power rankings

(Jose Aldo: Murdering his way to the #4 spot.)

After the recent whirlwind of MMA activity in the UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, and DREAM, I've updated the Heavyweight, Welterweight, and Featherweight pages of our Power Rankings section. Check 'em out and let us know what you think. Do Jeff Monson and Brett Rogers deserve to sneak into the heavyweight list? Who do you think sits just outside of the welterweight top ten? Is it okay that I'm so biased towards the WEC's featherweights? Feel free to peruse all our divisional rankings, though I realize that the middleweight list is severely outdated, and I might not even want to deal with it until after UFC 100.

(BG)

(Shane Carwin — one of the ten best heavyweights in the world. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

In the wake of UFC 95, WEC 39, and UFC 96, we've tidied up the heavyweight, light-heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, and featherweight top ten lists in our Power Rankings section. Some notable changes...

— Shane Carwin enters the heavyweight list at #9 after taking out his first Top 20 opponent in 69 seconds.

— Keith Jardine leaves the light-heavyweight list (temporarily, at least) after his loss to Quinton Jackson on Saturday. He may have beaten a post-peak Chuck Liddell and a pre-peak Forrest Griffin, but it's unclear if he has what it takes to beat a high-level opponent when they're at their best.

— Robbie Lawler and Jake Shields drop a spot due to inactivity. Not their fault, but whaddya gonna do. Luckily, their stints in Strikeforce begin soon.

— Josh Koscheck falls to #8 on the welterweight list after being upset by Paulo Thiago. Kos definitely still has the talent of a top-ten fighter — he's just made some unfortunate choices.

— Jose Aldo ascends to #6 on the featherweight list after his fourth brutal stoppage win in the WEC.

Check 'em out and let us know if you see things differently.

Unrelated, but important: Thanks so much for all your awesome nominations in our Best MMA Bars forum thread. We're going to start compiling our list soon, so if you have any others to share, please let us know!

(Rampage mean-mugs his way back to #2. Photo courtesy of the Las Vegas Sun.)

In the wake of UFC 92's wild string of upsets, we've updated the light-heavyweight and heavyweight top ten lists in our Power Rankings section. Some notes:

— Rashad Evans takes the #1 spot at 205 pounds. The UFC's light-heavyweight division is still a shark tank where almost any fighter could be the best on a given day, but I think Sugar has the skills to defend his belt at least once. Evans/Rampage could be epic; let's hope it happens soon.

—Frank Mir jumps to #4 following back-to-back wins over the UFC's two best heavyweights. That is just craaaaaazy. If Mir can beat Brock Lesnar a second time and unify the heavyweight title, it'll be one of the most miraculous career comebacks in MMA history.

— I'd love to get some new blood into the bottom of the heavyweight list, but it'll have to wait until Shane Carwin and Gabriel Gonzaga have their fight in March, or until Dave Herman, Antonio Silva, Alistair Overeem, or Sergei Kharitonov beat a highly-ranked opponent.

Head over to the rankings page to toss in your own opinions, and keep an eye on the lightweight list this week, as four of the top ten fighters will be competing in MMA matches at Fields Dynamite!! 2008 on New Year's Eve.

("The belt, the flannel, and the bible — only these three things are sacred." Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

In an effort to get more of you bastards walking around as human billboards for CagePotato.com, we're going to start giving away CP "Hall of Fame" t-shirts to our two favorite comments of the week. (Well, out of the ones we actually read, at least.) This week's honorees are:

Krazy Kracker on "Paulo Filho Has No Excuse": This is no laughing matter you guys. Earlier tonight Filho was complaining of chest pains and was rushed to the nearest emergency room. After several tests doctors have comfirmed that instead of a heart, Paulo has a gigantic clitoris pumping pure estrogen through his veins. The flow of estrogen can only be slowed by wearing sleeveless flannel shirts and resting on your back once every minute. Usually cutting weight is no problem if he can time his fights into that five day window all clitoris owners have once a month, where he can purge himself of roughly ten pounds of pesky blood, but Hurricane Ike threw a wrench in his plans. Without being whipped into a PMS induced rage, we saw his true colors… a typical moody bitch, yelling at someone to do chores from the other room, looking for rich men to lay at MMA events and falling into missionary position whenever a man gets within three feet. A sad day for the sport indeed. According to Filho’s manager “All we need is four days, a lot of chocolate, sweatpants and a copy of Sleepless in Seattle and Paulo will be back in the cage the THIRD week of any month you’d like.”

(Miguel Torres: The snub is over. Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

In light of the recent DREAM and EliteXC shows, we tidied up the middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, and pound-for-pound lists on our Power Rankings page. Some things to keep in mind...

— Partly because we don't have a bantamweight rankings page (yet?), I'd simply forgotten to include Miguel Torres on the pound-for-pound list. That insult stops today.
— Deep down, I believe that Fedor Emelianenko is the best fighter on Earth. But based on recent activity, I have to keep Anderson Silva as the pound-for-pound #1. If Fedor can smash another top-ten heavyweight this year, he'll move into the top spot. Then again, if Silva can smash a top-ten light-heavyweight by the end of the year, he'll comfortably stay where he is.
— Matt Lindland becomes the first fighter to leave the rankings after winning a fight. In my opinion, anybody who still thinks he's a top-ten middleweight is living in the past. It's been about six years since he's beaten anybody even close to the top ten, and his less-than-thrilling decision win against the under-experienced Fabio Negao at Affliction: Banned suggests that he'd get smoked against anyone in the top 15. Just my $0.02.

Anyway, head on over and leave some comments on the individual weight class pages to let us know how you feel. And make sure to re-check 'em in about ten days, as UFC 87 may have some serious impact on the 155- and 170-pound lists. Good day to you.

(BG)