Yeah, Rogerio is a beast.
Rogerio vs Shogun II, I seriously hope it happens after Shogun kicks Machida's legs to pieces again.
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The MMA/Boxing/Fighting Sports Thread
- Thread starter Commander Blue
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Yeah, Rogerio is a beast.
Rogerio vs Shogun II, I seriously hope it happens after Shogun kicks Machida's legs to pieces again.
Thoughts on TUF Finale..
Mazzagatti is a fucking dickhead for the following reasons
- He asks a deaf man if he can keep fighting.
- He ruled to DQ Jones despite the fact the illegal shot had nothing to do with the finish.
- That fight should have already been stopped, anyone not retarded could tell Hammil wasn't able to use one of his arms when Jones was pounding on him.
Roy Nelson punching Schaub into next week was like a giant fuck you to Dana White.
Kimbo Slice / Houston Alexander was the worst fight I've ever seen if not for the Kimboplex..
Edgar looked solid as usual, I like his style but I still think Sherk made a tactical error during their fight.
Mazzagatti is a fucking dickhead for the following reasons
- He asks a deaf man if he can keep fighting.
- He ruled to DQ Jones despite the fact the illegal shot had nothing to do with the finish.
- That fight should have already been stopped, anyone not retarded could tell Hammil wasn't able to use one of his arms when Jones was pounding on him.
Roy Nelson punching Schaub into next week was like a giant fuck you to Dana White.
Kimbo Slice / Houston Alexander was the worst fight I've ever seen if not for the Kimboplex..
Edgar looked solid as usual, I like his style but I still think Sherk made a tactical error during their fight.
That Kimboplex was the shit! Alexander's pathetic for giving Kimbo so much respect, and who the hell destroys Keith Jardine and runs away from Kimbo in a circle for 3 rounds? He actually did damage when he engaged..ugh.
I'm gonna look like a total stud in school tomorrow since I said Nelson was going to win the entire show ever since he was supposed to fight Kimbo lol.
Johnny's going to be a champ one day. That's all I'm going to say about that. Actually, he did hit Hamill with several illegal elbows and Hamil's shoulder injury should have marked the fight a no contest at the very least.
Impressed with Edgar as usual. He showed just how proper technique and good skillset can beat a larger guy.
I think in a boxing match any man could beat Marcus Jones....zombie-style boxing doesn't work in competitive sports.
What do you think about K-1 Trax?
I'm gonna look like a total stud in school tomorrow since I said Nelson was going to win the entire show ever since he was supposed to fight Kimbo lol.
Johnny's going to be a champ one day. That's all I'm going to say about that. Actually, he did hit Hamill with several illegal elbows and Hamil's shoulder injury should have marked the fight a no contest at the very least.
Impressed with Edgar as usual. He showed just how proper technique and good skillset can beat a larger guy.
I think in a boxing match any man could beat Marcus Jones....zombie-style boxing doesn't work in competitive sports.
What do you think about K-1 Trax?
Agreed pretty much. Also love the entrance music Roy used, pure genius.
Now granted, I don't think Roy stands much of a chance in the heavyweight division (especially when you have monsters like Brock running around), but he at the least should find a niche somewhere.
K-1 final was exactly what everyone with half a brain expected really though I felt Hari mentally fucked up in that Schilt fight -- you don't rush in mindlessly at Semmy it will get you hurt, the only variable was Hari/Overeem though.
That said I was really sad about how Jerome looked, he just looked like he wanted to go home, sucked to see a real legend go out like that.
Some morons are saying that because Hari knocked Overeem down once and wobbled him with a head kick that he has a bad chin, it's as though people don't understand that Hari is pretty much the hardest puncher in any combat sport (with the exception of Melvin "I could KO an elephant" Manhoef). Only 3 guys have not been finished when beaten by Hari since 2006 (Peter Graham who has a RIDICULOUS chin, Slowinski who is just hard to connect with though he was never the same after Semmy nearly killed him, and Choi who I don't know if Hari can even REACH the chin of).
Why do you think a legit BJJ black belt with good cardio, 1 punch KO power, a solid chin and better striking technique than about 60% of the division doesn't have much of a chance exactly?
At absolute worst, he's a better fighter than Frank Mir. I still think that Brock is/was highly over rated.
I'd agree there, he's definitely better than Frank Mir (then again, I don't think much of Mir to begin with). I mean, I'm not bashing Roy by any means, I was quite satisfied with his winning of TUF 10. It's just for some reason I can't envision him being as effective against the likes of Big Nog, Lesnar, even Valasquez and Carwin.
It's probably because he's a fat guy.. the dude is fucking deceptive with regard to agility, strength and cardio.
Cain is just Tito Ortiz with 20 extra pounds of muscle, I don't see why people are hyping this guy up -- if Big Nog shows up in shape and doesn't get Vaseline on his gloves trying for a D'arce Choke again, Cain is going to get dropped and subbed. We have no idea what his submission defense is like so he's extremely hard to rate at this point.
Big Nog / Roy would be interesting, I can't actually see how either fighter would finish this -- Roy has quite good wrestling -- the striking would decide the outcome imo.
