Unnoficial PRIDE Top 10

[Guest benoitrulz4life]

Okay, I decided to try my hand at a top 10 for PRIDE, just in case those of you who just started watching want to know who the top guys are.

 

Criteria:

 

a) Who They've Beat Recently: The better the opponent, the more marks.

 

b) Activity: Fighters benefit from how active they have been in recent cards.

 

c) Fighters must have fought in at least one of the last five Pride cards.

 

d) Fighters must have fought in at least three overall cards.

 

Basically, a fighter who has been very active and has beat good competition will place high on the list. Let's get started.

 

1) Fedor Emelianenko (Last Fight: Defeated Kazuyuki Fujita at Pride 26)

 

2) Antonio Nogueira (Last Fight: Lost to Fedor Emelianenko at Pride 25)

 

3) Quinton Jackson (Last Fight: Defeated Mikhail Ilhoukine at Pride 26)

 

4) Ricardo Arona (Last Fight: Defeated Murilo Rua at Pride 23)

 

5) Anderson Silva (Last Fight: Lost to Daiju Takase at Pride 26)

 

6) Mark Coleman (Last Fight: Defeated Don Frye at Pride 26)

 

7) Vanderlei Silva (Last Fight: Defeated Hiromitsu Kanehara at Pride 23)

 

8) Mirko Filipovic (Last Fight: Defeated Heath Herring at Pride 26)

 

9) Don Frye (Last Fight: Lost to Mark Coleman at Pride 26)

 

10) Murilo Rua (Last Fight: Lost to Kevin Randleman at Pride 24)

 

If you would like to know an unlisted fighter's rank, just ask. Any other thoughts, comments, and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Guest Lei Tong]

THe changes I'd make are:

 

-Knock down Anderson Silva a slight bit. After his recent (and decisive) loss, there's a few guys I'd bump ahead of him.

 

- Bump MarkColeman to the bottom tier, if you want to keep him at all. He did convincingly beat Frye, but Don has looked very much his age as of late. Aside from that, and inactivity has hurt mark (not his own fault, BTW).

 

- Switch Wanderlei & Mirko. Wanderlei & Mirko have both beaten guys in the above average-good range, but I'd give a slight edge to Mirko simply because Silva's best opponents of the past 2 years have been MW's (Sak & Tamura)

 

- Drop Murilo Rua completely. He's put up good fights against his best opponents, but still lost most of them (and should have lost to Gono... but that's OT). Aside from that, his lone high mark is the defeat of Mario Sperry in a mostly stand-up battle (why Ze Mario fought there is beyond me).

 

-Drop Don Frye completely. Although he looked good upon his come back, his wins weren't over exactly top level competition. Sefo was a pure K-1 guy, Takayama a punching bag, and Shamrock was utterly destroyed in his next fight.

 

Some guys I'd put up are: Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem & Rogerio Noguiera

[Guest Jimmy Saint]

I know its hard writing a list for the top ten guys in any weight class for Pride. But I think MMA should be ranked somewhat sililar to boxing. So my problems would start at Silva at 7 below Jackson, Ricardo Arona and Anderson Silva .

 

He is the champion no less and still a massive favourite for the MW GP. He should be no.3 not Jackson. QJ must beat the man to be the man so to speak.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

Cro-Cop should probably be a tad higher, seeing how he totally dropped Bob Sapp and Heath Herring with relative ease.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

1) Fedor Emelianenko (Last Fight: Defeated Kazuyuki Fujita at Pride 26)

 

Agreed. Fedor beat the man who was thought to be unbeatable.

 

2) Antonio Nogueira (Last Fight: Lost to Fedor Emelianenko at Pride 25)

 

It's strange how a single loss is able to take so much wind out of a fighters sails - perception-wise. Just like with Chuck Liddell, you can think the guy is the best fighter in the world one day, and say "oh, yeah 'him' " the next. That one loss shouldn't take away the fact that Nog beat Goodrich, Coleman, Herring, Inoue, Shilt, Sapp, Henderson - which makes him one of the best in the world. Agreed.

 

3) Quinton Jackson (Last Fight: Defeated Mikhail Ilhoukine at Pride 26)

 

Umm.... I dunno. Jackson has been on a tear, but who has he faced in the top 10? Randleman and Igor were his top two fights, and Igor hasn't been what he used to be and Randleman is maybe top 20. Yes, Jackson is very impressive and has improved leaps and bounds in the past 2/3 years, but top 3? Maybe after the GP.

 

4) Ricardo Arona (Last Fight: Defeated Murilo Rua at Pride 23)

 

I don't like him, but he's beaten Henderson and deserves top-10 status, but shit, he should try to win fights without decisions! Top 10, but his inability to finish most of his fights shouldn't warrant a top 5.

 

5) Anderson Silva (Last Fight: Lost to Daiju Takase at Pride 26)

 

Man, that loss really dropped him. Top 10, but not top 5 given the calibre of fighter Takase is (in terms of how he is seen in the MMA world - that win *was* very impressive though)

 

6) Mark Coleman (Last Fight: Defeated Don Frye at Pride 26)

 

No way. I'm not a very big fan of Coleman, but even then what has he done lately? In my view he hasn't been a serious contender since his loss to Mo Smith. Yes, he did win the 2000 GP but he faced Shoji (whom he seriously outweights), Satake (who sucks), Fujita (who threw in the towel before it started), and Igor (who just went 1 round with Sakuraba and Coleman was still fresh). I'd be hard-pressed to even put him in the top 20.

 

7) Vanderlei Silva (Last Fight: Defeated Hiromitsu Kanehara at Pride 23)

 

Ouch. I'd say top 5, even though it's been said that he has only fought Tomato Cans. He still beat Sakuraba twice and Sakuraba was, at that time, seen as the best fighter in the world.

 

8) Mirko Filipovic (Last Fight: Defeated Heath Herring at Pride 26)

 

I agree with this. Maybe #7. Mirko hasn't fought too many guys - but he still broke Herrings ribs... and that says something...

 

"That Mothafucka Hit's Hard" - Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson

 

9) Don Frye (Last Fight: Lost to Mark Coleman at Pride 26)

 

Nah, he lost to Coleman. He should hang his head in shame.

 

10) Murilo Rua (Last Fight: Lost to Kevin Randleman at Pride 24)

 

I like Ninja, but he isn't top 10.

[Guest benoitrulz4life]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I will try to update this after every Pride event. The rankings only take into consideration Pride fights, so any UFC, K-1, King of the Cage matches will be a moot point. This is how well they have done in Pride. As for the rankings of Coleman, Frye, and Ninja, I did sneak in a little personal bias. I know what those fighters are capable of, so I give them the benefit of the doubt for now. If Frye or Ninja lose their next fights, or if someone below them impresses me enough, expect them to drop from the list.

 

Thanks again.

[Guest Lei Tong]

All props to Silva for beating Sak twice, but the weight class issue is indeed one (IMO), and the fact that Sak hasn't been the same since can either be a plus or minus depending on how you see it.