UFC rankings/MMA rankings featured in USA Today for May 2009
by Jesse Holland on May 27, 2009 8:11 PM EDT
42 comments
Our partners in crime over at BloodyElbow.com have once again published their divisional rankings for mixed martial arts in the nation’s largest daily newspaper, USA Today, for the month of May 2009.
For those of you just joining us, here’s how it works:
"The rankings, which will offer a definitive perspective of top MMA fighters across all weight-classes, will be released monthly and published in the Sports section of USA TODAY, online at USATODAY.com and on SB Nation’s MMA commentary and community blog, BloodyElbow.com … The USA TODAY/SB Nation Consensus MMA Rankings are compiled each month by Nate Wilcox and Richard Wade of BloodyElbow.com. The rankings utilize each of the top MMA rankings from multiple unique sources. A weighted-formula is applied to normalize and distill the various rankings into one consensus ranking per weight class."
To check out the latest USAT/SBN rankings click here. We’ve also listed their top 10 in each class after the jump for your convenience.
What do you think? Share your ranking rants in the comments section below.
Heavyweight:
1. Fedor Emelianenko
2. Josh Barnett
3. Frank Mir
4. Andrei Arlovski
5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
6. Brock Lesnar
7. Randy Couture
8. Tim Sylvia
9. Shane Carwin
10. Alistair Overeem
Light Heavyweight:
1. Lyoto Machida
2. Rashad Evans
3. Quinton Jackson
4. Forrest Griffin
5. Mauricio Rua
6. Keith Jardine
7. Wanderlei Silva
8. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
9. Renato Sobral
10. Luis Cane
Middleweight:
1. Anderson Silva
2. Yushin Okami
3. Nate Marquardt
4. Robbie Lawler
5. Dan Henderson
6. Gegard Mousasi
7. Demian Maia
8. Jorge Santiago
9. Thales Leites
10. Vitor Belfort
Welterweight:
1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Thiago Alves
3. Jon Fitch
4. Jake Shields
5. Matt Hughes
6. Josh Koscheck
7. Martin Kampmann
8. Carlos Condit
9. Mike Swick
10. Karo Parisyan
Lightweight:
1. B.J. Penn
2. Kenny Florian
3. Shinya Aoki
4. Eddie Alvarez
5. Joachim Hansen
6. Sean Sherk
7. Gesias Cavalcante
8. Tatsuya Kawajiri
9. Josh Thomson
10. Satoru Kitaoka
Nothing brings MMA fans closer together than a list of divisional rankings. Let’s hear it: Who belongs and who doesn’t? And be sure to say why. "He sucks" is not a valid argument.
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usa today is dumb who cares what they think about MMA
by JG on May 28, 2009 12:14 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
LOL @ "Let’s hear it: Who belongs and who doesn’t? And be sure to say why. "He sucks" is not a valid argument.
Good one Jesse!
by Alpha Male 360 on May 28, 2009 1:33 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
They forgot to mention…
“published by USA today, compiled by Bloody Elbow, sponsored by Affliction.”
Some serious obvious errors, but I would say 85-90% right.
by UFC Champ on May 28, 2009 11:08 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Its Bloody Elbow who have comprised the list and will be published in USA today so what they think has nothing to do with it.
Without scrutinising it too much I agree with most of the picks except for not including Bisping somewhere in there. The guy will be fighting for the title if he deals with Hendo yet he apparently he is not even ranked!!
by Ca$z on May 28, 2009 6:34 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
na bisping isn’t right to be in their but maybe frank edgar in the light weight division, still don know why wanderlie is still in the top ten, he’s in the same boat as chuck. Mike swick a maybe and a leaning towards the why catagory.
by ruanfiy on May 28, 2009 7:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
No respect for Hendo. He is like #14 for LHW’s.
Also, Marquardt, Lawler nor Okami should be ranked above Hendo at MW. Marquardt is the only one of the 3 that I can make an argument for.
by ViolentMike on May 28, 2009 9:20 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Mir at #3? what a joke! I would love to see him try n beat guys ranked beneath him like:
Arlovski
Couture
Carwin
Overeem
Brock
Hell, I would love to see him fight NOG again !
by john on May 28, 2009 9:45 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I swear to GOD that Mir would not even beat Heath Herring! FACT!!!
Anyone who thinks Mir can beat Herring the HW gatekeeper is delusional
by john on May 28, 2009 9:53 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I would give anything in this world to sit down with Dana White, inject him with TRUTH sYRUM and have an honest conversation about Frank Mir
by john on May 28, 2009 9:54 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Mir hater!
Come on John, how can you say that? He’s won enough in the past, held the title, never lost the title, so what’s the beef?
by UFC Champ on May 28, 2009 11:11 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think John should change his name to John = MIR IS GOD!! if he beats Brock.