Carwin is one guy I can't see him beating with the tools he has shown thus far, that combination of size, wrestling and competent hands might be what it takes to beat Roy.
Lesnar is over hyped, currently out for probably 12 months and is irrelevant until he comes back and shows he's in good shape again. I personally think Roy would out strike him and quite possibly sweep or sub him.
So guys, what do you think about Chuck/Tito as coaches? I'm not that excited for the fight but I'm really pumped to see them as coaches.
Coupled with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzYjHBLbosA
Fuck I love that Capoeira dude, if he makes it, I'll probably be more excited for this TUF than any I've seen before!!
Coupled with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzYjHBLbosA
Fuck I love that Capoeira dude, if he makes it, I'll probably be more excited for this TUF than any I've seen before!!
That Capoeria guy looked fucking wild, it would be hard to train against some shit like that.
Gotta agree that a Chuck v. Tito fight is pretty unappealing.
Still really looking forward to Rampage v. Evans, I wouldn't expect that fight to go past the first round. I can't wait to see them get out there and bang.
Gotta agree that a Chuck v. Tito fight is pretty unappealing.
Still really looking forward to Rampage v. Evans, I wouldn't expect that fight to go past the first round. I can't wait to see them get out there and bang.
I'd rather not see that fight tbh, if I want to watch 2 black guys throw crappy punches I'll go watch mid level boxing.
Theoretically.
I dunno, I find the rubber match between Chuck and Tito a fun one; both of them are on 2 match losing streaks, so in that regard it's not as exciting (plus both are getting on in years, but that's not much of an excuse when you look at Couture), but you still have one of the classic UFC rivalries of all time, so it should be good watching for sure. Should be a good PPV draw as well, as both are still popular fighters. And of course, it's always a joy to see Chuck KO Tito.
Chuck's drawing power seems to have dropped over the years; the new/casual MMA fan doesn't recognize Chuck except as "that guy who always gets knocked out".
Also Hendo signed with Strikeforce, apparently he wasn't happy with the UFC taking his promised rematch with Anderson from him and giving it to Vitor.
Eh Chuck/Tito is hardly a legendary rivarly, it's more like Tito does everything humanly possible to dodge Chuck, and then when he finally fights the guy he gets slaughtered.
lol Trax WTF @ the 2 black guys throwing crappy punches line? Rampage has IMO the best boxing defense in MMA and it's not as if you're not going to see any grappling here.....they're both wrestlers. My prediction is Rampage by TKO on the ground.
As for K-1 I didn't mind seeing Hari get picked apart....Semmy's still the man. Makes me think back to the Fedor fight and just how well Fedor does against even the best kick boxers in the world.
lol Trax WTF @ the 2 black guys throwing crappy punches line? Rampage has IMO the best boxing defense in MMA and it's not as if you're not going to see any grappling here.....they're both wrestlers. My prediction is Rampage by TKO on the ground.
As for K-1 I didn't mind seeing Hari get picked apart....Semmy's still the man. Makes me think back to the Fedor fight and just how well Fedor does against even the best kick boxers in the world.
It's accurate; most boxers around that sort of "middle but not great" level are black these days..
Rampage's boxing is horrible, he has ZERO footwork whatsoever, it's fucking painful to watch Rampage strike -- especially when someone remotely intelligent kicks him in the legs which he doesn't check for shit (you'd think he'd know how to do it by now -- Shogun, Arona and Forrest all did it to him) and ends up limping around for 3 rounds.
Rashad is no better, he has footwork but his punching is so fucking sloppy -- Bisping was handling him on the feet.
Better boxers than Rampage in MMA: Penn, Aleks, Sergei, Arlovski (when he keeps his head), Nick Diaz, Gomi, Cro Cop (2 years ago, anyway), Dos Santos, Pulver (in 2002/3 anyway, Pulver is a shell of himself now), GSP, Serra, Belfort, Either Nog Brother, Anderson..
I'm sure there are more, but they come to mind as having better boxing/boxing defense than Rampage.
I agree his footwork sucks and I'm not saying his strikes are efficient.
I think his boxing defense is hella good though for a guy that absorbs most of the damage and his counters are pretty nasty. Plus you rarely ever see him get hurt from a punch. I guess that's where I was getting at.
Most of the guys you mentioned are definantly much more technical.
I think his boxing defense is hella good though for a guy that absorbs most of the damage and his counters are pretty nasty. Plus you rarely ever see him get hurt from a punch. I guess that's where I was getting at.
Most of the guys you mentioned are definantly much more technical.
Yeah, Rampage has a granite chin, thats never been up for debate really unless somehow Shogun or Wand TKOing you gives you a glass chin.
Incidentally I watch Sakuraba vs Belfort again the other day, it was funny to watch Saku mauling Vitor on the feet in the second round.
Also Strikeforce: Evolution is shaping up to be an interesting card.
Cung Le vs Scott Smith
Josh Thompson vs El Nino II
Jacare vs Lindland
Lawler vs Prangley is the one fight I have ZERO interest in..
King Mo vs Mike Whitehead -- Hopefully this will be the "coming out party" for King Mo with the US audience.
