UFC rankings/MMA rankings featured in USA Today for April 2010
by Jesse Holland on Apr 29, 2010 10:24 AM EDT
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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 April 2010.
For those of you unfamiliar with the process, 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. Brock Lesnar
3. Shane Carwin
4. Cain Velasquez
5. Frank Mir
6. Junior Dos Santos
7. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
8. Brett Rogers
9. Alistair Overeem
10. Fabricio Werdum
Light Heavyweight:
1. Lyoto Machida
2. Mauricio Rua
3. Rashad Evans
4. Quinton Jackson
5. Forrest Griffin
6. Anderson Silva
7. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
8. Muhammed Lawal
9. Gegard Mousasi
10. Thiago Silva
Middleweight:
1. Anderson Silva
2. Chael Sonnen
3. Jake Shields
4. Vitor Belfort
5. Nate Marquardt
6. Demian Maia
7. Dan Henderson
8. Yushin Okami
9. Jorge Santiago
10. Robbie Lawler
Welterweight:
1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Thiago Alves
4. Josh Koscheck
5. Paulo Thiago
6. Nick Diaz
7. Dan Hardy
8. Paul Daley
9. Matt Hughes
10. Martin Kampmann
Lightweight:
1. Frank Edgar
2. B.J. Penn
3. Gilbert Melendez
4. Kenny Florian
5. Eddie Alvarez
6. Gray Maynard
7. Shinya Aoki
8. Tatsuya Kawajiri
9. Tyson Griffin
10. Sean Sherk
Featherweight:
1. Jose Aldo
2. Manny Gamburyan
3. Urijah Faber
4. Mike Brown
5. Bibiano Fernandes
6. Hatsu Hioki
7. Michihiro Omigawa
8. Marlon Sandro
9. Masanori Kanehara
10. Josh Grispi
Bantamweight:
1. Dominick Cruz
2. Brian Bowles
3. Joseph Benavidez
4. Miguel Torres
5. Scott Jorgensen
6. Takeya Mizugaki
7. Damacio Page
8. Masakatsu Ueda
9. Rani Yaya
10. Wagnney Fabiano
Of course, 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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forrest above anderson?! poppycock!!!!
You just get that sucker to the designated place at the designated time, and I will gladly designate his ass... for DISMEMBERMENT!
by salamagogo on Apr 29, 2010 10:28 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
LMAO!
That is some bullshit, just goes to show how much wieght these “rankings” carry……………
Oh, yes, Meg, yes-yes yes, everything was going swimmingly for you until this. Yes, yes, THIS is the thing that will ruin your reputation, not your years of grotesque appearance, or your awkward social graces, or that Felix Ungerish way you clear your sinuses, no no no, it's THIS. Do you hear yourself talk? I might kill you tonight.
I got that far and then stopped reading that crap ass Bloody Stool list
I AM SOMETIMES BIASED - Get over it!!!!!!!
by ViolentMike on Apr 29, 2010 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions
the last couple times this list has been released
Forrest has been above Silva. Completely rediculous.
aside from that they are mostly good and accurate
Lightweight is a little “ehhhhh” but everything else seems good to me.
John Hathaway over Diego Sanchez
I diagree Dragon
Only with the wording, I too think it is poppycock lol
by Edgecrusher71 on Apr 29, 2010 2:29 PM EDT up reply actions
I knoooow!
I remember seeing another rankings report (sometime in ’09) that also put Forrest above Silva.
Weird wild stuf….
by Godfather2386 on Apr 29, 2010 10:44 AM EDT up reply actions
Silva is not ranked by many sites at LHW dropping his ranking
If those sites ranked him he would be top four
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
Fedor should drop
I dont care the Fedor hasnt really lost, he also has not had a fight in a long time and has not fought someone in the top 10 in the last year. Even if he really does fight Fabricio Werdum does that really mean much if he wins. Werdum got knocked out pretty easily by Junior Dos Santos and I dont think think Werdum as a top ten hwy right now.
by Darren Watkins on Apr 29, 2010 10:32 AM EDT reply actions
Yeah I mean how dare Rogers be ranked in the top-10 while being undefeated coming off a 30 second KO of AA
And how dare they rank Werdum in the top-10 for beating Gonzaga twice, Aleks E., Zentsov, Overeem, Vera, and Bigfoot. I mean he did get KO’d by JDS in a fight he came into out of shape(his own fault), but isn’t JDS someone a lot of people are trying to crown as the next champion?
Fedor hasn’t fought in a long time, so he should drop, but no mention of Brock who hasn’t fought in an even longer amount of time? Right, it’s a big conspiracy to keep Fedor at the top of the rankings. You guys are funny.
