Tag: Rankings/List

It takes a lot to knock Nick Diaz off the front pages.

Georges St-Pierre did it with Monday’s free-agency announcement, but not everyone failed to notice the news that one of the most popular fighters in the world is now “ready to go,” according to UFC officials.

And you know what? The whole thing got us to thinking. If we were the matchmaking brain trust over at UFC HQ, how would we avail ourselves of the services of the elder Diaz? In response, Nathan McCarter and myself, Scott Harris, reasoned out these four potential opponents for Diaz’s return.

   

Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone

At the top of the list, Donald Cerrone’s name should appear.

One of the big keys in booking Nick Diaz’s next fight is not just picking someone with a little bit of name recognition, but also someone who will bring the fight to Nick. Cerrone is just that type of fighter. It is a great way to have a marquee bout that will almost assuredly be exciting.

Cerrone has been magnificent since coming to 170. The stylistic matchup with Diaz should get everyone excited. There is also a small bit of backstory with Cerrone’s defeat to Nate Diaz that could be used for promotional purposes. It’s a perfect blend for the organization.

Perhaps even more importantly, it’s a welterweight tilt between two contenders. The winner would be in a great spot to either be in a title eliminator or title fight itself.

In selecting Diaz’s opponent, Cerrone’s name should have a bright yellow highlighter go across it.

—McCarter

    

Michael Bisping

Two great tastes that go great together. Imagine the lad from Manchester, England, and the kid from Stockton, California, incessantly accusing the other of performance-enhancing drugs use for weeks on end before the fight. Imagine the press conferences where they pretend(?) they can’t understand each other.

Then imagine the actual fight, a potentially thrilling five-round display of MMA boxing and toughness and bravado at its absolute finest.

Would you say that’s not fair? If the UFC hadn’t proved this ages ago, it’s certainly proved recently that deserve’s got nothing to do with it. If you want to move the needle at middleweight, this is the fight you make.

—Harris

   
Vitor Belfort

Lest we forget what Diaz’s last bout was and its result. Personally, I don’t believe he should be gunning for a title fight. If he comes back at middleweight, Vitor Belfort is a great opponent for him to square off against.

Much like Cowboy, Belfort offers a style that should be an exciting complement to Diaz. And that’s what we are searching for here.

Belfort is also nearing the end of the line. A matchup against Diaz gives him at least one more premiere fight to ride off into the sunset on, win or lose. Uriah Hall is another name I would have thrown out, but Belfort is a better bet given his veteran status.

At middleweight, I like this fight more than most. Imagine Diaz dealing with Belfort’s speed while dealing out sickening body shots in his trademark style. I’d be giddy watching.

—McCarter

   
Robbie Lawler

No one can tell me with a straight face they wouldn’t pay money to watch this rematch.

It was 2004 when Diaz knocked out a young Lawler all the way back at UFC 47. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but these guys are a little different now.

And yet, the basic factors of Diaz’s all-around skills and Lawler’s great power boxing are still present in the equation. Both of them have the gas tank to go five rounds. Imagine that.

—Harris

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If UFC 203 felt a little familiar to you, maybe that was on account of all the eye-poking.

When Urijah Faber caught Jimmie Rivera, it wasn’t his first eye-poke rodeo. It wasn’t even his first eye-poke rodeo with a guy named Rivera.

And in the co-main event, you had infamous pokester Travis Browne going ham on Fabricio Werdum’s ocular cavity. He was in up to his second knuckle.

Both of these incidents got us thinking here in the newsroom. There have been quite a few notable eye pokes recently (after all, if the ref isn’t going to penalize you, why stop?). Browne and Faber in particular have remarkable bodies of work in this area. 

So what, then, are the pokiest eye pokes in recent UFC memory? Who did them, and what happened? Read on for far more information than you could ever want or need on this particular topic.

Pokes are ranked based on pokiness. What makes a poke more pokey than others? Visual damage, for one, but also its potential impact on the bout.

