USAT/SBN July MMA Consensus Rankings: Light Heavyweight

by Kid Nate on Jul 30, 2009 10:11 AM EDT in Rankings Comment 12 comments

Rank	Fighter	%	Promotion	Last Rank
1	Lyoto Machida	100	UFC	1
2	Quinton Jackson	94	UFC	2
3	Rashad Evans	93	UFC	3
4	Forrest Griffin	87	UFC	4
5	Mauricio Rua	84	UFC	5
6	Keith Jardine	70	UFC	6
7	Antonio Rogerio Nogueira	63	???	7
8	Luiz Cane	62	UFC	8
9	Rich Franklin	58	UFC	10
10	Renato Sobral	54	Strikeforce	9
11	Thiago Silva	40	UFC	13
12	Chuck Liddell	35	UFC	14
13	Dan Henderson	34	UFC	11
14	Wanderlei Silva	30	UFC	12
15	Jon Jones	24	UFC	31
16	Matt Hamill	21	UFC	17
17	Vladimir Matyushenko	20	Free Agent	16
18	Brandon Vera	20	UFC	19
18	Tito Ortiz	20	UFC	15
20	Sokoudjou	17	DREAM	27
21	Mark Coleman	17	UFC	23
22	Krzysztof Soszynski	17	UFC	19
23	Steve Cantwell	16	UFC	26
23	Muhammed Lawal	16	M-1 Global	22
25	Trevor Prangley	15	MaximumFC	27

Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

In contrast to the crazy mixed up Heavyweight division, all is calm in the Light Heavyweight class. There is a clear #1 and he's set to defend his title against the best for the foreseeable future since the UFC has 20 of the top 25 Light Heavies under contract.

The next meaningful fight in the division will pit #4 Forrest Griffin against middleweight #1 Anderson Silva at UFC 101 on August 8.

August 15 will see #10 Renato "Babalu" Sobral face #20 heavyweight Gegard Mousasi on Strikeforce's August 15th Showtime card. The fight was originally scheduled for Affliction's doomed Trilogy event on August 1.

UFC 102 at the end of the month will see #6 Keith Jardine take on #13 Thiago Silva. The winner will re-enter contention. The loser will be seeking his footing in a murderously competitive division.

#9 Rich Franklin has been announced for the headline fight on September's UFC 103 card in Dallas but no opponent has been named. At one point #13 Dan Henderson was rumored, but it's currently unclear who Franklin will face.

#7 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will face ringer Alex Striebling at Bitteti Combat in Brazil on September 12th. Rumors are swirling that the former Affliction fighter may be joining his twin brother in the UFC soon after.

That event will also see the return to action of former perennial top 10 light heavyweight Ricardo Arona. I would hope that a win for Arona would set the stage for his signing with Sengoku, DREAM or Strikeforce.

# 1 Lyoto Machida will make his first title defense 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 UFC 107 in Memphis.

The biggest jump in the rankings in a long time propels UFC 100 winner Jon Jones from #31 to #15. Rumors of a possible match with Hall of Famer Mark Coleman are circulating for the popular Jones.

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Comments

There must be something wrong with this post. All I can see is a tank full of sharks with a UFC logo on it.

by Jahbulon on Jul 30, 2009 10:30 AM EDT reply actions 4 recs

The bigest shark is Lyoto Machida.

by Bandaka on Jul 30, 2009 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

no one cares about the LHW's today

Follow me on Twitter @KidNate

by Kid Nate on Jul 30, 2009 11:21 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The biggest jump in the rankings in a long time propels UFC 100 winner Jon Jones from #31 to #15.

Except he fell from ~20 after beating Bonnar to 31 for no apparent reason (hadnt fought) so it really should be a 5 point jump. The 16 place swing is more representative of the short attention spans of people writing these polls.

by ryanwk628 on Jul 30, 2009 11:33 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

part of that was we dropped some of the sources we had been using

for not updating.
not naming any names….WAMMA.

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by Kid Nate on Jul 30, 2009 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

So since there’s “M1-global” next to King Mo, I’m guessing we’re not seeing him in the UFC any time soon? Boo-urns

by ricker2005 on Jul 30, 2009 11:34 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

he has said several times that he would like to fight in the UFC, especially considering his spat with Rampage. For now, he thinks Japan is the place to fight as he can get in more bouts as they dont have mandatory time off per doctors recommendation. Build up his record quickly.

by ryanwk628 on Jul 30, 2009 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

to my knowledge that's just a one fight deal

he is wanted back in WVR’s sengoku.

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by Kid Nate on Jul 30, 2009 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

why would krzysztof fall after winning 2 fights, the second on short notice? I don’t think coleman and sokoudjao deserved to jump over him either.

by Corey N on Jul 30, 2009 12:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

at the lower levels so few sites are doing top 25 lists

that it doesn’t take much for fighters to move around — if one site doesn’t update on time and gets dropped the guys they were ranking get hit, etc.
Krzystof is a victim of the lack of attention his fights have gotten. One thing I’ve learned from doing the rankings is that they’re driven by publicity as much as in-cage/in-ring performance.

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by Kid Nate on Jul 30, 2009 1:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why is Rich always ranked so low? Hes hardly lost, and 2/3 of his losses were to the same guy.

And why is Shogun always ranked so high? He’s been horrible for the past few….years?

by iTap on Jul 31, 2009 2:46 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Shogun Rua = Most overrated fighter in the division award.

…AND he gets a title shot?! Wow. When I think Shogun, I think Forrest Griffin/RNC and Mark Coleman “old-man-gas-in-30-seconds-but-I-can’t-KO-him” (until he finally passes out in the 3rd round from heavy breathing)

by P4P is a stupid concept on Aug 12, 2009 3:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs