USA TODAY/MMA Nation August 2011 Consensus Rankings: Light Heavyweight
by Richard Wade on Aug 26, 2011 2:30 PM EDT
in MMA Rankings
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| Rank | Fighter | % | Promotion | Last Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jon Jones | 100 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Rashad Evans | 93 | UFC | 3 |
| 3 | Mauricio Rua | 92 | UFC | 2 |
| 4 | Quinton Jackson | 88 | UFC | 3 |
| 5 | Lyoto Machida | 85 | UFC | 5 |
| 6 | Forrest Griffin | 79 | UFC | 6 |
| 7 | Dan Henderson | 77 | Strikeforce | 7 |
| 8 | Phil Davis | 70 | UFC | 8 |
| 9 | Gegard Mousasi | 47 | Strikeforce | 11 |
| 10 | Rafael Cavalcante | 41 | Strikeforce | 9 |
| 11 | Thiago Silva | 40 | UFC | 9 |
| 12 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira | 37 | UFC | 12 |
| 13 | Rich Franklin | 37 | UFC | 13 |
| 14 | Tito Ortiz | 34 | UFC | 14 |
| 15 | Alexander Gustafsson | 33 | UFC | 18 |
| 16 | Muhammed Lawal | 33 | Strikeforce | 16 |
| 17 | Ryan Bader | 27 | UFC | 15 |
| 18 | Renato Sobral | 20 | Strikeforce | 19 |
| 19 | Vladimir Matyushenko | 19 | UFC | 20 |
| 20 | Roger Gracie | 16 | Strikeforce | 21 |
| 21 | Cyrille Diabate | 15 | UFC | 21 |
| 22 | Luiz Cane | 15 | UFC | 24 |
| 23 | Randy Couture | 14 | UFC | 23 |
| 24 | Keith Jardine | 13 | Strikeforce | 25 |
| 25 | Brandon Vera | 13 | UFC | 26 |
Starting with this Saturday at UFC 134, we have a busy month of top ranked light heavyweight fights. #3 Mauricio "Shogun" Rua will rematch #6 Forrest Griffin as both struggle to stay in the title picture. That same night #22 Luiz Cane will try to work his way back toward contention against Stanislav Nedkov.
Undisputed #1 Jon "Bones" Jones will make his first title defense against #4 Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 135.
#16 Muhammed Lawal will take on #20 Roger Gracie in a fascinating clash of styles at Strikeforce: Heavyweight Grand Prix. That event will also feature the grossly overrated #10 Rafael Cavalcante in a squash match against Yoel Romero Palacio.
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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Can't wait for this clusterfuck at 2-5 to sort itself out
Also I think Sassy and Cavalcante are both overrated and would almost certainly lose to Silva and Gustaf – possibly Franklin as well.
Sassy/Ace would be a dynamite fight btw. Make it happen, Joe Silva
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by Cory Braiterman on Aug 25, 2011 7:11 PM EDT reply actions
i like cavalcante
i think he’ll stick around in the ufc and get in some fun brawls
but yea hes not a top 10 fighter
"I have smoked weed with alot of UFC champions" - Joe Rogan
"Você ta fudido. Se vai levar muita porrada, ta ligado?" - Anderson Silva
Shouldn't Couture be off the list now he's retired?
And that the retirement seems genuine this time?
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by Richard Wade on Aug 26, 2011 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions
The funny thing is that Matt Hammill is already dropped off the the list, just like two weeks after his retirement. Realistically he should still be top 25 otherwise.
by Horselover Fat on Aug 26, 2011 2:56 PM EDT up reply actions
Hamill is retired?
The fuck. My rock is cozy.
by Urijah Bieber on Aug 26, 2011 8:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Yes, he put up an announcement on his homepage a couple of days after the Gustafsson loss. Says he lacks motivation and so on. I’m sure you can find it with some google, it was on his official homepage and quoted elsewhere too of course.
by Horselover Fat on Aug 27, 2011 7:33 AM EDT up reply actions
LOL @ Feijao vs. Romero being a squash match
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That event will also feature #10 Rafael Cavalcante in a squash match against Yoel romero Palacio.
Good laugh, Richard. Stick to Chargers football. That fight could be a squash match for Romero.
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by Leland Roling on Aug 26, 2011 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions
I'm taking Romero.
Bolts from the Blue // "I eat cereal out of a giant novelty wine glass because it makes me feel fancy." - Britney Wade
Bloody Elbow // "I think we're poking fun at Leland's 'boner.'" - Michael Fagan
by Richard Wade on Aug 26, 2011 2:45 PM EDT via iPhone app up reply actions
You damn right, you are.
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"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Aug 26, 2011 2:46 PM EDT up reply actions
Fail
King Mo is way better than Romero all around, and Feijao put him down like a tranquilized Grizzly bear
Xtreme Couture- The best never rest! The girl in my av is Kari Sweets (you're welcome).
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by ElliotMatheny on Aug 27, 2011 5:14 PM EDT up reply actions
Fail-Fail
Lawal fighting with a torn ACL tells us nothing about how a healthy Lawal or Romero would fare against Feijao. With 3-4 more fights under his belt I would take Romero over Lawal anyway.
"Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid." -John Wayne
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by The American Ronin on Aug 27, 2011 7:59 PM EDT up reply actions
this romero guy is good?
ive never heard of him
"I have smoked weed with alot of UFC champions" - Joe Rogan
"Você ta fudido. Se vai levar muita porrada, ta ligado?" - Anderson Silva
Olympic wrestler who has wrassled some of the best the world has ever seen. Oh yeah, his brother is a professional boxer who has trained Yoel, and Yoel is scary on the feet in terms of power. That fight is FAR from a squash match.
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"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Aug 26, 2011 2:42 PM EDT up reply actions
That fight is FAR from a squash match.
Oh, it will be a squash match, but it will be Romero doing the squashing…
"Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid." -John Wayne
Death before dishonor, drinks before lunch.
Never send sheep to kill a wolf.
by The American Ronin on Aug 27, 2011 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions
He won silver at the 2000 Sydney Games in freestyle as well.
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"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Aug 26, 2011 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Who knows what other medals he would have
if he wasn’t Cuban and sold his matches all the time
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by Forrest Lynn on Aug 26, 2011 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions
interesting
sounds like fun fight, the hdnet prelims are gonna be pretty damn awesome
"I have smoked weed with alot of UFC champions" - Joe Rogan
"Você ta fudido. Se vai levar muita porrada, ta ligado?" - Anderson Silva
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by Dallas Winston on Aug 27, 2011 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions
" That event will also feature #10 Rafael Cavalcante in a squash match against Yoel romero Palacio."
I didn’t notice the sarcasm font. Surely you jest.
by memitim on Aug 26, 2011 2:37 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
I added "the grossly overrated" in front of #10. Does that help to clear up my meaning?
Bolts from the Blue // "I eat cereal out of a giant novelty wine glass because it makes me feel fancy." - Britney Wade
Bloody Elbow // "I think we're poking fun at Leland's 'boner.'" - Michael Fagan
by Richard Wade on Aug 26, 2011 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Thank you. My sleep will be more sound.
by memitim on Aug 26, 2011 4:17 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Roger by Armbar
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by the-gentle-way on Aug 26, 2011 2:40 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Two things
1.) Brandon Vera hasn’t won in almost 2 calendar years and yet he goes up a spot to being a ranked LHW?
2.) Keith Jardine is under Strikeforce and not the UFC.
I went whale watching the other day. I think. There were a lot of people in that lake.
As a question for rankings, why does Jordan Breen have so many damned 4’s in his ranking?
It's just a world, it's just a life.
Normalization number.
Bolts from the Blue // "I eat cereal out of a giant novelty wine glass because it makes me feel fancy." - Britney Wade
Bloody Elbow // "I think we're poking fun at Leland's 'boner.'" - Michael Fagan
by Richard Wade on Aug 26, 2011 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions
Ah ok, They are kind of confusing for me, even though I read all the specifics in the article, I guess I am just mildly retarded.
It's just a world, it's just a life.
hmm
Maybe I’ll remove them next month.
Bolts from the Blue // "I eat cereal out of a giant novelty wine glass because it makes me feel fancy." - Britney Wade
Bloody Elbow // "I think we're poking fun at Leland's 'boner.'" - Michael Fagan
by Richard Wade on Aug 26, 2011 3:03 PM EDT via iPhone app up reply actions
Might as well, there is no reason to have them for viewing purposes, seems like a statistical value.
It's just a world, it's just a life.
But we're talking about minutes of extra work. Whole minutes.
Bolts from the Blue // "I eat cereal out of a giant novelty wine glass because it makes me feel fancy." - Britney Wade
Bloody Elbow // "I think we're poking fun at Leland's 'boner.'" - Michael Fagan
by Richard Wade on Aug 26, 2011 3:46 PM EDT up reply actions
That’ll cut into your one-liners. I don’t advocate this.
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Bolts from the Blue // "I eat cereal out of a giant novelty wine glass because it makes me feel fancy." - Britney Wade
Bloody Elbow // "I think we're poking fun at Leland's 'boner.'" - Michael Fagan
by Richard Wade on Aug 30, 2011 1:35 AM EDT up reply actions
Not a bad list. Randy should be gone, and I wouldn’t have Keith Jardine on it. If I took those two off, I’d add on Kyle Kingsbury, and Stephan Bonnar.
I want to argue that Mousasi isn’t top 10, but I can’t pick a guy to go in front of him right now.
Calvacante, should be ranked around 15, behind Gustafsson IMO. I’d also move Matyushenko up ahead of Bader.
I have Jardine and Kingsbury on
Not sure why Keith would drop. He’s 3-7-1 against top 10-15 LHWs in the last few years and which puts him in with exactly 5x the top competition that Phil Davis has ever faced in his life.
"Who do you bow down to you? Does your God come in a capsule or on a plate?"
by Dallas Winston on Aug 27, 2011 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions
But rankings aren't based solely on who beat whos
I don’t like BCS type philosophy. I prefer a more comprehensive list that includes evaluation of talent, ability and skills. Would you pick Jardine over Davis?
by Urijah Bieber on Aug 27, 2011 1:39 PM EDT up reply actions
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![Always honest, Forrest Griffin tells Sherdog he's anticipating a difficult weight cut and conditioning issues for his upcoming fight in Rio against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua:
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