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It’s been a while, folks, but the Bleacher Report MMA rankings are back! It’s been a hectic month-and-a-half, with a number of major events and a number of good fights going down across nearly every major promotion.

There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s just jump right in.

The complete rules can be found here, the full rankings for each individual member of the panel can be found here and the notes for this month are as follows:

• Jon Jones has been removed from the rankings due to his temporary suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. When he is re-added to the rankings will be decided based on the results of his upcoming hearing with the NSAC.
• Chad Mendes has been removed from the rankings due to his two-year suspension by USADA. He will be re-added after his next MMA bout.
• Anthony Pettis has been moved from 155 pound consideration to 145 pounds, due to his recent win over Charles Oliveira.
• Renan Barao has been moved from 135 pound consideration to 145 pounds, following the announcement of his upcoming featherweight fight against Phillipe Nover.
• Patricio Freire will remain at 145 pounds due to his intent to return to the division. Ben Henderson, meanwhile, will likely remain at 170 until his next fight is made official.

 

Strawweight

No. 1- Joanna Jedrzejczyk (40)
No. 2- Claudia Gadelha (36)
No. 3- Karolina Kowalkiewicz (31)
No. 4- Rose Namajunas (26)
No. 5- Tecia Torres (22)
No. 6- Jessica Aguilar (17)
No. 7- Carla Esparza (16)
No. 8- Joanne Calderwood (10)
No. 9- Jessica Andrade (9)
No. 10- Alexa Grasso (4)
No. 10- Angela Hill (4)
No. 10- Valerie Letourneau (4)

Rose Namajunas‘ hype train has once again been derailed. The runner-up of The Ultimate Fighter season 20 ate a tough split decision loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC 201. While Namajunas lost little ground as a result, it’s a tough blow for a fighter that was incredibly close to a title shot.

Outside the rankings, Cortney Casey became one of the first women in UFC history to get a quick turnaround between fights, posting wins over Cristina Stanciu and Randa Markos over the past two months. In a bigger fight, Paige VanZant got back in the win column with a knockout of Bec Rawlings. While the switch kick that ended the fight is a great highlight, her overall performance was subpar, as she struggled to deal with Rawlings‘ athleticism before the random knockout.

 

Flyweight

No. 1- Demetrious Johnson (40)
No. 2- Joseph Benavidez (36)
No. 3- Kyoji Horiguchi (29)
No. 4- Henry Cejudo (28)
No. 5- Jussier da Silva (23)
No. 6- Ian McCall (16)
No. 7- Ali Bagautinov (11)
No. 7- Louis Smolka (11)
No. 9- Wilson Reis (10)
No. 10- Zach Makovsky (8)

Louis Smolka is looking like he could be a legitimate threat to Demetrious Johnson before long. The Hawaiian posted a dominant win over Ben Nguyen at UFC Fight Night 91, and cemented his place in the top-10. In a shallow flyweight division, he could easily be a fight or two away from a title opportunity.

 

Men’s Bantamweight

No. 1- Dominick Cruz (40)
No. 2- T.J. Dillashaw (36)
No. 3- Raphael Assuncao (27)
No. 4- Bryan Caraway (21)
No. 5- Marlon Moraes (19)
No. 6- Cody Garbrandt (16)
No. 7- John Lineker (13)
No. 8- John Dodson (12)
No. 8- Aljamain Sterling (12)
No. 10- Urijah Faber (11)
 

John Lineker gave a drubbing to Michael McDonald and is sitting pretty in the top-10 as a result. McDonald, meanwhile, falls out of the running.

Cody Garbrandt has become a legitimate phenomenon in the past month since knocking out respected veteran Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 202. Mizugaki is a great name to have on the résumé and Garbrandt‘s brand of pure power and smart wrestling looks good enough to make a legitimate run for the title.

 

Women’s Bantamweight

No. 1- Amanda Nunes (36)
No. 2- Ronda Rousey (35)
No. 3- Miesha Tate (31)
No. 4- Valentina Shevchenko (28)
No. 5- Holly Holm (24)
No. 6- Julianna Pena (23)
No. 7- Cat Zingano (12)
No. 8- Tonya Evinger (10)
No. 9- Alexis Davis (8)
No. 10- Sara McMann (7)
 

The women’s bantamweight division has been thrown into disarray. Again. 

