USAT/SBN May MMA Consensus Rankings: Heavyweight

by Kid Nate on May 28, 2009 6:30 PM EDT in Rankings Comment 21 comments

Rank	Fighter	%	Promotion	Last
1	Fedor Emelianenko	100	Affliction	1
2	Josh Barnett	92	Affliction	2
3	Frank Mir	90	UFC	4
4	Andrei Arlovski	88	Strikeforce	3
5	Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira	83	UFC	5
6	Brock Lesnar	78	UFC	6
7	Randy Couture	75	UFC	7
8	Tim Sylvia	58	Adrenaline	8
9	Shane Carwin	58	UFC	10
10	Alistair Overeem	53	DREAM/Strikeforce	9
11	Fabricio Werdum	40	Strikeforce	11
12	Cheick Kongo	35	UFC	12
13	Junior dos Santos	33	UFC	13
14	Mirko Filipovic	31	UFC	15
15	Jeff Monson	30	DREAM	14
16	Gabriel Gonzaga	26	UFC	16
17	Antonio Silva	24	WVR	17
18	Ben Rothwell	23	Adrenaline	18
19	Cain Velasquez	21	UFC	20
20	Roy Nelson	18	Free Agent	21
21	Paul Buentello	18	Affliction	23
21	Sergei Kharitonov	17	DREAM	21
23	Aleksander Emelianenko	17	Free Agent	19
24	Gegard Mousasi	16	DREAM	NR
25	Marcio Cruz	16	WVR	NR

Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

The heavyweight division has endured months of stasis but big changes will be coming to the division this summer.

Strikeforce almost booked #10 Alistair Overeem to defend his title against #26 Brett Rogers at their June 6 show, but a broken hand for the Dutchman forced them to cut a deal with Affliction to borrow #4 Andrei Arlovski to face Rogers.

UFC 99 on June 13 will see #12 Cheick Kongo face #19 Cain Velasquez, in a fight that could propel the winner into UFC title contention and likely the top 10 of the Censensus Rankings. I expect the highly touted Velasquez to come in as the favorite over the more highly ranked Kongo.

On July 11th at UFC 100, #3 Frank Mir and #6 Brock Lesnar will fight for the UFC heavyweight title. This fight is the culmination of the UFC's four man min-tournament for the title. After their wins over #5 Antonio Roridgo Nogueira and #7 Randy Couture respectively, Mir and Lesnar have won the respect of many but not all in the MMA world.

Rumor has it that #1 Fedor Emelianenko will face #2 Josh Barnett at the third Affliction show on August 1. If the fight happens and Fedor wins as expected, he will have cleared out Affliction's impressive improvised heavyweight division. No matter the outcome, speculation as to the mighty Russian's next move will dominate discussion in the dog days of Summer. I would expect the UFC to make another run at signing the Last Emperor.

The UFC mini-tourny opening round losers #5 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and #7 Randy Couture will meet at UFC 102. #9 Shane Carwin will likely be the first to challenge the winner of Mir/Lesnar.

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How far does Barnett fall after Fedor kills him? Will the winner of Kongo/Velasquez finally crack the top ten? Who does Carwin fight next?

This Affliction domination of the top three is over now, and soon it will be shattered with just Fedor at the top, looking down at a bunch of UFC fighters hungry for a shot at him. By the end of the year, Lesnar should be a solid #2. Ball is in your court, Fedor.

by subo on May 27, 2009 9:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Brock is listed at #6 on the list and at #5 in the article.

I poop rainbows.

by Blackout612 on May 28, 2009 6:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

d'oh!

thanks

"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"

by Kid Nate on May 28, 2009 6:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Barnett at #2

is the biggest joke in combat sports today. I think he might be top 10 but no way in hell is he 2. Arlovski is still #4? When he left the UFC he wasn’t champ, not close to a title shot but now he is ranked ahead of all these guys.

Its funny how the fighters in the UFC get penalized for fighting top fighters but other organizations fighters climb the ranking while fighting weaker opponents.

For those about to flame, I have been saying the UFC has had a paper champ in both Rashad and Forrest.

by Riney on May 28, 2009 6:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

its a weird combination of things

Couture and Nogueira both losing, combined with Mir’s spotty record before beating Lesnar and Lesnar’s extremely short resume have hurt the UFC pool of guys.
Then you’ve got the gravitational pull of Fedor pulling Arlovski, Barnett and even Sylvia higher than they would otherwise be.
It definitely takes fighters longer to fall than to rise.

