Tag: Rankings/List

6 UFC Fighters Who Will Sneak Up on People in 2015

Laying low in mixed martial arts isn’t always a bad thing.
It allows a fighter to regroup from an injury, patch holes in their game or build upon a win streak to claim a worthy divisional stake.
But it’s important to know when to escape obscurity and u…

Laying low in mixed martial arts isn’t always a bad thing.

It allows a fighter to regroup from an injury, patch holes in their game or build upon a win streak to claim a worthy divisional stake.

But it’s important to know when to escape obscurity and unveil the final product. If not, the sport’s unforgiven quicksand can trap a fighter forever.

In other words, timing is all it’s cracked up to be. The inevitable surprise must be well-calculated and widely noticed to make the struggle worth it.

Here are six UFC fighters who will sneak up on people in 2015 and arrive on the scene in fashion.

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Bleacher Report Men’s MMA Rankings for April 2015

The latest installment of Bleacher Report’s Monthly Men’s MMA Rankings is here for April 2015. March did not sport too many events, with just two UFC events and relatively sparse showings from both World Series of Fighting and Bellator…but boy, …

The latest installment of Bleacher Report’s Monthly Men’s MMA Rankings is here for April 2015. March did not sport too many events, with just two UFC events and relatively sparse showings from both World Series of Fighting and Bellator…but boy, plenty wound up happening.

UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and Bellator bantamweight champion Joe Warren were both unseated, which shook up the rankings for each division in a big way. Outside those two bouts, fighters changing weight classes has impacted our panelists’ ballots in three separate divisions. 

You can check out our rules and eligibility requirements for different fighters here. Here are the special notes for this month:

  • Dustin Poirier is removed from consideration at featherweight due to his move to lightweight.
  • Kelvin Gastelum is removed from consideration at welterweight due to his move to middleweight.
  • WSOF middleweight champion David Branch is removed from consideration at middleweight after joining the WSOF light heavyweight title tournament. 
  • Notable fighters currently ineligible to be ranked include Anderson Silva, Nick Diaz, Hector Lombard and Ali Bagautinov.

Flyweight

UFC 185 had an interesting pair of flyweight bouts that sent two of the division’s hottest prospects in very different directions. Sergio Pettis looked brilliant in his UFC flyweight debut for about seven minutes before a left hook ended his night. Higher up on the card, Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo‘s impressive showing against Henry Cejudo vaulted him into the top 10, and established him as one of the hottest fighters in the lower weight classes.

Bantamweight

Joe Warren fell out of the bantamweight top 10 with his loss to Marcos Galvao at Bellator 135. Galvao eked his way into the 10th spot, but there is a rock-paper-scissors situation among Bellator‘s top bantamweights at the moment that could reasonably favor any of the division’s three most recent champions.

Featherweight

No major featherweight bouts went down in March, but look for major changes following an action-packed April.

Lightweight

Anthony Pettis‘ thorough beating from Rafael dos Anjos, as expected, shook up the top of the lightweight rankings, with Khabib Nurmagomedov jumping into the top spot on some ballots. Over in WSOF, Justin Gaethje put on an entertaining performance that was good enough to keep the belt around his waist, but not quite enough to move him into the top 10.

Welterweight

What was supposed to be a slugfest between Johny Hendricks and Matt Brown wound up being a return to form for Hendricks, and a brutal indictment of Brown. A week later, Demian Maia showed that he still has the tools to win fights against solid competition, but did not quite strike fear into the hearts of his welterweight brethren. 

Middleweight

As with the featherweight division, 185 pounds was stagnant during March, but has a huge April to look forward to.

Light Heavyweight

There are plenty of fighters that are poised to jump into the light heavyweight rankings…but UFC castoff Thiago Silva is no longer a part of that lot, courtesy of a knockout at the hands of the completely unknown Teddy Holder.

Heavyweight

Alistair Overeem’s odd path towards a heavyweight title berth continued by beating the heck out of Roy Nelson. Overeem, for the most part, avoided danger and showed the potent striking skills that once made him one of the scariest heavyweights in the game.