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." -Dr. Johnson
I'm not saying Fedor isn't the #1 guy
That’s why I didn’t start the whole Brock vs. Fedor argument. I just think it’s funny how his opponents climb the rankings ladder once their fight is scheduled against Fedor.
who has Werdum beat in the top 10 lately?
All the wins you’re talking about are over his whole career, and are spread out. It’s not like he’s strung some good wins together lately over top 10 guys. The only guy above that he’s beat that’s currently top 10 is Alisteroids. Fedor will kill Overeem, and he’ll fall right back out of the top 10.
I was starting the Brock Vs. Fedor argument either, I was just pointing out an oversight in the OP's argument.
A better question about Werdum would be, who deserves to be ranked higher? He’s one 4 of his last 5, with 2 of those being very quality wins, arguably 3 were, but I’m not counting Vera. His lone loss is to a guy that’s been tearing it up, so my question is, how is Werdum’s ranking not legit? And who deserves to be ahead of him? Right now your argument is purely conspiracy theory. Big Nog and Mir have both lost 2 of their last 3, but I don’t see any complaining on your part about that. Probably because of their entire body of work, which goes into the rankings for obvious reasons, and was another issue you raised.
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." -Dr. Johnson
*** Wasn't starting the Brock vs. Fedor argument ***
Don’t know what’s wrong with me today, second time I’ve done something like that.
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." -Dr. Johnson
LOL well said Dice
I think there is a couple guys that can beat Fedor but thats just opinion, and the all the next best HW are young and one of them one day is most likely to take over but need more proof right now there is no doubt on Fedors status as he has proved it through tthe years and is still unbeaten
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
Agree
There are a few guys that could beat Fedor, but I believe Fedor would be the favorite in those fights. For the time being, I don’t see how that ranking could be argued. I can understand believing that Fedor wouldn’t beat everyone in the UFC, but given the body of work, and the fact that he hasn’t lost, it’s hard to argue the ranking.
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." -Dr. Johnson
Really?
So then the nr. heavyweight in the world should be a guy who hasn’t fought in 1 year and has a 4-1 professional record? C’mon!
?? Who you talking to and and what does nr mean?
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
& Brock shud move up to #1 since he's been fucking shit up lately & has beaten the best fighters in the world with 4 fights.
by d*locc on Apr 29, 2010 12:34 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
No #2 is good right now and he will have to prove his ranking by fighting the consensus #3
Witch is great he will have to prove his worth to both his fans and critics. It sucks that Fedor is managed by M1 because he really isn’t fighting the consesnsus best anymore and more and more Fedor critics are coming up especially the newer MMA fans and it’s hard to argue what was done five years ago means that much now. Hopefully one day soon we will see Fedor in the uFC but we may never and opinions is all we will have to go by witch sucks.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
He lost one of those 4 and decisioned Herring.
Then KOed an almost 50 yr old Couture.
Fuckin shit up lately? Definitely disagree
Thats your opinion and the key word is opinion
Less we forget that Old man Couture beat both GG and Sylvia(who beat AA twice) before he faced Brock and at the time only Barnett, Fedor and NOG were rated higher than Couture. And NOG losing to Mir who Brock fought next with Barnett getting caught for cheating again. And remember at the time JDS, Cain, Carwin and Rogers were not even on the top ten list as they were still working their way up the ladder. The HW was always thin until latley with fighters like Carwin, Rogers, Cain and JDS not in the picture.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
title fights are made up for entertainment in mma, not for crowning the best fighter.
Again grabbing the title shouldn’t have an impact on rankings all wins are the same. Couture got a title fight after coming out of retirement, going 2-3 his last 5 at lhw before hanging the gloves up. Doesn’t exactly qualify you for supposedly getting a shot against the #1 in any real competition and that just shows how the UFC doesn’t care for really getting a truly undisputed best fighter.
same thing happened with Brock he was a complete rookie in the UFC’s hw division and went 1-1 against fighters with average records over their previous UFC fights (mir, herring) got a fight against Randy who had just won his first 2 hw fights in 7 yrs, he wins and then avenges his loss to Mir.. All in all he’s 3-1 in UFC nothing more, Junior and Cain have a 100 win % and should be held higher in terms of rankings, who’s the best of them is up to each individual to decide but that’s nothing to take into consideration when talking about this.
Why who have they fought that is better than Mir and Couture?
Are you trying to tell me NOG & Kongo are better than Mir who cain fought or that Carwins biggest win over Mir is worth more than Brocks? JDS has GG, CC & Werdum on his list I don’t see that being better than Mir and Couture and with out a doubt was not higher ranked on the consensus. Your trying to tell me that any of those guys opponents could beat Brock? It’s not about how many wins you have it’s about who you win against. Just becasue it only took Brock a handfull of wins to prove himself you would of prefered him padding his record with weak opponets? Because really thats what most of these guys records are is padded. Brock is the only one that came in from day one and fought ranked oponents witch is amazing becasue I doubt any of these guys could of done what he did in only five fights.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
that's just it.
look at their records, see who’s better. opinion on who’s best is not something we deal with, it’s too easy for the UFC get fans into believing something with all the different exposure fighters get.