Whaddya think John boy??
by Ca$z on May 28, 2009 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
john is right here guys, Mir vs McCully would be a better fight cause Herring beating him would be a fact in 1 or 2 rounds… the LHW rankings are screwed up too, Rashad should be below Rampage, and how Jardine and Wanderlei are that high is a mystery to me Tito would beat them both and that’s a fact, Wand has last 4 out of his last 5 and it’s been by KO 3 of those times!
by RoB on May 28, 2009 1:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
rankings don’t mean anything cause you know who’s better than who in reality atleast i do, so if it was about how good they were Mir would struggle to make top 10… and Rogerio Nogueira needs to fight some top talent sometime, guys in the UFC are busting their a$$es and he’s fighting crap to make that ranking, same goes for Babalu really!..
by RoB on May 28, 2009 1:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
bisping is ranked #12. rite above #13 trigg and #14 sonnen. trigg signs w ufc. franklin ranked #16. cause he got demolished twice by spider? who wouldnt!
by holder on May 28, 2009 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I definatly think Vitor needs to be above Maia, and K-Flo should be 5th or so. Not to sure about Carwin or Barnett either.
by Nokimono on May 28, 2009 10:53 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Where are the Feather Weights and Bantam Weights..I will chime in ..
1.Mike Brown
2. Urijah Faber
3. Leonard Garcia
4.Norifumi KID Yamamoto ( just lost)
5. Jose Aldo
5. Wagney Fabiano
6. Raphael Assuncao
7.Hiroyuki Takaya
8.Jens Pulver
9. Cub Swanson
10.Joe Warren
by chrisTX on May 28, 2009 12:31 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Wagnney should be above aldo simply because of better comp. Takaya, Jens and Swanson should be out of top 10. One big omission is Hatsu Hioki somewhere b/t 4-6, Lion takeshie as well towards the bottom. Still not sold on garcia that high.
Man, when i think about all the seriously sick prospects that will be hitting their strides in near future for these divisions, they will be more stacked than LW.
by NameNotRequired on May 28, 2009 12:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Id put nam phan in the top ten. warren has had one fight and you got him top ten.. look out the window!! do you see your street cred running away?
by javster on May 28, 2009 1:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
These don’t seem like terrible rankings. Given the fact that no ranking will be perfect, I think they did a great job.
by clayton on May 28, 2009 12:34 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Better than most but people continue to disrespect the UFC Heavyweight division. I would take top five HW from any other org. and put them against top five of UFC and I would guarantee a UFC majority victory. They have 3 out of the top 4 HW from Affl. That’s BULLSH_T!!! Especially now. These guys are bad_ss. Affliction fighters don’t even fight but like once a year.
by RedDog on May 28, 2009 5:17 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
these rankings look pretty good I only have issue with the lightweight rankings.
1) How is Frankie Edgar not ranked after his win over Sherk, while Sherk is still rated 6th?
2) How is Kawajri rated below JZ when he manhandled him on Tuesda?
by silverbullitz on May 28, 2009 12:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
If you click on the link in the article, they actuall list the Top 25 of each weight class. Gegard has made the Top 25 at HW already!
by ViolentMike on May 28, 2009 9:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
actually seem like very solid rankings obviously some small argueable points but over all much more accurate and less biased then the majority of rankings ive seen
by rylie on May 28, 2009 1:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I have a problem with Matt Hughes being ranked 5t?? WTF so what he beat Serra!
by ToeLock on May 28, 2009 2:58 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
in defense of hughes I know his championship run was a while ago now but of course he’s still top 10. so he lost to st pierre and alves, they are 1 and 2 after all. Kos is 6 and he just lost to an unknown.
by head stomp on May 28, 2009 3:26 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I can’t believe Bisbing is not ranked here.
by The Juice! on May 28, 2009 5:21 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Agreed. Plus Mousassi needs to be higher on that list. He is above Hendo and Lawler IMO after convincingly finishing all of his last few fights against some tough opponents with different skillsets.
by Ca$z on May 28, 2009 6:30 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
how is overeem 10th? i can’t respect any list that still thinks sylvia is in the top 10.
by usgay on May 28, 2009 6:58 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Josh Barnett should not be in there. What has he done? He is getting a shot at Fedor only because Affliction’s scrap division has nothing else to offer.
by MMA Fan on May 28, 2009 9:02 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Well his only losses have been to Cro Cop and Nogueira in his career as far as I know. Mightn’t be the most exciting but he’s definitely effective
by MMAGreen on May 28, 2009 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I have a problem with Barnett as well at #2, but what can you do, he’s been there for a while and hasn’t lost. I’ve come to grips with the fact I’m probably just a hater of him. Lawler would get mugged by almost anyone below him on the list. Other than that, there are always just little arguements here and there.
by MM_Eh on May 28, 2009 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Someone said Bisbing should be ranked? Because he’s beaten who?
by capt Doug on May 28, 2009 9:50 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
After Serra’s performance against Hughes, if Hughes is top 5, then Serra is definitely top 10. I think Serra would beat Shields too if that match were to ever happen. And for lightweights, I guess they didn’t take into account the way Edgar beat down Sherk? If Edgar isn’t in the top 10 and neither is Tyson Griffin (Sherk’s last two fights), then 6 is too high for Sherk.
by YouveGotGold on May 28, 2009 10:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
The Mir hate is unnecessary. Rankings aren’t based on “who would kick whose ass?” Mir finished Lesnar and finished Nog in his last two fights. Whether he’s better than them is up for debate, but the ranking is justified.
by ballhawkdawk on May 28, 2009 10:33 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
How the hell is Cheick Kongo not in the Top 10 Heavyweights? That’s kind of ridiculous.
by Noel on May 28, 2009 11:32 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I found that there is more that I disagree with than I agree with.the only divison that I thought was close to what i would have if I did a rankings list,the Mwt division.the only problem I have withthis div. is that Mousasi has already stated that he will no longer be competing at 185.
by the Levi on May 28, 2009 1:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
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