fight with Dan Henderson is an interesting match-up but won’t do anything to bolster his rankings within the heavyweight division: If Fedor wins it just proves that he can beat someone who’s older and smaller than him, while if Fedor loses it’s another piece of evidence that he’s well past his prime.

10. Josh Barnett (NR): Barnett is now back in the Top 10, having finally gotten sanctioned to fight in America and beaten a relatively good opponent. I don’t think the 33-year-old Barnett is on the same level as the truly elite fighters in the heavyweight division, but I do think he’s good enough to beat Sergei Kharitonov and advance to the tournament final, where he’ll be a dangerous opponent for either Overeem or Bigfoot.

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UFC Power Rankings: A Look at the Top 10 Fights Left on UFC Schedule for 2011

2011 has not been a banner year for UFC so far. The company has had a number of fights on the schedule that have been delayed or canceled due to injuries. But the news hasn’t been all bad as one of those injuries opened the door for Jon Jones to …

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UFC Power Rankings: A Look at the Top 10 Fights Left on UFC Schedule for 2011