USAT/SBN June MMA Consensus Rankings: Light Heavyweight
by Kid Nate on Jun 24, 2009 9:52 PM EDT
in Rankings
28 comments
Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.
| Rank | Fighter | % | Promotion | Last Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lyoto Machida | 100 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Quinton Jackson | 94 | UFC | 3 |
| 3 | Rashad Evans | 93 | UFC | 2 |
| 4 | Forrest Griffin | 86 | UFC | 4 |
| 5 | Mauricio Rua | 84 | UFC | 5 |
| 6 | Keith Jardine | 67 | UFC | 6 |
| 7 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira | 62 | Affliction | 8 |
| 8 | Luiz Cane | 61 | UFC | 10 |
| 9 | Renato Sobral | 58 | Strikeforce/Affliction | 9 |
| 10 | Rich Franklin | 52 | UFC | 14 |
| 11 | Dan Henderson | 41 | UFC | 13 |
| 12 | Wanderlei Silva | 38 | UFC | 7 |
| 13 | Thiago Silva | 34 | UFC | 11 |
| 14 | Chuck Liddell | 34 | UFC | 11 |
| 15 | Tito Ortiz | 21 | Unsigned | 15 |
| 16 | Vladimir Matyushenko | 21 | Free Agent | 16 |
| 17 | Matt Hamill | 21 | UFC | 17 |
| 18 | Mike Whitehead | 20 | Strikeforce | 28 |
| 19 | Brandon Vera | 19 | UFC | 18 |
| 19 | Krzysztof Soszynski | 19 | UFC | 27 |
| 21 | Jason Brilz | 17 | UFC | 23 |
| 22 | Muhammed Lawal | 17 | WVR | 25 |
| 23 | Mark Coleman | 16 | UFC | 30 |
| 24 | Jared Hamman | 16 | Strikeforce | 24 |
| 25 | Mamed Khalidov | 16 | Konfrontacja | 30 |
The collective MMA community has had a month to process the meaning of #1 Lyoto Machida's crushing win at UFC 98. Machida's dominance is sinking in with MMA pundits and consequently, former champ #3 Rashad Evans slides down a slot.
Dana White confirmed this weekend that Machida's first title defense will be against #5 Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 104 in October.
#2 Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will, of course, be coaching the next season of The Ultimate Fighter against #3 Rashad Evans. They'll meet at the end of the season. Jackson must be quite confident that he'll beat Evans because he turned down a title shot to take the TUF gig instead.
#4 Forrest Griffin will face middleweight #1 Anderson Silva at UFC 101. A win over the man many consider the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world should get Griffin an immediate title shot. I have no idea what a loss to Silva would mean for Griffin.
That same card will see #6 Keith Jardine take on #13 Thiago Silva. Jardine's ugly habit of stringing together wins and losses could be trouble for the Brazilian who hasn't fought since getting KTFO'd by Machida at UFC 94. The winner of Jardine/Silva might find themselves facting #8 Luiz Cane or #10 Rich Franklin in a title contender's match.
The rise of #7 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and #9 Renato "Babalu" Sobral portends the emergence of a legitimate non-UFC pool at Light Heavyweight. Sobral will be fighting #11 middleweight Gegard Mousasi at August 1's Affliction: Trilogy. No word on what's next for "Little Nog" but I'm disappointed to not see him announced for yet.
One fight to keep an eye on is the UFC 102 bout between #17 Matt Hamill and #19 Brandon Vera. The winner has a chance to enter the UFC title contender track. The loser will likely drop out of the rankings entirely.
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What I want to see is Kharitonov shave off some of those pounds, and take a fight at 205 against Rogerio for Affliction in August. Assuming that’s physically possible.
by Ahhhoki on Jun 24, 2009 9:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
What
happens if Forrest wins? Boy that would fuck things up.
by Riney on Jun 24, 2009 10:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
yes indeed
and its a very real possibility IMO.