At UFC on Fox 20, Valentina Shevchenko took a decisive win over Holly Holm, earning three 49-46 scorecards. Due to her March loss to Amanda Nunes, that further muddies a division that already had rankings which function like a seven-way rock-paper-scissors contest.

Outside the top of the pack, Raquel Pennington scored a solid win at UFC 202 over Elizabeth Phillips. She is now riding one of the longest active winning streaks in the division today (3) (which isn’t saying much, but still), and could very well be poised for a jump up in competition before long.

 

Featherweight

No. 1- Conor McGregor (40)
No. 2- Jose Aldo (36)
No. 3- Frankie Edgar (31)
No. 4- Max Holloway (29)
No. 5- Daniel Straus (15)
No. 6- Ricardo Lamas (14)
No. 6- Cub Swanson (14)
No. 8- Anthony Pettis (12)
No. 9- Yair Rodriguez (9)
No. 10- Patricio Freire (6)

Anthony Pettis is a featherweight now, and kicked things off in style with a surprising submission win over Charles Oliveira. While the young Brazilian looked strong for much of the fight, he was caught in the third round by a guillotine choke that forced the tap. Pettis instantly jumps into the thick of things in the top-10, while Oliveira is now working along the perimeter.

Yair Rodriguez makes his rankings debut following another exciting performance opposite Alex Caceres. The UFC is clearly behind the young Mexican striker, and he could be en route to big things in the future.

 

Lightweight

No. 1- Eddie Alvarez (39)
No. 2- Khabib Nurmagomedov (36)
No. 3- Rafael dos Anjos (32)
No. 4- Tony Ferguson (27)
No. 5- Will Brooks (23)
No. 6- Nate Diaz (20)
No. 7- Edson Barboza (18)
No. 8- Dustin Poirier (7)
No. 9- Michael Chiesa (6)
No. 10- Michael Chandler (4)
No. 10- Justin Gaethje (4)

Edson Barboza gave Gilbert Melendez a rude welcome back to the UFC. The former Strikeforce champ was absolutely battered by Barboza‘s kicking game, and may officially be on the downslide of his career. Barboza, meanwhile, continues to improve every fight even this deep in his career, and may not be too far off a title berth.

 

Welterweight

No. 1- Tyron Woodley (37)
No. 2- Stephen Thompson (35)
No. 3- Robbie Lawler (33)
No. 4- Rory MacDonald (27)
No. 4- Demian Maia (27)
No. 6- Ben Askren (18)
No. 7- Carlos Condit (10)
No. 8- Andrey Koreshkov (9)
No. 9- Donald Cerrone (7)
No. 10- Kelvin Gastelum (5)

UFC 202 featured three big welterweight fights and while the main event between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz was the biggest fight on the show, neither man is ranked at 170 pounds, and neither man changed position after. Donald Cerrone, however, cemented himself as a top-10 welterweight by putting a beating on Rick Story and Lorenz Larkin knocked Neil Magny out cold, and knocked him out of the rankings in the first round of their fight.

More recently, Demian Maia continues to look absolutely dominant. His latest victim? Carlos Condit. Maia took him down, secured back control and locked in a rear-naked choke on the former WEC champion in under two minutes, earning his most impressive win to date and pushing him further up the rankings.

 

Middleweight

No. 1- Michael Bisping (38)
No. 2- Luke Rockhold (37)
No. 3- Chris Weidman (32)
No. 4- Ronaldo Souza (29)
No. 5- Robert Whittaker (19)
No. 6- Gegard Mousasi (18)
No. 7- Vitor Belfort (15)
No. 7- Lyoto Machida (15)
No. 9- Anderson Silva (6)
No. 9- Derek Brunson (6)

Not much happened in the middleweight division this month. Sam Alvey and Thales Leites posted wins over Kevin Casey and Chris Camozzi, respectively, but neither man made his way into the top-10.