Top-5 Fighters Fighting in April

  • Chad Mendes vs. Ricardo Lamas (UFC Fight Night 63)
  • Lyoto Machida vs. Luke Rockhold (UFC on Fox 15)
  • Ronaldo Souza vs. Yoel Romero (UFC on Fox 15)
  • Ben Askren vs. Luis Santos (One FC: Valor of Champions)
  • Demetrious Johnson vs. Kyoji Horiguchi (UFC 186)

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Status of Every Bellator MMA Champion

With the UFC holding events nearly every week and scooping up almost all the top talent in MMA, even larger secondary promotions like Bellator MMA have not been receiving the attention they once did.
Unless one is the hardest of hardcore MMA fans,…

With the UFC holding events nearly every week and scooping up almost all the top talent in MMA, even larger secondary promotions like Bellator MMA have not been receiving the attention they once did.

Unless one is the hardest of hardcore MMA fans, it might be difficult to name all the champions under the Bellator MMA or World Series of Fighting banners. That’s unfortunate because there are still some excellent combatants appearing with those organizations.

One reason Bellator MMA champions aren’t as widely recognized as they once were could be because the promotion no longer has any dominant titleholders. Ben Askren and Eddie Alvarez are gone now, and since they left, nobody has really stepped up to become the face of Bellator MMA.

To sort out who might emerge as a top dog in the organization, here is a look at the current Bellator MMA champions and their current status. 

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Status of Every Bellator MMA Champion

With the UFC holding events nearly every week and scooping up almost all the top talent in MMA, even larger secondary promotions like Bellator MMA have not been receiving the attention they once did.
Unless one is the hardest of hardcore MMA fans,…

With the UFC holding events nearly every week and scooping up almost all the top talent in MMA, even larger secondary promotions like Bellator MMA have not been receiving the attention they once did.

Unless one is the hardest of hardcore MMA fans, it might be difficult to name all the champions under the Bellator MMA or World Series of Fighting banners. That’s unfortunate because there are still some excellent combatants appearing with those organizations.

One reason Bellator MMA champions aren’t as widely recognized as they once were could be because the promotion no longer has any dominant titleholders. Ben Askren and Eddie Alvarez are gone now, and since they left, nobody has really stepped up to become the face of Bellator MMA.

To sort out who might emerge as a top dog in the organization, here is a look at the current Bellator MMA champions and their current status. 

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The Beaten Path: 5 MMA Prospects to Watch in April

Whether the UFC is running shows or taking the weekend off, the MMA world is constantly turning. Prospects are gaining experience and looking to make a name for themselves, with their ultimate goal of making the major leagues.
Our job at the Beaten Pat…

Whether the UFC is running shows or taking the weekend off, the MMA world is constantly turning. Prospects are gaining experience and looking to make a name for themselves, with their ultimate goal of making the major leagues.

Our job at the Beaten Path is to keep an eye on these top fighters and point you in their direction. These are fighters who one day will grace top promotions and potentially be title contenders.

April is full of MMA prospects, but who are the ones to watch out for? Here are the five prospects you should keep tabs on in April.

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UFC Rankings: Demian Maia Moves Up at Welterweight with UFC Fight Night 62 Win

Now 37 years old, Demian Maia is looking to make one more run at a second UFC title shot.
At UFC Fight Night 62, the Brazilian took a step in the right direction. His conditioning left something to be desired, but Maia controlled Ryan LaFlare on the gr…

Now 37 years old, Demian Maia is looking to make one more run at a second UFC title shot.

At UFC Fight Night 62, the Brazilian took a step in the right direction. His conditioning left something to be desired, but Maia controlled Ryan LaFlare on the ground and cruised to a decision victory.

With two wins in a row, Maia is now back in the hunt for a shot at the 170-pound championship. Was a win over LaFlare enough to push Maia into the Top Five, though?

Here are the latest official UFC rankings, via UFC.com, which are voted on by the MMA media.

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