I think it would light a fire under Anderson Silva’s ass and he’ll start working hard to win his fights in exciting fashion again.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
by Kid Nate on Jun 24, 2009 10:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think Forrest is the perfect fighter for Anderson. He will make him work, has nasty leg kicks and an iron will. My biggest fear is the clench and Forrest eating knees ala Rich.
by Riney on Jun 24, 2009 10:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Forrest is probably working on clinch work with Wandy right now.
Keep firing Assholes!
Out out, you demons of stupidity!
by Ubernoober on Jun 24, 2009 11:04 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Forrest is a big dude, he has that going for him. Should make the clinch a little bit easier to deal with.
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
by iiowyn on Jun 25, 2009 9:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
If Forrest wins then it sets up a pretty epic Forrest v Machida fight at some point.
I dislike Matt Hughes.
by MonkeyCHops on Jun 25, 2009 2:52 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The Forrest v. Silva fight is at 101 in Philly, not 102. =]
by sadface on Jun 24, 2009 11:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
The Jardine fight IS at 102, however.
by sadface on Jun 24, 2009 11:04 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
In his last fight he defeated Daniel Acacio, who isn’t particularly ranked but is held in high regards because he is a very technically advanced fighter both on the feet and on the ground. So the fact that Khalidov beat him in a few minutes or less kind of opened a lot of peoples’ eyes. Besides that, he has a pretty decent record.
by Ahhhoki on Jun 24, 2009 11:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Thanks, I wonder if he’s got fights on the web to look at?
by who me on Jun 24, 2009 11:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
A bunch
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Mamed+Khalidov&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#
Due to Cheick Kongo's atrocious takedown defense....
Walla walla walla, I’m an idiot
by ufc4 on Jun 24, 2009 11:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
He’s the 25th best LHW in the world, that’s who.
Keep firing Assholes!
Out out, you demons of stupidity!
by Ubernoober on Jun 24, 2009 11:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
He’s a really exciting and dynamic fighter who has fought in the last two years mostly for the KSW promotion in Poland.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
by Rundownloser on Jun 25, 2009 12:27 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Man, Nog is just starving for quality opponents. How to rectify this… hmm…
by subo on Jun 24, 2009 11:34 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Why is Rich always so low in these rankings? The guy has hardly lost.
by iTap on Jun 24, 2009 11:37 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Rich is always hurt by being ranked in either LHW or MW. It throws off the pankings.
Keep firing Assholes!
Out out, you demons of stupidity!
by Ubernoober on Jun 24, 2009 11:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
He just jumped four spots into the top ten.
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 Jun 24, 2009 11:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
He will definitely be at the top of the 195 rankings when they come out
Due to Cheick Kongo's atrocious takedown defense....
Walla walla walla, I’m an idiot
by ufc4 on Jun 24, 2009 11:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Choseyourweight class? I thought Strikeforce had that wrapped up.
by who me on Jun 25, 2009 12:05 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Only in fights involving women and/or Diaz
Due to Cheick Kongo's atrocious takedown defense....
Walla walla walla, I’m an idiot
by ufc4 on Jun 25, 2009 12:07 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Nick Diaz is definatly the best “don’t give a damn about weight classes” fighter out there, even before Strikeforce he got EliteXC to just make him up a weight class.
by who me on Jun 25, 2009 12:35 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I have a feeling that we are going to see these rankings change radically in the next couple of months. Many of the better fighters are going into retirement.
by Bandaka on Jun 25, 2009 12:12 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
What happened to Jon Jones? Did he drop because of inactivity?
by ryanwk628 on Jun 25, 2009 9:18 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
probably so
one thing that changes the lower ranks is when we alter our source mix — usually because not everyone had updated in time to be included — June 1 was our cutoff date.
Guys like Jones that are top 25 but not top 10 can really get impacted by that since there are only a handful of sites that rank the whole top 25.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
by Kid Nate on Jun 25, 2009 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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