Middleweight 6-12-08

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Rank

Fighter

Comments

1.

Anderson Silva

His name is The Spider, king of kings: Look on his works, ye Mighty, and despair.

2.

Rich Franklin

Ace’s last match against Travis Lutter reminded us of how brilliant he can be when he’s not fighting Anderson Silva, who’s still the only middleweight to ever defeat him. We’d kill to see Franklin take on Dan Henderson and prove who really deserves the runner-up spot among the world’s middleweights.

3.

Paulo Filho

4.

Dan Henderson

Losing to two champions doesn’t make you a has-been. Hendo just needs a couple of solid wins to skate back to the top three. Still, like everyone else in the UFC’s middleweight division, a championship belt is out of the question as long as Anderson Silva lives and breathes.

5.

Yushin Okami

6.

Robbie Lawler

Against Scott Smith at EliteXC: Primetime, Lawler showed that he'd lost nothing during his extended injury layoff. With his sharp hands and iron chin, we don't see him losing his EliteXC belt any time soon, and he's now healthy enough to reclaim the Icon Sport middleweight belt back from Kala Kolohe Hose.

7.

(Tie) Jason Miller, Frank Trigg

8.

Kazuo Misaki

9.

Matt Lindland

IFL superfights aside, The Law’s career has drifted aimlessly since he parted ways with the UFC in 2005; of course, getting screwed by BodogFight isn’t in anybody’s 5-year plan. We hope his deal with Affliction’s new MMA promotion will have him fighting regularly and against tough opponents, because as of now, his talent is being wasted to a tragic degree.

10.

Gegard Mousasi

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