I know I've said it doesnt count for shit but I'm bored. Let's share top 5's plz and laugh at each other's opinions :) Reasoning welcomed.
HW
1.Fedor Emelianenko-until proven otherwise (unlikely). I don't think this needs any explanation, quite frankly
2.Brock Lesnar-I'd love to be wrong here but the man is a daunting opponent for anybody. That size and wrestling ability make for one scary man. Plus the HW division is the only one where size can win a fight over technique (IMO) due to the huge range of weight. The only guys in the UFC that I can see possibly beating Brock are the BJJ pros, NOT INCLUDING FRANK MUR. Most notably Nog.
3.Josh Barnett-Until proven otherwise. This man's a monster and very few can hang with him. If you think Randy was a legend just watch how well a young Randy did vs Barnett.
4.Big Nog.-One of the best fighters in the short history of the sport, has been fighting for a good decade, and he's still fucking competitive! He seemed very slow in his UFC fights but his fight vs Randy have really restored my faith in the man. IMO he has the biggest shot in the UFC of beating Brock barring a quick KO from some gorrilla like Carwin. I'd place him in number 3 but he's sick again and it's hard to tell in what kind of shape he's going to be in the next time he fights. A fit Nog can beat any man on the planet.
5.Junior Dos Santos-I think this is the one most people will disagree with me here but the guy has a lot of potential in my eyes. Though he hasn't had too many fights, it doesn't take a trained eye to realize this guy is REALLY skilled. I'm looking forward to JDS vs Cain/Carwin and Gonzaga especially.
lol my fav HW: Gonzaga. Who doesn't like watching a 250 pound ape with great BJJ kick people in their faces and then proceed to beat the living hell out of them?
LHW
1.Shogun Rua-I'm not going to get into this, and like I said rankings aint shit they're just opinions. Looking forward to Rua/Machida 2, Rua/Rampage 2, hopefully Rua/A. Silva, Rua/T. Silva......godamn I love this division
2.Machida-Champ......the guy's a beast and definantly deserves all of the praise he gets. He's going down as one of the greats in MMA as long as he doesn't retire. Unless everyone figures him out and he doesn't evolve, which is definantly possible.
3.Anderson Silva-though he's a 185er he does fight at 205 as we all know and even though he's only been in very shallow waters at 205, everyone already knows what he can do. I think he could beat Machida, but Machida's wins at 205 keep him higher on the ladder at the moment
4.Rampage Jackson-He's back. Call me biased but the guy's consistent and his toughness lets him beat far more technical fighters. A tough guy is very hard to break and Rampage is as tough as they get! Looking forward to Rampage fighting any of these guys.
5.Gegard Mousasi-The #5 spot was definantly hard because so many guys could fit here: Lil Nog, Mousasi, Evans, T. Silva, Griffin, etc. I picked Mousasi because I believe he has the most potential and can still improve his game. I think he'd beat all of these guys as well with Lil Nog being a HUGE challenge.
favs: Shogun and Page have been my boys
MW
1.Anderson Silva-It's Andy/Spidey/that one guy who cares he's awesome
2.Dan Henderson-His boxing really isn't all that amazing but when he fights smart, he kick's people's asses. If he stuck to his game plan and had not gone ape shit on Anderson, who knows? Henderson is at his best when he mixes up his wrestling and just pressures his opponents. It's too bad we're probably never going to see him fight Marquardt but at least we get to see him kill Jake Shields and fight Mousasi. Hopefully Strikeforce is the next big thing, and at this pace it might be just that.
3.Marquardt-Very talented and a huge MW. Easily the #2 MW in the UFC at this point and is a future champ if Anderson actually does retire soon.
4.Vitor Belfort-I might be buying into the hype a lil bit but then again when I watch the videos of the 19 year old phenom killing off seasoned MMA vets, can you really blame me? The guy's from a country called Brazil, which means he earned a black belt in BJJ before he was born. Something went wrong during the process, however, and he was also born with some of the fastest hands in all of MMA. Looking forward to his fights.
5.Chael Sonnen-can't think of anybody else really. People need to start looking into this guy...he's decent :P
Fav fighter at 185-Wanderlei
WW
1.Georges St. Pierre-At the same weight I think this man could beat any fighter in the world. So yes, if he was the same weight as Fedor I'd say he could kick his ass. I'll keep on dreaming. :) Good wrestling is IMO the biggest advantage one can have in MMA next to an unbreakable mentality. GSP is an incredible wrestler when looking at MMA standards, which means he dictates where the fight happens, he controls the pace, and he exerts his will on whoever is unfortunate enough to fight him. Not to mention a really good wrestler with great kickboxing is a nightmare for anyone and everyone. Oh yeah, he's built like a god for 170, has very long and powerful limbs, every punch/kick/takedown/sub he attempts is textbook accurate, and he's the closest thing to the perfect MMA fighter IMO.
2.Jon Fitch-Great fighter and my only problem with him is the he doesn't finish fights as often as he could. But when your only recent loss is to GSP I don't think you have too much to worry about.
3.Thiago Alves-He's very powerful and has great kicks, but honestly I can't see him ever beating Fitch or GSP so the only direction he can go in rankings is down. His KO power makes the most dangerous fighter at 170 IMO.
4.Josh Koscheck-Very impressive win over Johnson and the guy's done a great job since entering the UFC. He's a douche but I think he deserves the #4 spot at the moment. I doubt anyone even remembers his recent loss lol.
5.Matt Hughes-He never fights anymore but very few guys could hang with him IMO and he's one of the few wrestlers I always liked to watch because he actually attempted to finish fights and he had great sub skills.
Anybody else notice how dominant wrestlers are at 170?
fav fighter lol-GSP, should be obvious
LW
1.BJ Penn-BJ can still work most walterweights and no one at 155 has threatened him much as of late. I'm confident he'll stop Diego and anybody else he meets at 155.
2.Gray Maynard-Might be a bit early to say he's better than someone as established as say, Aoki, but I rank people based on who would win in fights and not just on skills. Aoki's definantly more skilled but I think Maynard would GnP Aoki into the ground with his size and wrestling ability.
3.Aoki-Very established fighter and hopefully one day we'll see him get in there with some of the top American 155ers so we can put all questions to rest
4.Diego Sanchez-A bit early as well but I don't see anyone I'd rank below him winning a fight against him. He's a bit of a psycho, too lol
5.Kenny Florian-Eh I'm really uncertain here because a lot of guys could be in this spot: Alvarez, Edgar, Hirota, etc. I'll say Florian until he gets beat badly but I'm pretty sure I'm overrating him myself. He lacks the power to actually hurt people.
favs-Penn and Frankie...this is Penn inside the cage and not outside. I could care less about the politics and douchery he participates in outside the ring, I just like to watch him fight.
I don't follow sub 155 weight classes enough to pretend like I know what I'm talking about but Aldo, Brown, and Faber top 145 in that order and Bowles and Torres top BW.
lol the dumbest list of all time.......P4P:
1.GSP
2.Fedor
3.Anderson Silva
4.?????????????
5.???????? ???????
Let's see your rankings:)
HW
1.Fedor Emelianenko-until proven otherwise (unlikely). I don't think this needs any explanation, quite frankly
2.Brock Lesnar-I'd love to be wrong here but the man is a daunting opponent for anybody. That size and wrestling ability make for one scary man. Plus the HW division is the only one where size can win a fight over technique (IMO) due to the huge range of weight. The only guys in the UFC that I can see possibly beating Brock are the BJJ pros, NOT INCLUDING FRANK MUR. Most notably Nog.
3.Josh Barnett-Until proven otherwise. This man's a monster and very few can hang with him. If you think Randy was a legend just watch how well a young Randy did vs Barnett.
4.Big Nog.-One of the best fighters in the short history of the sport, has been fighting for a good decade, and he's still fucking competitive! He seemed very slow in his UFC fights but his fight vs Randy have really restored my faith in the man. IMO he has the biggest shot in the UFC of beating Brock barring a quick KO from some gorrilla like Carwin. I'd place him in number 3 but he's sick again and it's hard to tell in what kind of shape he's going to be in the next time he fights. A fit Nog can beat any man on the planet.
5.Junior Dos Santos-I think this is the one most people will disagree with me here but the guy has a lot of potential in my eyes. Though he hasn't had too many fights, it doesn't take a trained eye to realize this guy is REALLY skilled. I'm looking forward to JDS vs Cain/Carwin and Gonzaga especially.
lol my fav HW: Gonzaga. Who doesn't like watching a 250 pound ape with great BJJ kick people in their faces and then proceed to beat the living hell out of them?
LHW
1.Shogun Rua-I'm not going to get into this, and like I said rankings aint shit they're just opinions. Looking forward to Rua/Machida 2, Rua/Rampage 2, hopefully Rua/A. Silva, Rua/T. Silva......godamn I love this division
2.Machida-Champ......the guy's a beast and definantly deserves all of the praise he gets. He's going down as one of the greats in MMA as long as he doesn't retire. Unless everyone figures him out and he doesn't evolve, which is definantly possible.
3.Anderson Silva-though he's a 185er he does fight at 205 as we all know and even though he's only been in very shallow waters at 205, everyone already knows what he can do. I think he could beat Machida, but Machida's wins at 205 keep him higher on the ladder at the moment
4.Rampage Jackson-He's back. Call me biased but the guy's consistent and his toughness lets him beat far more technical fighters. A tough guy is very hard to break and Rampage is as tough as they get! Looking forward to Rampage fighting any of these guys.
5.Gegard Mousasi-The #5 spot was definantly hard because so many guys could fit here: Lil Nog, Mousasi, Evans, T. Silva, Griffin, etc. I picked Mousasi because I believe he has the most potential and can still improve his game. I think he'd beat all of these guys as well with Lil Nog being a HUGE challenge.
favs: Shogun and Page have been my boys
MW
1.Anderson Silva-It's Andy/Spidey/that one guy who cares he's awesome
2.Dan Henderson-His boxing really isn't all that amazing but when he fights smart, he kick's people's asses. If he stuck to his game plan and had not gone ape shit on Anderson, who knows? Henderson is at his best when he mixes up his wrestling and just pressures his opponents. It's too bad we're probably never going to see him fight Marquardt but at least we get to see him kill Jake Shields and fight Mousasi. Hopefully Strikeforce is the next big thing, and at this pace it might be just that.
