List of Former UFC HW's to re-sign with the UFC in 2011-Part one
by Nugent on Jan 13, 2011 10:01 AM EST
Email
Print
via www.mmalinker.com
~Its a long read and took a lot of time and effort,i will have to break it up into different parts,hope its interesting and you enjoy the read.Im also working on a list of 10 fighters/prospects who have not been in the UFC that they can sign for their HW division in 2011 so if you like this,let me know and il post that up too~
This is part one,a quick look at the division they have as of today.The UFC currently has 26 Heavyweights on their roster which is extremely small when compared to some of their other divisions such as Welterweight(57), Lightweight(51) and Middleweight(41).
Out of the 26 Heavyweights 18 are booked to fight in the first half of 2011,the Champion is sidelined for 6-8 months,Big Nog is Injured as is Carwin(set to return in June) both Herring and Hardonk have taken a break from fighting but still have fights remaining on their contracts.The remaining three who are yet to receive a fight in 2011 are Kongo,Rothwell,Broughtan.
The division is in serious need of some experienced Heavyweights and new prospects this year.Ive made a list of ten former UFC heavyweights the UFC could look at re-signing in 2011 and I'm currently working on the prospects list.Here is a quick look at the current fighters the UFC has under contract.
The Elite of the division,all currently ranked top 10
- 1-Cain Valesquez (9-0) World number 1 4-Shane Carwin (12-1) World number 6
- 2-Brock Lesnar (5-2) World number 2 5-Frank Mir (14-5) World number 7
- 3-Junior Dos Santos (12-1) World number 5 6-Big Nog (32-6-1) World number 9
Second tier,established veterans and possible contenders(All top 25)
- 7-Brendan Schaub (7-1) World number 13 10-Ben Rothwell (31-7) World number 17
- 8-Roy Nelson(15-5) World number 14 11-Mirko CroCop (27-8-2) World number 19
- 9-Cheick Kongo(15-6-2) World number 15 12-Mike Russow (13-1) World number 22
The Prospects
via owall.net
In no particular order,Stefan Struve (21-4)Pat Barry (5-2),Matt Mittrione (3-0),Travis Browne (10-0-1),Rob Broughtan (15-5-1),Jon Madsen(7-0) and Christian Morecraft (6-1)
Thats 19 from 26 fighters i would say are doing well in the UFC and deserve to be there the rest which are listed below i believe are either not ready for UFC competition,out of shape(or in the wrong weight class),passed their prime or their records in and out of the UFC are poor.The majority of these fighters should be cut and we need to see some deserving veterans back in the division along with new prospects in 2011.The list will start in my next fan post of the 10 most deserving former UFC fighters to make a return to the UFC this year.
Joey Beltran,Sean McCorkle,Tim Hague,Chris Tuchscherer,Mark Hunt,Heath Herring,Antoni Hardonk.
The List of Veterans Begins in the next fan post. (Source -Rankings)
The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.
10 comments
|
1 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I hate when people do this
But it’s “Re-sign” not “resign” or else I think ten former UFC HWs will quit in 2011.
Seahawks 41 Saints 36: Beast Mode.
by SSreporters on Jan 13, 2011 10:16 AM EST reply actions 2 recs
^this. That is what I thought this was gonna be too.
by alexmullen4180 on Jan 13, 2011 11:17 AM EST up reply actions
exactly what i was expecting when i saw the headline
initial panic followed by OHHH…. REEEE-SIGN
by Body Triangle on Jan 14, 2011 10:50 AM EST up reply actions
Ok well i can change the title,whats wrong with looking at possible fighters to make it back into the UFC ?
Nothing wrong, think the title just confused people. But the breakdown (elite, 2nd tier, prospects) of the HWs was a great overview, I’d like to see that for all UFC divisions. Only disagreement I have is the Pat Barry is not a prospect IMO, he will only remain a prospect for as long as they match him with other stand up fighters (which they keep doing). John Madsen would put an abrupt end to his rise
Mcloviiiiin!!
Antoni Hardonk retired and is training guys now and Heath Herring will likely come back to the UFC after he sucks Dana’s cock and says sorry for insulting him.
'cause the heart that betrays itself willingly, Is like a nation that trades freedom for stability, its so seductive to be cold and corrupted and isolated and try to be an independent republic, But liberty to be loved on the surface is worthless, The sacrifice of revolution with no purpose
by ImmortalTechnique92 on Jan 13, 2011 12:02 PM EST reply actions
which what insult when?
'if you don't have humility as a fighter, fighting will bring humility to you...'
Everyone is talking about how loaded the Strikeforce HW tourny is, and they like to under-estimate the HW division in the UFC, calling it “shallow”. If you were to put any of those top 8 guys in this tournament, I think they would have as good of a shot as winning as almost anyone (with an exception to Fedor/Barnett)
- Werdum got KTFO of the UFC by Dos Santos already.
- Arlovski was on a win streak, but has since lost 3 in a row, and I have a hard time thinking he could beat any rated better then Roy Nelso (who I would take in the Re-match BTW).
- Brett Rogers isn’t a top HW. At All. He lost 2 straight, very convincingly, to two of the guys in this “tourny” then squeaked by Rubin Villareal…he’s not legit.
- Fedor is Fedor..his resume speaks for itself (in a good way)
- Barnett was a top 3 HW 2 years ago, but due to steriods and in-activity, he’s being highly underrated. I see him winning the whole thing.
- Overeem is a beast, but has yet to fight a HW that can give him any problems (besides Werdum and Sergei who both beat him)
- Sergei is also being a bit underrated here. Besides Barnett and Fedor (and maybe overeem) there are no real great grapplers in this tourny, which is Kharitonovs kryptonyte. I can see him KO’ing Arlovski and then getting tapped to Barnett.
- Bigfoot is a prospect. He’s very well rounded, but I dont think he has what it takes yet to get past some of the better fighters. He’s essentially Josh Barnett, but not as good.
That said.. I think the UFC has a better, younger, crop of HW fighters, and although they could use some more guys to really load up the division..there main fighters are still relatively young (Cain, Dos Santos), and they still have young up and coming prospects (Struve, Schaub, JON JONES).
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
MMA Rankings