In the end his 3 wins have more value than these guys 30 wins combined
It’s not his fault he is as talented as he is and didn’t need to start with weak fighters to prove himself. Either way the ranking will be proved in the UFC in the next year regardless of opinions now including mine.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
That's not a fair way to look at it, man.
He’s the Heavyweight Champion. Records mean nothing. The Belt says it all more than Mr.Fedor’s “undefeated against Cans” streak.
His quality of wins does though
And when he bacame top dog in the UFC guys like JDS, Cain and Carwin were not and still proving themselves and by you saying Brock should be moved behind them now without losing is the same as someone that says Fedor should be moved from #1.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
Records are not everything
So what if you are 100-0 against unranked opponents does that mean your better than Fedor?
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
well, i've been trying to explain that the whole time.
once your record goes up, you go up, that’s how a real ranking system is supposed to work and how a sport is made. Here they have matchmaking and can make anything happen without the fighters being qualified. For example when it comes to records having a guy like Jon Jones in the UFC still fighting lower level UFC guys is pathetic, he should be fighting better guys because his record says so.
But if you don’t follow this from step 1 why ever, so my post really has nothing to do with mma.
listen he didn’t became the top dog, he was chosen to be the “top dog” same way Randy was chosen to become the “top dog” after going a pathetic 2-3 in his last fights at LHW and losing his last 2 fights at HW 7 yrs ago.
That is wrong
At the time the three best UFC HW’s were NOG, Mir and Couture and Brock who just beat Herring who jsut beat rising Kongo who looked at the time put Brock in the top four mix and between Mir/NOG/Couture and Brock won against all those guys and unified the belt. There was no giving the belt as the three best HW’s at the time were competing agaisnt Brock as well. No one else currently a top fighter JDS beat Werdum but other than that there was no other contenders and JDS didn’t want to go for the belt becasue he didn’t think he was ready, many believe becasue NOG was in the mix but regardless thats not Brocks fault.
So once again he wasn’t chosen, he took it! 7 years ago?? Do you know what your talking about LOL Randy beat Sylvia and GG before he faced Lesnar. know your facts SYlvia during the same time beat AA twice so no doubt Randy was ranked higher than Sylvia, AA there was a reason he was the champ. Regardless how he does at LHW now doesn’t mean anything what happened then. Randy’s battle with NOG was awsome being his only other losss in how many years at HW shows his talent. I beleive a great fight right now would be Couture against Werdum both are smaller HW and both are technically sound.
All you have is opinions Roberto that make no sense.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
i'm srry puck do you know what opinion is?
I’ve been sitting here and stated fact after fact after fact, who actually beat who and how there.
You jump in with oh those 4 were the best and he beat him who is better than him and better than him and oh the title holder is the best so he must be the best for beating him.
No i was showing how he earned and was not given it like you stated
Now if you think this guy is better that is fine but Brock proved his spot with results regardless of opinion he beat the highest ranked opponents to date out of JDS, Cain and Carwin. So his ranking makes sense. I think Jones can beat msot of the guys in the LHW division but he hasn’t proved it and his non top ten ranking is makes sense though I don’t know how Gegard got on there by not beating one top ten opponent in his career?
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
Haahaa =D
I was being sarcastic jt. Idk how any1 can say fedor shud be moved down. I like Brock but I don’t have him in my top 3 HW’s until he wins some fights against the best in the ufc.
by d*locc on Apr 29, 2010 1:06 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Who should be rated higher in your opinion I would like to know
Remember when Brock got the belt JDS, Carwin and Cain were all fighting lower ranked opponents and not in the top five. How any of them could be ahead of Brock is the same as anyone saying someone should be ahead of Fedor. You can’t lsoe your #2 ranking without losing?
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
It's close cuz all the ufc guys R rising stars
But I think cains # 2 , Winner of Brock vs. Carwin #3 & JDS #4. The Brock carwin fight is guna be huge! I’m so pumped for that fight.
by d*locc on Apr 29, 2010 1:40 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I've started thinking this about Fedor too but...
… if you checkout his record the only real donkey has been Hong-Man Choi. Brett Rogers hammered Arlovski a former UFC heavyweight champ as was Tim Sylvia. Granted he hasn’t fought often enough but I still think he needs to be given the benefit of the doubt. He’s still hanging in there but only just…
Losing to #2 & #3 does not drop you out of top 5 were Mir was
Were JDS has not beat one guy on the list. The rankings try and use as little opinion as possible and though many may believe JDS is better he hasn’t proved it yet.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
Carwin was #7 when they fought...
The world is a dangerous place to live - not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don't do anything about it. - Albert Einstein
Yeah and he beat #3 Mir whats your point
If JDS beats Cain he showed he deserves to be ahead of Cain but that doesn’t mean Cain should drop to were he is at. Rankings change all the time so it’s not like they are set in stone.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
just clarifying that Mir lost to #2 and #7, that's all.
The world is a dangerous place to live - not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don't do anything about it. - Albert Einstein
OMFG!! these guys are super blinded by the hype.
Having Mir in the top 10 is controversial and at 5 is just a joke, the man is 5-4 in his last 9 fights since he returned to mma! Andrei Arlovski is also 5-4 in his last 9, the only difference is Andrei won 5 in a row which Mir never did and u gotta give credit for consistency, something Santos MIr III is not, how he even got up so high in the first place after losing in 2 out of 3 in his return to MMA is unreal but after he got famous for beating an unranked guy who had his first ufc fight and 2nd fight ever named Brock Lesnar he was instantly the “shit”.
Then we have Forrest Griffin coming in at 5th in the LHW div. could you plz find me any worse rankings? he’s also 5-4 in his last 9 and only reason he’s still around these mma sites ranking lists is b/c he’s a famous UFC guy who’s had his ass wiped by the UFC ever since he arrived-
20+ sites are blinded? And you know everything I understand Roberto LOL
Forrest has yet to lose to someone ranked lower than a top 5 since he became champ. The rankings like I said try and use facts not opinions like yours as much as possible. Silva is only lower becasue sites don’t rank him at LHW but if you averaged the sites that do he is a top 4 but becasue some don’t rank him his rank drops on the consensus list. And Mir jumped ahead of NOG after he beat NOG makes sense. And like I said ranking cahnge with proof. You could very well be right that JDS could beat Mir but right now thats jsut a opininion and the fact is Mir beat NOG who was #3 no matter what your opinion is. OMFG they use facts more than opinion waa waaa waa LOL
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
that's correct i do know better than mma sites, they've apparently never watched any real sports.
you don’t think they use opinion? then why is everything u just wrote opinionated?
who they lose to and who they win over doesn’t really matter that much, a loss is a loss and a win is a win and that’s the only facts that exist, wins and losses on a record.
also, head to head records is not used in any real sport rankings you’ll see, only when it comes to a tie breaker situation where they have even records.
but i can accept all these mma sites having the lists they have.
because the mma business does not have a system to have legit rankings and legit competition.
Like I said they try and use as much facts as possible
I never once said there was NO opinion involved, how can Forrest be dropped from being #1 in the world after he beat PAge and Shogun then to lose to Evans and Silva ranked top five by any site that ranks Silva has him in the top 4. So losing to two top five fighters means Forrest is overrated?? You might be right but that will need to come through proof and he is fighting a guy next in Lil NOG that many believe is a top five and they could easily switch spots. I also think Jones and Bader could beat Forrest but thats jsut opinion right now.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
yeah, well i can understand you there but i don’t believe Forrest was world #1 at any time, he had just lost to Jardine and Tito a couple fights before he went on that little 3 fight win streak that got him to the title. The fact that they are given title shots by a matchmaker and not by having done anything special should bring down the thing where the title holder is basically automatically ranked as world #1 in mma, we could still have our opinion that he’s the best but it shouldn’t show up in a ranking.
If they wanted to have realistic ranks they would need to make consistency their top priority it’s that simple, cause the reality is any top fighter in the UFC can really win and lose against anybody on any given night and that’s been guys like Forrest in a nutshell so far.
they’d need a computer based system for things like this but it would be impossible to have as i said, mma comp is not too much about entertainment.
I don't like ranking two different orgs as it'smore opinion than anything
I think Jones and Bader would beat King Mo and Gegard as well as Forrest. But Gegard being rated so high before really F’d up the ratings as before that Gegard has beat nobody in the top ten so how the hell did he get in the top ten, F me how did he get in the top five!!?? Now with Forrest I agree as time goes on like Chuck, Tito, Wandy, Henderson his name will fall off the list as he continues to fight, at at least I think it will.
i do agree I think there is many guys that can beat guys ranked higher than them but for the most part I think this is a decent list based on as much fact as possible with past ratings from 4 years ago to now for the most part.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
they got the lightweight rankings way wrong. theres no way that gilbert is above kenny florian, and also wheres ben henderson. Ben henderson would beat onyone form 6 on. Also jake boring humpr your leg shields is not number 3. vitor would destroy him same with nate, and maia would show him what real bjj is not the lay and prey one.
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