3.Marquardt-Very talented and a huge MW. Easily the #2 MW in the UFC at this point and is a future champ if Anderson actually does retire soon.
4.Vitor Belfort-I might be buying into the hype a lil bit but then again when I watch the videos of the 19 year old phenom killing off seasoned MMA vets, can you really blame me? The guy's from a country called Brazil, which means he earned a black belt in BJJ before he was born. Something went wrong during the process, however, and he was also born with some of the fastest hands in all of MMA. Looking forward to his fights.
5.Chael Sonnen-can't think of anybody else really. People need to start looking into this guy...he's decent :P
Fav fighter at 185-Wanderlei
WW
1.Georges St. Pierre-At the same weight I think this man could beat any fighter in the world. So yes, if he was the same weight as Fedor I'd say he could kick his ass. I'll keep on dreaming. :) Good wrestling is IMO the biggest advantage one can have in MMA next to an unbreakable mentality. GSP is an incredible wrestler when looking at MMA standards, which means he dictates where the fight happens, he controls the pace, and he exerts his will on whoever is unfortunate enough to fight him. Not to mention a really good wrestler with great kickboxing is a nightmare for anyone and everyone. Oh yeah, he's built like a god for 170, has very long and powerful limbs, every punch/kick/takedown/sub he attempts is textbook accurate, and he's the closest thing to the perfect MMA fighter IMO.
2.Jon Fitch-Great fighter and my only problem with him is the he doesn't finish fights as often as he could. But when your only recent loss is to GSP I don't think you have too much to worry about.
3.Thiago Alves-He's very powerful and has great kicks, but honestly I can't see him ever beating Fitch or GSP so the only direction he can go in rankings is down. His KO power makes the most dangerous fighter at 170 IMO.
4.Josh Koscheck-Very impressive win over Johnson and the guy's done a great job since entering the UFC. He's a douche but I think he deserves the #4 spot at the moment. I doubt anyone even remembers his recent loss lol.
5.Matt Hughes-He never fights anymore but very few guys could hang with him IMO and he's one of the few wrestlers I always liked to watch because he actually attempted to finish fights and he had great sub skills.
Anybody else notice how dominant wrestlers are at 170?
fav fighter lol-GSP, should be obvious
LW
1.BJ Penn-BJ can still work most walterweights and no one at 155 has threatened him much as of late. I'm confident he'll stop Diego and anybody else he meets at 155.
2.Gray Maynard-Might be a bit early to say he's better than someone as established as say, Aoki, but I rank people based on who would win in fights and not just on skills. Aoki's definantly more skilled but I think Maynard would GnP Aoki into the ground with his size and wrestling ability.
3.Aoki-Very established fighter and hopefully one day we'll see him get in there with some of the top American 155ers so we can put all questions to rest
4.Diego Sanchez-A bit early as well but I don't see anyone I'd rank below him winning a fight against him. He's a bit of a psycho, too lol
5.Kenny Florian-Eh I'm really uncertain here because a lot of guys could be in this spot: Alvarez, Edgar, Hirota, etc. I'll say Florian until he gets beat badly but I'm pretty sure I'm overrating him myself. He lacks the power to actually hurt people.
favs-Penn and Frankie...this is Penn inside the cage and not outside. I could care less about the politics and douchery he participates in outside the ring, I just like to watch him fight.
I don't follow sub 155 weight classes enough to pretend like I know what I'm talking about but Aldo, Brown, and Faber top 145 in that order and Bowles and Torres top BW.
lol the dumbest list of all time.......P4P:
1.GSP
2.Fedor
3.Anderson Silva
4.?????????????
5.???????? ???????
Let's see your rankings:)
Whelp.. I guess I'll do the rankings thing too.
Note: Not ranking anyone in a weight class below where they're expected to be fighting for the foreseeable future.
Heavyweight.
1. Fedor Emelianenko. I don't think this needs any further explanation.
2. Josh Barnett. In my view, the best grappler at Heavyweight (who actually knows how to throw hands), has some solid ground and pound and unlike certain submission guys (Mir mostly) he actually controls position from his back.
3. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. As easy as it would be to rank Lesnar here, I'm just going to say "Staph Infection + who the fuck has Brock fought?". When he's 100% Big Nog is quite possibly the most durable fighter on the planet, he's also well rounded with good hands and a good ground game.
4. Brock Lesnar. Brock is like this giant untested guy who seems to be crushing everything in his path, I guess some people don't remember how fucking scary Bob Sapp was early in his career -- smashed Hoost twice, damn near killed Big Nog with a piledriver, looked amazing.. then Mirko broke his orbital bone with a left straight and made him cry like a little kid with a stubbed toe and suddenly he wasn't scary anymore. That said, he's a legitimate top 5 fighter until proven otherwise. Plus god knows how he'll be when he gets healthy again.
