Middleweight 3-2-09

Rank

Fighter

Comments

1.

Anderson Silva

 

2.

Dan Henderson

 

3.

Yushin Okami

 

4.

Gegard Mousasi

We may have already seen the last of Gegard Mousasi as a middleweight. After 11 straight wins and a DREAM title, the Young Vagabond says he’s had enough of drastic weight cuts, and wants to compete as a light-heavy – and eventually try his luck as a heavyweight. Damn, and just when we were hoping he’d be coming over to battle some of the top 185’ers in the U.S. Another hypothetical threat to Anderson Silva, up in smoke…

5.

Rich Franklin

In June, Ace will take on Wanderlei Silva at a 195-pound catchweight. At that point, it’ll be over a year since his last fight at middleweight, and unless he makes a sudden decision afterward to return to the land of the Spider, he’ll be off this list for good.

6.

Nate Marquardt

 

7.

Jorge Santiago

Two years ago, Santiago had washed out of the UFC following back-to-back losses to Chris Leben and Alan Belcher. Since then, he’s picked up nine straight victories by stoppage — including wins over Jeremy Horn, Trevor Prangley, Logan Clark, and Kazuo Misaki — and earned a Sengoku championship belt after sweeping through their middleweight grand prix. We wouldn’t be surprised to see the UFC try to bring him back into the fold.

8.

Robbie Lawler

When Lawler finally returns to the cage for Strikeforce in May, it will have been 10 months since his last fight, and 20 months since he fought someone not named Scott Smith. (You can thank ProElite’s dragged-out assets-sale for that.) Hopefully he’ll be able to rebuild his momentum and remind MMA fans that he’s one of the most exciting and improved strikers in the weight division.

9.

Demian Maia

Right now, every middleweight in the UFC would be vulnerable against Maia’s virtuosic jiu-jitsu. His striking might be nowhere near the level of his grappling, but so far he hasn’t needed it. Will he be able to choke his way to a future title? (And how many more bonus checks will he pick up along the way?)

10.

Paulo Filho

Filho looked like an absolute wreck in his November decision loss to Chael Sonnen, but now he’s out of rehab, training hard, and preparing for a return this spring. Could 2009 see a rebirth of the once-unstoppable PRIDE vet and WEC champ?