USAT/SBN November 2009 MMA Consensus Rankings: Heavyweight

Rank Fighter % Promotion Last Rank
1 Fedor Emelianenko 100 M-1 Global/Strikeforce 1
2 Brock Lesnar 96 UFC 2
3 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 88 UFC 3
4 Frank Mir 86 UFC 4
5 Junior dos Santos 74 UFC 7
6 Josh Barnett 74 WVR 5
7 Cain Velasquez 67 UFC 11
8 Brett Rogers 65 Strikeforce 8
9 Shane Carwin 62 UFC 6
10 Fabricio Werdum 50 Strikeforce 13
11 Alistair Overeem 50 DREAM/Strikeforce 11
12 Randy Couture 49 UFC 9
13 Andrei Arlovski 44 ??? 10
14 Jeff Monson 27 Free Agent 14
15 Tim Sylvia 26 Adrenaline 18
16 Gabriel Gonzaga 24 UFC 15
17 Cheick Kongo 23 UFC 16
18 Antonio Silva 22 WVR/Strikeforce 22
19 Pedro Rizzo 21 Free Agent 19
19 Marcio Cruz 21 Art of Fighting 23
21 Ben Rothwell 21 UFC 17
22 Gilbert Yvel 20 Fight Force International 24
22 Ray Mercer 20 Adrenaline 26
22 Semmy Schilt 20 K-1 24
25 Aleksander Emelianenko 19 ProFC 20
25 Roy Nelson 19 UFC 21

Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

November was supposed to be the most epic month in heavyweight MMA since August. Both #1 Fedor Emelianenko and #2 Brock Lesnar were set to fight. But just as in August, fate intervened and only one of the two titans of the division actually competed.

In August it was the failure of #6 Josh Barnett to meet the licensing requirements of the CSAC and the resulting collapse of Affliction as a fight promotion that prevented Fedor from fighting.

In November, Fedor fought spectacularly, TKO'ing #8 Brett Rogers on the fan pleasing Strikeforce: Fedor vs Rogers card.

But sadly, Lesnar fell ill and his title defense against #9 Shane Carwin was first postponed and then canceled.

Piling on more bad news, #3 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had to cancel his UFC 108 fight with #7 Cain Velasquez due to a nasty staph infection.

There are rumors that Velasquez and Carwin will fight for an interim title, but that won't happen until 2010 at the earliest.

#4 Frank Mir will try to return to contention by beating #17 Cheick Kongo at UFC 107.

#5 Junior Dos Santos will be tested by #16 Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 108. If Dos Santos can beat Gonzaga he will be well placed for a title shot, pending the resolution of the title situation.

#10 Fabricio Werdum took a hard-fought decision over #18 Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva at Strikeforce: Fedor vs Rogers and seems to be next in line for a crack at the mighty Fedor. It would be fun to see Bigfoot vs Brett Rogers on a future Strikeforce card. The winner would immediately return to contention.

Nominal Strikeforce champ #11 Alistair Overeem is expected to return to Strikeforce in 2010 to defend his belt against Fedor. Cross your fingers.

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. Show more "

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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