"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"

by Kid Nate on May 28, 2009 7:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think in general

The UFC guys are all moving up the rankings; Frank Mir, Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Cheick Kongo, Junior dos Santos, Cain Velasquez) while i would expect at last some of the others (barnett, timmay, AA) might be coming down. It looks like the effort the UFC has been making in to the HW division is a little while from paying off.

by Beren on May 28, 2009 11:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

do the rankers even watch the fights?

Barnett is not even top 10 and they have him at #2? how?

I watched both his fights against big nog. fun fights. in the first one, he barely squeaked out a split decision, in the 2nd fight, barnett barely got out of the 3rd round alive. advantage big nog.

barnett vs couture was also fun to watch. randy was beating barnett down for the first 8min but then fell victim to vicious GnP. advantage barnett right? wrong, barnett was on the juice at the time. rank him below couture.

14th ranked cro cop beat him three times!

what are barnett’s accomplishments that make him 2nd best in the word? beating number 23 Aleksander Emelianenko and number 15 Jeff Monson?

what a fuckin joke is right.

by fuzzy wuzzy on May 30, 2009 10:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

idiot rankers aside, i do give barnett credit for going after fedor, i just don’t see it happening for him.
war machidaelbow

by fuzzy wuzzy on May 30, 2009 10:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Carwin = King. That is all.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on May 28, 2009 8:05 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs

that proposition is about to be sorely tested

"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"

by Kid Nate on May 28, 2009 8:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He passed the shit out of the Gonzaga test. The man is a beast.

by subo on May 28, 2009 8:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He really only showed he has nasty power and the mindset to continue throwing under fire. Apart from that he was getting eaten by Gonzaga. His rigid striking was susceptible to a varied attack and he looked fairly clueless on his back. Gonzaga just got careless and Carwin melted him with that anvil of a right hand.

There is still much to learn about Carwin.

by SamCupitt on May 29, 2009 1:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fairly clueless on his back? Forgive my Carwin nuthugging (go Colorado MMA), but Gonzaga’s a legit BJJ black belt and had a dominant position on Carwin – I think it was half guard. I, and everyone at the bar, thought the fight was over – but Carwin is a beast that knows how to wrestle and stood up in a very short amount of time, setting him up for the aforementioned anvil.

I can’t name two other fighters that I think could escape Gonzaga’s ground game so easily.

by subo on May 29, 2009 3:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

werdum and couture didn’t seem to have tons of difficulty. i bet monson, cain, and silva would probably be able to succeed too.

by nigelzackit on May 29, 2009 10:07 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Was Gonzaga ever on top of Couture? I’m talking stun a guy on the feet and land on top of him – Gonzaga might have the best top game in the HW division and Carwin got right up. Do you mean ‘Bigfoot’ when you say Silva?

by subo on May 29, 2009 10:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

IMO, these are the best rankings I’ve seen come through the BE supercomputer.

There's a WAMMA belt in my Cracker Jacks!

by Drewplata on May 28, 2009 8:37 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You have 5 UFC guys in the top 10. Come on! There has to be more guys few have ever heard of that you could have chosen.

by ProCannonFodder on May 28, 2009 9:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Its statistics man, things just happen. The only analysis or opinion by Bloodyelbow editors was which sites to draw the rankings from.

Keep firing Assholes!

This is a dream competition for me. I drink as much coffee as I want, and eventually I hallucinate.

by Ubernoober on May 28, 2009 10:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You should show

little arrows to symbolize how a guy is doing based on his last fights. Like a green up, red down and line for no chance. That way I wouldnt feel so uncomfortable with Nog, Randy and Sylvia so high.

by ryanwk628 on May 29, 2009 8:27 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I’m not sure I follow. We already list where they were ranked last month.

Bolts from the Blue // "Game over." - Jamal Williams
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken

by Richard Wade on May 29, 2009 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Barnett?? What about Frank?

I like Mir and think he’ll beat Brock due to his vast experience in the sub game, But who has he beaten to get to #3? Past his prime, staph infection Big Nog? Lesnar and his one fight history? Talk about ranked way too high, Don’t tell me Tank Abbott, and Hardonk, (With Mr. Overrated himself Tim thrown in) make him a legit #3? I’ll take Barnetts career over Mirs anyday.

Doesn't anybody think before they speak/post anymore?

by Big Boob Lover on Jun 15, 2009 10:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs