UFC Results Middleweight Rankings

nospam@example.com (Johnny MMA) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:06:10 -0700

It seems fitting with UFC 77 right around the corner, with Rich Franklin fighting current UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva to give my UFC middleweight top 5 rankings now.

The UFC middleweight division is probably the weakest in all of the UFC. By weakest I mean that there is one clear cut champion, a clear cut second and then everyone else is way below. Mixed Martial Arts has come a long way in a very short period of time, so things could change overnight. Let's get started with my rankings.

5. Chris Leben; I think most MMA fans would not include Chris Leben in the top 5 of the UFC middleweight division, but Leben is coming off an impressive come from behind win over a very tough Terry Martin and fought a close decision loss with Kalib Starnes. I personally thought that the Starnes fight was a draw or even a narrow Leben victory.

The thing I've been most impressed with lately with Leben is his ground game. Sure, he's not at the level of Jason MacDonald or Travis Lutter yet, but he's defended very well and even attempted some submissions in the Starnes fight. It's clear after his loss to MacDonald Silva that Chris Leben has gone back to the drawing board and made some real improvements to his game.

4. Jason MacDonald had a real streak going before he met Rich "Ace" Franklin. He had back to back wins over ultimate fighters Ed Herman and Chris Leben winning both fights by submission. MacDonald had a bit of a set back when he faced recently de-throned champion Rich Franklin. This fight showed just how big of a gap there is in the UFC middleweight division, but MacDonald is taking it all in stride and a recent victory at UFC 72 over Rory Singer shows that "The Athlete" is back on track. Jason MacDonald takes on Yushin Okami at UFC 77, likely to see who will face the winner of Anderson Silva and Rich Franklin.

3. Yushin Okami and Jason MacDonald have both faced Rich Franklin, but neither has faced middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Since Okami got less beaten up by Franklin than MacDonald did, I give him the #3 spot. I think that if Okami had committed himself earlier in the fight he would have possibly decisioned Franklin.

2. Rich Franklin is defintely deserving of his #2 status. He has defeated both the third and fourth best fighters in the division and deserves to get his title rematch against Anderson Silva. Until Silva arrived on the scene, it looked like Rich Franklin would remain on top of the middleweight mountain for quite a while. Franklin took a beating at the hands of Silva and I'm interested to see what improvements he has made to his game/strategy for the rematch.

1. Anderson Silva is the best middleweight in the UFC, maybe the best middleweight in the world. Real MMA fans would love to see a bout between Matt Lindland and Anderson Silva to decide the best MMA middleweight, but since Lindland doesn't fight in the UFC we have Anderson Silva reigning supreme. His dominant performances against Chris Leben, Rich Franklin, Travis Lutter and most recently Nate Marquardt indicate true dominance. In fact, in his last 4 fights only one has gone into the second round and they represent only 10 minutes of total fight time.

Anderson Silva is extremely comfortable throwing punches from all angles. He isn't afraid of being taken down, so he allows himself to take risks throwing big flying knees and other high profile strikes. It's that kind of fighting which will both keep Anderson on or near the top of the middleweight division for quite some time. Fans love to see the big strikes and there is nothing more satisfying than a KO.

That rounds out the UFC middleweight top 5. Time to start working on the UFC heavyweight top 5, but with the departure of Randy Couture and the recent signing to M-1 of Fedor Emelianenko, that could be a real chore.

Don't forget to return to UFC Results for your UFC 77 Results

UFC Results - UFC Rankings - Top 5 Lightweight

nospam@example.com (Johnny MMA) — Tue, 4 Sep 2007 12:13:13 -0700

BJ Penn

The UFC's lightweight division has certainly had it's ups and downs over the past year. With two positive tests for steroids and BJ Penn re-entering the fold, it's time to re-evaluate the rankings in the UFC lightweight division.

Lightweights in the UFC are considered to be up to 155lbs, but most of the guys in this list walk around at well over 155lbs. Sean Sherk and BJ Pen have both competed successfully at higher weights and former Ultimate Fighters Joe Stevenson and Kenny Florian have come down to be at 155. Let's not waste any time and get to the list.

6. Roger Huerta was virtually unknown to UFC fans just a year ago, but with 5 consecutive wins added in that time (to put his total to 15 in a row) and a sports illustrated cover have made Huerta a household name and fight fan favorite. I first started taking notice of Huerta with his decision victory over Leonard Garcia at UFC 69. Huerta seemed to have endless cardio in that fight and has had added two more impressive victories since then. One against Douglas Evans and one against a very tough Alberto Crane. Huerta doesn't quite make my top 5, but he certainly deserves special mention and a #6 placement.

5. Din Thomas holds wins over Matt Serra and Jens Pulver. That alone is not enough to move Din into the top 5, however his performances since the finale of the Ultimate Fighter season 4 are. Din has defeated Rich Clementi, Clay Guida and Jeremy Stephens and with those three victories over tough condition I give Din a #5 rating. I think Din is a tough match for anyone at 155.

4 Kenny Florian has one of the worst nicknames in martial arts "KenFlo", but that shouldn't be held against him. He was won 5 of his last six, most of them seemingly with little effort. He did loose in the lightweight title bout with Sean Sherk, but not before opening up a stomach turning cut on Sherk and giving "The Muscle Shark" a good battle.

3. Joe Stevenson has won 13 of his last 14 fights, including victories over Melvin Guillard, Yves Edwards and Kurt Pellegrino. Ususally that puts Joe right in the mix at 155 and I expect him to get a title shot very soon.

2 Sean Sherk has rolled over all the competition he has faced since he moved to 155. He's easily out pointed Kenny Florian and Hermes Franca and is well deserving of the #2 spot. I think a couple of guys could give Sean a run, but with Seans strength and conditioning it will be tough to defeat "The Muscle Shark".

1. BJ Penn has exactly one fight at lightweight in the last four years, so why is he considered #1 on my list? Simply because BJ Penn is the best lightweight fighter on the planet. BJ Penn has fought the very best at 155 and 170 and held his own with all of them. He is 1-1 in his fights with long time welterweight champion Matt Hughes and very nearly defeated the future at that weight, Georges St Pierre. He holds a win over Jens Pulver and Din Thomas. Sean Sherk (who is at #2) has lost badly to both Hughes and St Pierre and in my mind that puts BJ at a completely different level. Until Takanori Gomi comes to the UFC BJ Penn holds the top spot on my list of 155 lb fighters.

Many will disagree with my list, after all it is missing Hermes Franca, Manny Gamburyan, Spencer Fisher and others. No top 5 list is complete, or entirely without flaws. This is mine, for what it's worth. Of course when Spencer, Manny or Hermes defeat one of the others on my list I'll be happy to move them into the top 5.