MMA Top 10 Lightweights: 2011 Starts With a Bang

Filed under: DREAM, UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, LightweightsThe UFC might not have a better main event all year than it had in its first main event of the year, as Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard fought for 25 furious minutes and showed why they’re the …

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The UFC might not have a better main event all year than it had in its first main event of the year, as Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard fought for 25 furious minutes and showed why they’re the two best lightweights in the world.

Is it disappointing that Edgar-Maynard ended up a draw? In a sense, it’s always disappointing, in any competition, not to see a definitive winner. But this time the draw was the right decision (I scored it 47-47) Fortunately, the UFC made the right decision and said after the fight that Edgar and Maynard will get it on one more time to determine who’s No. 1.

At the moment, Edgar and Maynard are 1-2 on my list and just about everyone else’s. Take a look at how the rest of the lightweight rankings stack up below.

UFC Title Rankings after December 2010

Bittersweet moment as the final WEC event took place on December 16. With over 50 events over the last nine years, the WEC began to establish themselves as one of the most exciting brands of MMA over the last few years. It’s sad to see a company …

Bittersweet moment as the final WEC event took place on December 16. With over 50 events over the last nine years, the WEC began to establish themselves as one of the most exciting brands of MMA over the last few years. It’s sad to see a company that continually put on great shows to go […]

UFC Betting

UFC Title Rankings after December 2010

MMA Top 10 Pound-for-Pound: GSP Stays on Top

Filed under: UFC, Rankings, OverallGeorges St. Pierre remains the best fighter in all of mixed martial arts, regardless of weight class.

There are arguments, to be sure, for other fighters, namely middleweight champ Anderson Silva or featherweight cha…

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Georges St. Pierre remains the best fighter in all of mixed martial arts, regardless of weight class.

There are arguments, to be sure, for other fighters, namely middleweight champ Anderson Silva or featherweight champ Jose Aldo, getting the No. 1 spot. Most of those arguments center around the fact that Silva and Aldo are finishers, while St. Pierre tends to win decisions.

I’m sympathetic to those arguments, but what St. Pierre does in his decision victories is amazing: In his four decisions as the UFC welterweight champion, the 12 judges have turned in scorecards of 50-45, 50-45, 50-45, 50-43, 50-44, 50-45, 50-44, 50-45, 50-45, 50-44, 50-44 and 50-43. It doesn’t get more dominant than that.

So St. Pierre remains on top. Find out the rest of the Top 10 below.

MMA Top 10 Bantamweights: Moving to the UFC

Filed under: UFC, WEC, Rankings, BantamweightsWorld Extreme Cagefighting is over, and its fighters are heading to the UFC — which means the UFC now has, by far, the strongest bantamweight division in mixed martial arts.

In fact, although Japan was on…

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World Extreme Cagefighting is over, and its fighters are heading to the UFC — which means the UFC now has, by far, the strongest bantamweight division in mixed martial arts.

In fact, although Japan was once home to most of the sport’s best small fighters, in 2011 just about every single significant 135-pound fight will take place inside the Octagon.

The biggest fight will be the first UFC title defense for bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, who’s No. 1 in our bantamweight rankings and ready for a rematch with No. 2 Urijah Faber. See how the rest of the bantamweights stack up below.

MMA Top 10 Welterweights: No End in Sight to GSP’s Dominance

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, WelterweightsGeorges St. Pierre whipped Josh Koscheck for five rounds at UFC 124, bringing to 30 his streak of consecutive rounds won. Think about that: St. Pierre has fought the best of the best in the welterwe…

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Georges St. Pierre whipped Josh Koscheck for five rounds at UFC 124, bringing to 30 his streak of consecutive rounds won. Think about that: St. Pierre has fought the best of the best in the welterweight division, and although you can knock him for not finishing most of his recent fights, even the wildly inconsistent judges we have in MMA these days couldn’t find a reason to score a single round against him over 30 rounds of action.

So when does that change? Jake Shields has dominated a whole lot of opponents himself recently, winning 15 straight fights including eight by stoppage and five by unanimous decision. But while Shields is certainly worthy of his title shot, it’s extremely difficult to envision him actually beating St. Pierre, who does just about everything better than Shields. I could very easily see St. Pierre beating Shields by yet another unanimous decision, 50-45 all the way around.

And so as we rank the Top 10 welterweights in MMA, we’re left wondering if any of them have what it takes to end GSP’s reign.

UFC Rankings After November 2010

The month of November offered two events under the UFC banner, as well as another event under their sister promotion, WEC. With the WEC set to merge with the UFC in the new year, all of the current WEC weight classes and fighters will be included in th…

The month of November offered two events under the UFC banner, as well as another event under their sister promotion, WEC. With the WEC set to merge with the UFC in the new year, all of the current WEC weight classes and fighters will be included in this month’s edition of UFC rankings. Even with […]

UFC Betting

UFC Rankings After November 2010