Light Heavyweight

No. 1- Daniel Cormier (40)
No. 2- Anthony Johnson (36)
No. 3- Alexander Gustafsson (30)
No. 4- Ryan Bader (26)
No. 5- Phil Davis (24)
No. 6- Glover Teixeira (18)
No. 7- Liam McGeary (17)
No. 8- Mo Lawal (12)
No. 9- Ovince Saint Preux (8)
No. 10- Mauricio Rua (4)

Anthony “Rumble” Johnson absolutely destroyed Glover Teixeira at UFC 202 in one of his most vicious knockouts to date. That’s not surprising at this point, though. Neither was Alexander Gustafsson beating Jan Blachowicz or Ryan Bader defeating Ilir Latifi (though Bader exploding Latifi with a knee was a bit of a shock). 

What is surprising is how good Nikita Krylov has been. The Ukrainian posted an amazing headkick knockout of Ed Herman at UFC 201, extending his winning streak to five, with each fight ending in impressive fashion. It’s time to stop looking at the youngster as an action fighter, and start looking at him as one of the best in the division.

 

Heavyweight

No. 1- Stipe Miocic (40)
No. 2- Fabricio Werdum (35)
No. 3- Cain Velasquez (32)
No. 4- Alistair Overeem (28)
No. 5- Junior dos Santos (24)
No. 6- Ben Rothwell (21)
No. 7- Travis Browne (14)
No. 8- Josh Barnett (11)
No. 9- Derrick Lewis (5)
No. 10- Andrei Arlovski (4)

It wasn’t an especially active month for the heavyweight division, but there was still some good stuff to be found. 

Josh Barnett showed that he remains one of the craftiest fighters in MMA by defeating Andrei Arlovski with a catch wrestling seminar that culminated in a rear-naked choke. It cemented Barnett’s place in the top-10, while pushing Arlovski further down, and pushing him further toward retirement.

Some younger talent was also on display earlier in the month, too. Francis Ngannou and Marcin Tybura both posted impressive knockout wins and showed that things might not be that bad in the heavyweight division in five years.

 

Top Upcoming Fights to Watch

• Stipe Miocic vs. Alistair Overeem (UFC 203)
• Fabricio Werdum vs. Travis Browne (UFC 203)
• Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Johnson (UFC Fight Night 94)
• John Lineker vs. Jon Dodson (UFC Fight Night 96)

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Carlos Condit vs. Demian Maia was more than a striker-grappler matchup. It’s more like the striker-grappler matchup, at least in the UFC’s welterweight division.

In one corner of the main event of UFC on Fox 21, which went down Saturday in Vancouver, British Columbia, you had Condit, a razor-sharp muay thai striker with 15 knockouts on his resume. He’s pretty good on the ground, too, but he wanted no part of that against Maia, the jiu-jitsu hero with 11 submission wins and a five-fight win streak in the UFC Octagon.

Something, as they say, had to give. 

Maia’s takedowns are not a particular strong suit. Then again, neither is takedown defense for Condit, for all his advantages on the feet. How did the fight play out?

It’s just one of many questions on a night that saw Anthony Pettis debut at featherweight and Paige VanZant return to MMA action, among other things. And as always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. These are the real winners and losers from UFC on Fox 21.

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The main event of UFC 202 was one man’s doing.

Even Conor McGregor’s coach tried to talk him out of it. But he couldn’t be persuaded. He had to avenge his only UFC loss. 

Ever since Nate Diaz tapped McGregor at UFC 196, the Irishman has seemed to sharpen up his focus. No more Lambos and fine Italian silks or what have you.  

So we saw on Saturday whether McGregor got what he wanted. Would he even his welterweight and versus-Nate-Diaz records to 1-1? Was there a rubber match created? Or did the inimitable Diaz once again use his cardio, his boxing, his toughness and his submissions?

As always, the final stats only reveal so much. These are the real winners and losers from UFC 202. 

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