5. Brett Rogers. Not too many guys can claim to have got into the mount on Fedor. This spot was pretty close for me, I think Junior Dos Santos, Cain or even Andrei Arlovski could have held down this spot, but the reality is of those 4 guys Rogers has: the best win and his performance against Fedor was a damn sight above what everyone expected, imo better than anyone since Mark Hunt -- even if the last time a Russian hit a brother that hard Ivan Drago killed Apollo Creed.
Favourites: Barnett, Big Nog and Werdum.
Light Heavyweight.
1. Mauricio Rua. He suffered a highway robbery loss to Lyoto, but he'll be back on track when he beats him this time.. again (I hope someone gets that reference).
2. Lyoto Machida. While he looked unimpressive in his fight with Rua, he is still a top tier fighter, losing a close fight to an in shape Mauricio Rua isn't exactly a shameful thing, it's happened to guys like Arona (who was top 3 at the time, for sure), Rogerio, Rampage, and Overeem. Lyoto has still looked dominant against everyone else in the division and I don't see anyone else besides Rogerio, Anderson or one of the big LHW wrestlers (essentially, Bader given half of them have forgotten how to wrestle) giving him trouble.
3. Antônio Rogério Nogueira. Essentially he's Rodrigo with better hands and a slightly weaker chin (apparently the Safari Punch can hurt him). He has run through a couple of solid top 10 fighters recently (VMAT and Cane) and looked insanely impressive doing it.
4. Rashad Evans. Holy shit I'm agreeing with Sherdog. Seriously though Rashad has looked very solid in most of his fights, it's unfortunate however that he seems to be falling into the Koscheck / Gurgel trap of throwing hands when his strength lies in his wrestling -- I think unfortunately that this might be what prevents him getting that LHW belt back.
5. Gegard Mousasi. Despite only 2 fights at LHW Gegard has looked incredible against 2 guys who sit around the 10-15 mark, add in his absolute demolition of Musashi under K-1 rules (something several guys who made the final 8 this year couldn't do) and I'd say Gegard is a man to watch.
Favourites: King Mo, Little Nog and Arona.
Middleweight.
1. Anderson Silva. Not even up for debate at this stage, eh?
2. Nate Marquardt. Besides a bogus loss to Thales Leites and the standard activity during an Anderson Silva fight, Nate has looked dominant at MW. Amusingly the reason for my ranking him ahead of Henderson dates back to his 2004 win over Kazuo Misaki.
3. Dan Henderson. His only loss at MW is Anderson, and he holds solid wins over Franklin, Palahares, Belfort and Bisping all in recent memory. His signing with Strikeforce will no doubt see him inexplicably drop on some peoples rankings, but Hendo isn't going anywhere.
4. Jake Shields. Has recently handled Mayhem, Lawler and going back a bit further, Yushin Okami. Sheilds has some pretty impressive wrestling and JiuJitsu, though his natural weight class is definitely Welterweight.
5. Vitor Belfort. Vitor has looked strong in his last few fights since dropping to MW, however Vitor may still have the same issue that has always held him back: when his opponent doesn't get overwhelmed, Vitor gets frustrated and either gives up or does something stupid. Incidentally, as a random fact: during the Chuck Liddell fight, Chuck grabbed the fence at least twice to stop Vitor taking him down in the third.
Favourites: Nate, Misaki and Khalidov.
Welterweight.
1. Georges St-Pierre. Seriously, I'm not even going to bother explaining this.
2. Jon Fitch. Since Georges St-Pierre came back from the Serra loss, he's looked untouchable except for a brief period in Round 2 with Fitch. Fitch looks to be pretty much the only guy even remotely close to Georges in the entire division and his record matches that theory.
3. Thiago Alves. Alves holds down #3 and seems to be stuck there having lost to both Fitch and Georges, he's a dangerous striker for sure and his wrestling isn't as bad as Georges made it look.
4. Paulo Thiago. Paulo comes into the UFC, unbeaten, runs through Koscheck (ehh stoppage aside), loses a competitive (but decisive none the less) decision to Fitch and just spent 15 minutes rearranging the face of Volkmann.
5. Josh Koscheck. Finally rebounded a little and remembering to Wrestle again, Kos has only 3 losses in the past 3 (almost 4!) years to Alves, Thiago and Georges.. Solid contender and comfortably holding down a top 5 spot.
Favourites: Fitch, Marius Zaromskis, and Dan Hornbuckle.
Lightweight.
1. Shinya Aoki. Holding wins over Shaolin, Uno, Cavalcante, Hansen, and Alvarez in the past few years with only 2 losses (1 at Welterweight to Hayato Sakurai and 1 in the final of the Dream LW Tournament to Hansen), Aoki holds down the #1 slot by virtue of fighting everyone and their dog and winning.
2. BJ Penn. The fact that the UFC can't locate worthwhile fights for BJ says it all really, with only 2 guys even remotely near the top 5 (Florian and Sherk, I would argue Kenny wasn't top 5 personally) on his resume since his win over Ludwig in 2004, BJs ranking is mostly kept at #2 by the fact we have no idea how good he really is.
3. Eddie Alvarez. Besides a loss to Aoki, Alvarez has been strong at Lightweight holding a 6-1 record in the division with solid wins over Hansen and Kawajiri.
4. Gil Melendez. While Gil has lost 2 of his last 5 but he also avenged one of them, holding down solid wins over Kawajiri, Ishida and Guida. Gil's wrestling looks vastly improved of late and he looks solid in the striking department.
5. Tatsuya Kawajiri. Holding wins over Hansen, Cavalcante, Krazy Horse and Azeredo (who beat Anderson Silva way back in 2000!), Kawajiri has looked solid since his return at Yarennoka despite a loss to Alvarez (a competitive fight, mind).
Favourites: Hirota, Alvarez and Kawajiri.
And now for some brief rankings of FW/BW seeing as I know about them but can't be arsed explaining:
Featherweight.
1. Jose Aldo.
2. Mike Thomas Brown
3. Marlon Sandro (who was fucking robbed at Sengoku 9...)
4. Hatsu Hioki
5. Jung Chan Sung or Faber, they're of a muchness.
Favourites: Jung Chan Sung, Mike Brown.
Bantamweight.
1. Masakatsu Ueda
2. Brian Bowles
3. Miguel Torres
4. Takeya Mizugaki
5. Tough to say due to it being damn hard to watch Shooto outside of Japan.
Note: Not ranking anyone in a weight class below where they're expected to be fighting for the foreseeable future.
Heavyweight.
1. Fedor Emelianenko. I don't think this needs any further explanation.
2. Josh Barnett. In my view, the best grappler at Heavyweight (who actually knows how to throw hands), has some solid ground and pound and unlike certain submission guys (Mir mostly) he actually controls position from his back.
3. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. As easy as it would be to rank Lesnar here, I'm just going to say "Staph Infection + who the fuck has Brock fought?". When he's 100% Big Nog is quite possibly the most durable fighter on the planet, he's also well rounded with good hands and a good ground game.
4. Brock Lesnar. Brock is like this giant untested guy who seems to be crushing everything in his path, I guess some people don't remember how fucking scary Bob Sapp was early in his career -- smashed Hoost twice, damn near killed Big Nog with a piledriver, looked amazing.. then Mirko broke his orbital bone with a left straight and made him cry like a little kid with a stubbed toe and suddenly he wasn't scary anymore. That said, he's a legitimate top 5 fighter until proven otherwise. Plus god knows how he'll be when he gets healthy again.
5. Brett Rogers. Not too many guys can claim to have got into the mount on Fedor. This spot was pretty close for me, I think Junior Dos Santos, Cain or even Andrei Arlovski could have held down this spot, but the reality is of those 4 guys Rogers has: the best win and his performance against Fedor was a damn sight above what everyone expected, imo better than anyone since Mark Hunt -- even if the last time a Russian hit a brother that hard Ivan Drago killed Apollo Creed.
Favourites: Barnett, Big Nog and Werdum.
Light Heavyweight.
1. Mauricio Rua. He suffered a highway robbery loss to Lyoto, but he'll be back on track when he beats him this time.. again (I hope someone gets that reference).
2. Lyoto Machida. While he looked unimpressive in his fight with Rua, he is still a top tier fighter, losing a close fight to an in shape Mauricio Rua isn't exactly a shameful thing, it's happened to guys like Arona (who was top 3 at the time, for sure), Rogerio, Rampage, and Overeem. Lyoto has still looked dominant against everyone else in the division and I don't see anyone else besides Rogerio, Anderson or one of the big LHW wrestlers (essentially, Bader given half of them have forgotten how to wrestle) giving him trouble.
3. Antônio Rogério Nogueira. Essentially he's Rodrigo with better hands and a slightly weaker chin (apparently the Safari Punch can hurt him). He has run through a couple of solid top 10 fighters recently (VMAT and Cane) and looked insanely impressive doing it.
4. Rashad Evans. Holy shit I'm agreeing with Sherdog. Seriously though Rashad has looked very solid in most of his fights, it's unfortunate however that he seems to be falling into the Koscheck / Gurgel trap of throwing hands when his strength lies in his wrestling -- I think unfortunately that this might be what prevents him getting that LHW belt back.
5. Gegard Mousasi. Despite only 2 fights at LHW Gegard has looked incredible against 2 guys who sit around the 10-15 mark, add in his absolute demolition of Musashi under K-1 rules (something several guys who made the final 8 this year couldn't do) and I'd say Gegard is a man to watch.
Favourites: King Mo, Little Nog and Arona.
Middleweight.
1. Anderson Silva. Not even up for debate at this stage, eh?
2. Nate Marquardt. Besides a bogus loss to Thales Leites and the standard activity during an Anderson Silva fight, Nate has looked dominant at MW. Amusingly the reason for my ranking him ahead of Henderson dates back to his 2004 win over Kazuo Misaki.
3. Dan Henderson. His only loss at MW is Anderson, and he holds solid wins over Franklin, Palahares, Belfort and Bisping all in recent memory. His signing with Strikeforce will no doubt see him inexplicably drop on some peoples rankings, but Hendo isn't going anywhere.
4. Jake Shields. Has recently handled Mayhem, Lawler and going back a bit further, Yushin Okami. Sheilds has some pretty impressive wrestling and JiuJitsu, though his natural weight class is definitely Welterweight.
