USAT/SBN January MMA Consensus Rankings: Middleweight
by Kid Nate on Jan 28, 2010 9:31 PM EST
in MMA Rankings
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| Rank | Fighter | % | Promotion | Last Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anderson Silva | 100 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Nate Marquardt | 95 | UFC | 2 |
| 3 | Dan Henderson | 92 | Strikeforce | 3 |
| 4 | Demian Maia | 80 | UFC | 4 |
| 5 | Chael Sonnen | 77 | UFC | 6 |
| 6 | Vitor Belfort | 74 | UFC | 5 |
| 7 | Jake Shields | 68 | Strikeforce | 7 |
| 8 | Yushin Okami | 53 | UFC | 8 |
| 9 | Yoshihiro Akiyama | 52 | UFC | 9 |
| 10 | Robbie Lawler | 41 | Strikeforce | 12 |
| 11 | Jorge Santiago | 38 | WVR | 11 |
| 12 | Mamed Khalidov | 38 | WVR | 10 |
| 13 | Paulo Filho | 31 | DREAM | 13 |
| 14 | Michael Bisping | 27 | UFC | 14 |
| 15 | Nick Diaz | 25 | Strikeforce | 17 |
| 16 | Ronaldo Souza | 25 | DREAM/Strikeforce | 16 |
| 17 | Melvin Manhoef | 25 | K-1 | 32 |
| 18 | Alan Belcher | 24 | UFC | 22 |
| 19 | Patrick Cote | 22 | UFC | 19 |
| 20 | Thales Leites | 21 | MFC | 20 |
| 20 | Scott Smith | 21 | Strikeforce | 38 |
| 22 | Ikuhisa Minowa | 21 | K-1 | NR |
| 23 | Tim Kennedy | 20 | Strikeforce | 36 |
| 24 | Ricardo Almeida | 20 | UFC | 22 |
| 25 | Rich Franklin | 19 | UFC | 26 |
Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.
We'll have to wait until April to see #1 Anderson Silva defend his UFC middleweight belt against #6 Vitor Belfort at UFC 112.
Fans of top-flight middleweight action will have to be satisfied with #2 Nate Marquardt vs #5 Chael Sonnen at UFC 109 in February. That match is a double-pinkie- swear-no-take-backs #1 contenders match too.
UFC 109 will also see #4 Demian Maia tested against the very tough but unranked Dan Miller.
#7 Jake Shields is expected to defend his Strikeforce middleweight belt against #3 Dan Henderson, possibly on their April CBS card.
#8 Yushin Okami will return to action against Lucio Linhares at UFC Fight Night 21, presumably on the undercard.
#9 Yoshihiro Akiyama is apparently still in the deep freeze. At one point he was apparently set to face Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110, but that fight went to #14 Michael Bisping instead. No word on when fans can expect to see the Sexy One again.
#10 Robbie Lawler will face #17 Melvin Manhoef at this Saturday's Strikeforce: Miami event on Showtime.
#11 Jorge Santiago will defend his Sengoku belt against #12 Mahmed Khalidov -- the man who beat him in a non-title fight at Sengoku 11 -- in March.
Based on the premise that all MMA rankings are subjective but that it’s still useful and informative to know who the online MMA community as a whole ranks as the best fighters in MMA, we collect and average the rankings of the top MMA websites to produce our consensus rankings.
We compile the top MMA rankings from each of our sources and award 25 points for a first place ranking, 16 for a 10th place ranking, 1 for a 25th place ranking. A formula is used to "normalize" the data so all fighters are awarded points from those lists that do not include a full 25 fighters. This formula ensures that each ranking site awards the same number of total points regardless of how many fighters they choose to rank. Each fighter’s total is divided by the number of possible points to determine their standing in the Consensus Rankings.
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So Manhoef should shoot up the ranks once he KO removes the head of Lawler. Nice to see Minowaman in the ranks. Not that he needs to be since he is chuck norris status anyways.
HI YAH!
by Thats It For you! on Jan 28, 2010 8:34 AM EST reply actions
I still feel robbed about not getting to see Marquardt/Hendo. I’m getting tired of seeing Andy kill guys the slowest way possible at middleweight.
Did you see the size of that chicken?
I'm with you
Belfort might be an interesting fight for Anderson. He’s a lefty who throws very sharp straight fast punches. Silva should be able to clown him, but Vitor has a better chance than Forrest.
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My wife is a fan and watches all the shows with me. If she doesn’t know the guys, she always picks the guy with the reach advantage. In this case, it will be very prevalent. I don’t care how great someones footwork is, or how sharp their punches are, you cannot beat Anderson Silva at his own game. He needs to fight someone who isn’t scared of his fancy defense and footwork (ala Rampage). Belfort will be interesting up until Mazagatti is waving him off.
Did you see the size of that chicken?
That would have been a good fight but I ask you this, which interests you more- Andy/Hendo 2 or Andy/Nate 2? For me it’s the latter and I think we have a better chance of that happening with Hendo out of the picture. Don’t get me wrong, I wish Hendo was still in the UFC, but not because I wanted to see him lose to Anderson again.
Not to be a contrarian, but I like Hendo/Silva II more than Silva/Marquardt II. The only way that I can substantiate that is by paralleling it to GSP/Fitch. Everything that Marquardt does, Andy does far better. Dan atleast took a round from Silva in their first match and kind of layed a blueprint for a good gameplan (albeit it beat him in the 2nd round).
What it boils down to, is I want Silva fighting full-time against top 5, 205lb opposition. I think he is probably the best fighter in the world and for my own, selfish love of the sport, I want him to prove it every fight. I don’t want to see him slaughter the next lamb at 85 when there is too much coming down the pike at 205. I want Silva/Mousasi for starters.
Did you see the size of that chicken?
I think Anderson/Vitor could end up as a long staring match.
Keep firing Assholes!
Mind numbing, tedious and ultimately self defeating.
I agree
They’re both very smart fighters, and have been very patient lately… they both are not bad at initiating themselves, but they’re better at countering for the most part, and that leads me to wonder who’s going to be willing to break suit and engage.
I think there will definitely be a decent length feeling out period, maybe even for the 1’st half of the 1’st round, and then who knows? Fireworks, maybe. Boring suckfest? Possibly. We shall see…
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'09 is the year of the FW's.
by ElliotMatheny on Jan 28, 2010 11:10 PM EST up reply actions
Just throwing this out there, I know the rankings are gathered from 25 websites, and is based on fighter’s records, etc…And I also do not doubt that Vitor Belfort deserves his ranking, buyt what are his notable wins at 185? Matt Lindland? Rich Franklin was at 195. And if its based on his previous wins at other weight classes, why doesn’t Wanderlei get ranked here with the middle weights?
Wanderlei Silva hasn’t fought at 185 yet.
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by Richard Wade on Jan 29, 2010 12:15 AM EST up reply actions
A lot of people count the Franklin fight. I don’t agree with that, but that’s a big part of it. These same people tend to count Henderson’s win over Franklin in his favor at middleweight, even though that fight was at 205. They also tend to count Franklin’s win over Wanderlei for light-heavyweight rankings, even though it was at 195.
The other reason is that people rank based on hype. Vitor has name value, he’s in a new weight class, he’s been knocking people out, and he’s getting a title shot. For some, this negates the fact that his biggest win has been in a made-up weight class, and his two actual middleweight wins don’t warrant a top 10 slot.
This list goes to show that Middleweight is the strongest weight class of Strikeforce. Considering that it is not one of the stronger weight classes as far as having draws and many very well-rounded fighters, I wonder how it became Strikeforce’s strongest division?
You just answered your own question =D
Guillotine.
by iiowyn on Jan 29, 2010 9:44 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
that’s part of SF’s problem though. This could be their strongest division, and that would be good because it’s not the UFC’s best, beyond Anderson Silva.
But when you look at it. Diaz and Shields are really Welterweights, and Hendo’s trajectory has him going after mousasi at 205, so somewhere they could be building something is really just a mess. i think they should tell all of them to fight mw deal with it so they canbuild some sort of division with name power.
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