Ranking the Best Fighters Outside of Zuffa

by mjanecek on Mar 14, 2011 1:19 PM EDT

This post is from my blog 'An MBA on MMA' http://mba-mma.blogspot.com/

Now that Zuffa owns both the UFC and Strikeforce, they have an even more legitimate claim as the home of the best fighters in the world. But, of course, there remain a number of sizable MMA promotions in the world. And even if many of them are on their last legs, the fact remains that they continue to own the contracts of a number of interesting fighters. The following is my attempt at ranking these fighters. It will be interesting to see Zuffa's strategy moving forward as they attempt to capture this remaining talent.

Champions are Bolded in Red

Feel free to disagree. I'm interested to hear other opinions.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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I haven’t been a fan of his fights, but I’d put Cole Konrad on this list near the bottom. I’d probably take Khalidov off in his place.

by Rasputin75 on Mar 14, 2011 2:09 PM EDT reply actions

I agree, if it was a top 16....

I’d have Konrad at 16

Matt Janecek
MBA Candidate 2011
An MBA on MMA:
mba-mma.blogspot.com

by mjanecek on Mar 14, 2011 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Konrad > Comier?

by MichaelJonathan1985 on Mar 14, 2011 5:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Cormier is a Zuffa employee now. He has a contract with Strikeforce.

by Rasputin75 on Mar 15, 2011 8:11 AM EDT up reply actions

whats interesting about the bellator guys

if they win in bellator, it increases their stock but locks them in zuffa-esque contracts, making a switch to the UFC difficult. and if they lose in bellator etc etc

"Live fast, die." ~ GG Allin

by Bonedoctor on Mar 14, 2011 3:10 PM EDT reply actions

Where's Reggie Warren?

"Makin' movies makin' songs and FOIGHTIN ROUND THE WORLD"

by BigDGldn73 on Mar 14, 2011 7:00 PM EDT reply actions

I agree with most of these. I, for one, will be taking a closer look at where I have Alvarez ranked. His only top 25 opponent in the last three years was/is Aoki, and he lost that fight.

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by Derek Suboticki on Mar 14, 2011 9:53 PM EDT reply actions