5. Vitor Belfort. Vitor has looked strong in his last few fights since dropping to MW, however Vitor may still have the same issue that has always held him back: when his opponent doesn't get overwhelmed, Vitor gets frustrated and either gives up or does something stupid. Incidentally, as a random fact: during the Chuck Liddell fight, Chuck grabbed the fence at least twice to stop Vitor taking him down in the third.
Favourites: Nate, Misaki and Khalidov.
Welterweight.
1. Georges St-Pierre. Seriously, I'm not even going to bother explaining this.
2. Jon Fitch. Since Georges St-Pierre came back from the Serra loss, he's looked untouchable except for a brief period in Round 2 with Fitch. Fitch looks to be pretty much the only guy even remotely close to Georges in the entire division and his record matches that theory.
3. Thiago Alves. Alves holds down #3 and seems to be stuck there having lost to both Fitch and Georges, he's a dangerous striker for sure and his wrestling isn't as bad as Georges made it look.
4. Paulo Thiago. Paulo comes into the UFC, unbeaten, runs through Koscheck (ehh stoppage aside), loses a competitive (but decisive none the less) decision to Fitch and just spent 15 minutes rearranging the face of Volkmann.
5. Josh Koscheck. Finally rebounded a little and remembering to Wrestle again, Kos has only 3 losses in the past 3 (almost 4!) years to Alves, Thiago and Georges.. Solid contender and comfortably holding down a top 5 spot.
Favourites: Fitch, Marius Zaromskis, and Dan Hornbuckle.
Lightweight.
1. Shinya Aoki. Holding wins over Shaolin, Uno, Cavalcante, Hansen, and Alvarez in the past few years with only 2 losses (1 at Welterweight to Hayato Sakurai and 1 in the final of the Dream LW Tournament to Hansen), Aoki holds down the #1 slot by virtue of fighting everyone and their dog and winning.
2. BJ Penn. The fact that the UFC can't locate worthwhile fights for BJ says it all really, with only 2 guys even remotely near the top 5 (Florian and Sherk, I would argue Kenny wasn't top 5 personally) on his resume since his win over Ludwig in 2004, BJs ranking is mostly kept at #2 by the fact we have no idea how good he really is.
3. Eddie Alvarez. Besides a loss to Aoki, Alvarez has been strong at Lightweight holding a 6-1 record in the division with solid wins over Hansen and Kawajiri.
4. Gil Melendez. While Gil has lost 2 of his last 5 but he also avenged one of them, holding down solid wins over Kawajiri, Ishida and Guida. Gil's wrestling looks vastly improved of late and he looks solid in the striking department.
5. Tatsuya Kawajiri. Holding wins over Hansen, Cavalcante, Krazy Horse and Azeredo (who beat Anderson Silva way back in 2000!), Kawajiri has looked solid since his return at Yarennoka despite a loss to Alvarez (a competitive fight, mind).
Favourites: Hirota, Alvarez and Kawajiri.
And now for some brief rankings of FW/BW seeing as I know about them but can't be arsed explaining:
Featherweight.
1. Jose Aldo.
2. Mike Thomas Brown
3. Marlon Sandro (who was fucking robbed at Sengoku 9...)
4. Hatsu Hioki
5. Jung Chan Sung or Faber, they're of a muchness.
Favourites: Jung Chan Sung, Mike Brown.
Bantamweight.
1. Masakatsu Ueda
2. Brian Bowles
3. Miguel Torres
4. Takeya Mizugaki
5. Tough to say due to it being damn hard to watch Shooto outside of Japan.
Oh come the fuck on.
He was dominated from the bell to his lucky counterpunch that sent Koscheck flying but for which he definitely had recovered in time to continue the fight. It was one of the worst stoppage all year. You couldn't have possibly watched the fight to say that.
That is just as bad as saying Thales Leites ran throught Marquardt.
Nothing lucky about it except for the whole thing where Kos sucks at not getting hit, he'd grazed him with a few rights but really, Kos wasn't "dominating" anything.
Kos's eyes rolled back into his head, he got rag dolled by an uppercut/hook combo and went down -- just because he was up shortly after doesn't mean he was fine. If Thiago had jumped on him and been allowed to go it would've been called a horribly late stoppage like the Sell/Brown fight at 96.
Incidentally, Maruisz Pudzianowski (former worlds strongest man, like 4 times) made his MMA debut earlier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTcakzSAWJA
I, for one, was shocked by his ability to throw kicks.
That's after you've yourself noted "stoppage aside".
You might agree or not with the ref's decision but there is one thing you certainly can't say, which is that Paulo Thiago ran through Kos. He was getting outpointed something fierce beforehand.
I still say he had recovered plenty to take on Thiago raining down on him and he certainly proved that against Rumble when he was floored.
Can Marius even make 265? I remember him huge.
You might agree or not with the ref's decision but there is one thing you certainly can't say, which is that Paulo Thiago ran through Kos. He was getting outpointed something fierce beforehand.
I still say he had recovered plenty to take on Thiago raining down on him and he certainly proved that against Rumble when he was floored.
Can Marius even make 265? I remember him huge.