Where did the MW and LHW rankings from UFC on Fox 2 come from?
by Sexytime on Jan 29, 2012 7:12 PM EST
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PrintRe watching the fights on Fox last night I couldn't help but wonder where the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight rankings that were shown in the broadcast came from. The reason why this is especially interesting to me is because Dana and the UFC have been adamant about not keeping any formal ranking system. 
Looking at the USA Today/SB Nation consensus rankings (as of 1/27/12):
| 1 | Anderson Silva | 400 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Chael Sonnen | 384 | UFC | 2 |
| 3 | Yushin Okami | 354 | UFC | 3 |
| 4 | Mark Munoz | 332 | UFC | 4 |
| 5 | Vitor Belfort | 310 | UFC | 5 |
| 6 | Demian Maia | 286 | UFC | 5 |
| 7 | Michael Bisping | 281 | UFC | 7 |
| 8 | Luke Rockhold | 263 | Strikeforce* | 9 |
| 9 | Brian Stann | 253 | UFC | 8 |
| 10 | Nate Marquardt | 204 | BAMMA | 10 |
| 11 | Ronaldo Souza | 200 | Strikeforce | 11 |
| 12 | Hector Lombard | 191 | Bellator | 12 |
| 13 | Tim Kennedy | 158 | Strikeforce | 14 |
| 14 | Alan Belcher | 139 | UFC | 13 |
| 15 | Rousimar Palhares | 124 | UFC | 18 |
| 16 | Chris Leben | 118 | UFC | 16 |
| 17 | Wanderlei Silva | 116 | UFC | 15 |
| 18 | Mamed Khalidov | 102 | KSW | 17 |
| 19 | Robbie Lawler | 102 | Strikeforce | 21 |
| 20 | Jorge Santiago | 98 | UFC | 19 |
| 21 | Chris Weidman | 85 | UFC | 19 |
The reason I went to 21 was to include Chris Weidman who Fox had ranked at #10. I also corrected the mistake with Luke Rockhold being labeled a UFC fighter.
| 1 | Jon Jones | 400 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Dan Henderson | 377 | UFC | 2 |
| 3 | Rashad Evans | 362 | UFC | 3 |
| 4 | Mauricio Rua | 356 | UFC | 4 |
| 5 | Quinton Jackson | 338 | UFC | 5 |
| 6 | Lyoto Machida | 325 | UFC | 6 |
| 7 | Phil Davis | 286 | UFC | 7 |
| 8 | Forrest Griffin | 260 | UFC | 8 |
| 9 | Alexander Gustafsson | 216 | UFC | 13 |
| 10 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira | 207 | UFC | 10 |
Could this mean the UFC is collaborating with Fox to create a formal ranking system, or could this have been done by Fox unilaterally?
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by 420mike on Jan 29, 2012 7:19 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Who's employed by UFC's broadcast partner
and thus has reason not to include any non-UFC fighters in said rankings. And whose employer has an active interest in those rankings bolstering the reputation of fighters on any given card. Interesting.
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This is really interesting.
I would love to know who put this together as well.
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by The Lethal Haze on Jan 29, 2012 7:20 PM EST reply actions
They showed a top 5 HW at UFC on Fox 1...
"You got Floyd Mayweather making 25 million dollars...he can't stop the double leg." - Nick Diaz
... Great!...
… That helps a lot…
…
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I'm just saying, I have a suspicion that the UFC produces them
Because I believe those rankings had it
1. Cain Velasquez
2. Junior Dos Santos
3. Brock Lesnar
4. Alistair Overeem
5. Shane Carwin
or something like that….I think while the UFC doesn’t have it’s own rankings…unofficially they might have a sort of pecking order and way of sorting things.
Their reasoning for having Carwin above Mir is Carwin’s one sided win over Mir and the fact that Carwin has lost only to a man who beat Mir in Lesnar, and a man who was ranked higher than Mir in Dos Santos.
"You got Floyd Mayweather making 25 million dollars...he can't stop the double leg." - Nick Diaz
by Chris Groves on Jan 29, 2012 7:53 PM EST up reply actions
Correct
Again, I’ll stress how important not having a formal ranking system has been to the UFC, it aides them in negotiations and gives more freedom for matchmaking.
The Big Book of English for MMA: Brazil Edition! Including Such Staples As:
"I'm Ready For Fight!"
"I'm Excite For Fight"
"I'm Train"
"He Will Receive The Punch"
"I'm Good Standup"
I agree
Also, it seems sort of counter-productive, or counter-intuitive to have the promotion ranking it’s fighters…it seems like there might be a conflict of interests.
It’s not really the UFC’s job to SAY who is better than who…it’s their job to put the fights together so we can SEE who is better than who.
Also, I feel like the UFC giving out rankings would give rise to complaints about favoritism or etc
"You got Floyd Mayweather making 25 million dollars...he can't stop the double leg." - Nick Diaz
by Chris Groves on Jan 29, 2012 8:34 PM EST up reply actions
they need to have some sort of rankings, they can’t just randomly throw people at each other.
The problem with them publishing an official list of rankings is it gives fighters leverage when asking for pay, and it could make people reluctant to fight people ranked below them, because there is less benefit for them.
People complain about everything the UFC does anyway.
Yep
I agree with them having their own internal rankings but not posting them outside of the occasional ‘top 10 on Fox’ type of deal….I agree with all of the reasons you gave.
"You got Floyd Mayweather making 25 million dollars...he can't stop the double leg." - Nick Diaz
by Chris Groves on Jan 29, 2012 10:23 PM EST up reply actions
They also threw up some 205 rankings before that fight. You asked the right question. Is this a look inside joe silva’s mind, or is it just Fox’s rankings to give things a boost.
Anyone have a screen cap of that one?
To be honest, I think Fox sort of asked for rankings so that they can kind of set the stage for the viewers and the UFC sort of obliged and gave a sort of rough idea of who they think are the best guys.
I like Fox’s mindset though…it’s a bit easier to just SHOW people who the 10 best guys are so they can get a picture of things instead of just having Rogan say ‘This guy is one of the very best in the world’
I think casual audiances need/like the visuals of seeing it.
"You got Floyd Mayweather making 25 million dollars...he can't stop the double leg." - Nick Diaz
by Chris Groves on Jan 29, 2012 8:36 PM EST up reply actions
The Big Book of English for MMA: Brazil Edition! Including Such Staples As:
"I'm Ready For Fight!"
"I'm Excite For Fight"
"I'm Train"
"He Will Receive The Punch"
"I'm Good Standup"
I actually think putting Griffin below Rogerior and Gustafsson makes a TON of sense at this point
Kind of on the fence on whether Hendo should be above Evans or just below him…but everything else mostly seems on point.
"You got Floyd Mayweather making 25 million dollars...he can't stop the double leg." - Nick Diaz
by Chris Groves on Jan 29, 2012 10:24 PM EST up reply actions
Just below him in my personal opinion
by discoandherpes on Jan 29, 2012 10:36 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Yeah, I'm leaning towards that
Like I’ve said, he didn’t exactly tear the roof off of the place against Davis.
"You got Floyd Mayweather making 25 million dollars...he can't stop the double leg." - Nick Diaz
by Chris Groves on Jan 30, 2012 1:18 AM EST up reply actions
Griffin has not beaten a top 10 LHW in over 3 years. His wins during that time are against Rich Franklin and Tito, both decisions. His 3 loses were all by KO, Forrest days as a top fighter are over.
I am free because I choose to be so-Me
While I agree he's no longer top of the food chain
Wins over Tito and Rich still hold relevance. Also simply stating 3 KO losses makes it worse than it seems. He was doing quite well against Rashad until he was clipped. Anderson and Shogun are absolutely lethal strikers, and one of them is the #1 fighter on the planet.
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Franklin was top 10 when he fought Forrest.
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by Chris Hall on Jan 30, 2012 12:01 PM EST via Android app up reply actions
Rec'd
I’m interested in more people’s thoughts
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Still the head conductor of the Charles Oliveira hype train.
Isn't that the basis of rankings?
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by halitosis on Jan 29, 2012 10:36 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 9 recs
So
Did you kick DirtyML off your team or something since he isn’t in your signature?
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by wonderfulspam on Jan 29, 2012 11:09 PM EST up reply actions
I'll get on that
I copied and pasted it from an event post, I guess his score didn’t count that time.
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It appears ZUFFA somewhat freaked out when FOX published their official UFC co-branded fighter rankings during last night’s UFC on FOX broadcast. Expect a few mangers to ask substantially more for the fighters they represent if they made the list.
Food for thought.
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Fair play to the fighters.
I’d say it’s always desirable if the fighters have more leverage to squeeze a bit more pay out of the UFC.
The list was obviously skewed to include Weidman in the top 10 rankings
(which he will be ranked, now). I mean, the rankings were pretty solid overall, but were obviously the company favorite rankings as opposed to a true meritocracy
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Yep.
before that win against Maia, there’s zero reason to put Weidman in the top 10, apart from trying to make casuals think they’re getting top 10 fighters on the card.
by Anton Tabuena on Jan 30, 2012 9:27 AM EST up reply actions
I don't know but if gives us a clue to who they'll be putting together next
Rampage Vs. Hendo or Griffen maybe if he was coming off a win
Paul Harris Vs. Okami or Brian Stann might be in the near future
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Paul Harris vs. Okami or Rampage please.
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I'd like Paul to be given some top 10 match ups and see him on TUF
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