What are your top five in each division?

[Your Paragon of Virtue]

Top Ten might be too deep for some to make a good list, myself included. This should make it easier for all.

 

Heavyweight

 

1) Fedor

2) Noguiera

3) Arlovski

4) Hunt

5) Sergei

 

Light Heavyweight

 

1) Shogun

2) Chuck Liddell

3) Randy Couture

4) Wanderlei Silva

5) BABALOOOOOOOOOO

 

Middleweight

 

1) Franklin

2) Henderson (Alot of people think he'd beat Franklin, but I don't see it. Ditto for Lindland. I'm sure it's possible, but I think Henderson would get picked apart on the feet looking for the big punch kind of like what Busta almost did, and I think Lindland would get KTFO coming in for a clinch like Terrell did to him).

3) Lindland

4) Marquardt

5) Busta

 

Welterweight

 

1) Hughes

2) GSP

3) Frank Trigg

4) Akira Kikuchi

5) Sean Sherk? Charuto? I don't want to put Karo here since there are a lot of obvious flaws in his game, I guess I'll go with Sherk, seeing as how he beat Karo twice.

 

Lightweight

 

1) Gomi

2) Shaolin

3) Kawajiri

4) Sakurai

5) Hansen

 

The only controversial thing I really see here is putting Shaolin at 2 in LW even though he lost to TK, but TK has had a lacklustre showing in his past few fights and Shaolin has not, so I put him there without hesitation. The same could be said for Trigg, but while Trigg's loss against Georges was bad, he did it on a blown ankle, so I forgive him for that one. BJ Penn vs. GSP will make the WW division look a lot more interesting.

[Lord of The Curry]

Heavy

 

1. Fedor

2. Nog

3. Arlovski

4. Sergei

5. Hunt

 

Light-Heavy

 

1. Shogun

2. Chuck

3. Randy

4. Silva

5. Babalu

 

Middleweight

 

1. Ace

2. Hendo

3. Lindland

4. Busta

5. Loiseau

 

Welter

 

1. Hughes

2. GSP

3. Penn

4. Trigg

5. Sherk or Sanchez, probably

 

LW

 

1. Gomi

2. Shaolin

3. Kawajiri

4. Hansen

5. Sakurai

[RavishingRickRudo]

HW:

 

Fedor

Nog

Kharitonov

Arlovski

Cro Cop

 

LHW:

 

Couture

Shogun

Liddell

Babalu

Silva

 

MW:

 

Hendo

Busta

Lindland

Franklin

Horn

 

WW:

 

BJ

GSP

Hughes

Sherk

Sanchez

 

LW:

 

Gomi

Sakurai

Hansen

Kawajiri

Edwards

 

As mentioned (debated ) before, I don't necessarily put a premium on Wins and Losses, but rather, the individuals style, skill level, strategy, and compatability to other fighters in the division. Though Liddell beat Couture, I still consider Couture to be a worse match for more guys in the division than Liddell. Just because one guy can get the better of another guy, doesn't mean that he's the better fighter in general. If two fighters fought the same ten guys, and one fighter beat 8 of them and the other fighter only beat 5, yet the guy who beat five beat the guy who beat 8, does that mean he's better? I know some, a lot, would say yes. I disagree. I was about to put Babalu ahead of Shogun and Liddell, but I held back a bit. I need to see more of him in the UFC before I can readily say.

[Your Paragon of Virtue]

Babalu is probably the most well rounded in the division, moreso than Shogun even, so if you want someone with versatility, there's your man.

 

I think you have to realize that Couture was Chuck's worst matchup, and if Chuck could take him out, than I don't see why he wouldn't be able to do the same to other fighters. I would think that Tito would beat Shogun, though I won't rank him higher than him because he hasn't done anything. Also, I don't know if Chuck would win that fight, but since he beat Tito soundly, I wouldn't put him behind Tito. Wins/Losses are most important, but performances are as well, just not as much.

[RavishingRickRudo]

We've had this discussion before, lol. I have this thing where I can't rank fighters who rely on just one thing as highly as others who are more well rounded. It's the whole "well, if that fails, then what can he do?" thing, as displayed against Couture I and Rampage. Gomi is probably the exception to my overall rule, and even Gomi is more well rounded than Chuck and has more options.

 

I think Shogun could take Babalu in a rematch. Shogun has grown so much since they last fought, and has better sub defense and better wrestling, plus is a lot bigger. It would be close, though.

[Lei Tong]

HW:

 

1) Fedor Emelianenko

2) Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera

3) Andrei Arlovski

4) Sergei Kharitonov

5) Mark Hunt

 

LHW:

 

1) Chuck Liddell

2) Mauricio Rua

3) Randy Couture

4) Renato Sobral

5) Wanderlei Silva

 

MW:

 

1) Rich Franklin

2) Dan Henderson

3) Matt Lindland

4) Nathan Marquardt

5) Akihiro Gono

 

WW:

 

1) Matt Hughes

2) Georges. St. Pierre

3) Akira Kikuchi

4) Frank Trigg

5) Karo Parisyan

 

LW)

 

1) Takanori Gomi

2) Tatsuya Kawajiri

3) Vitor Ribeiro

4) Hayato Sakurai

5) Joachim Hansen

 

FW:

 

1) Gilbert Melendez

2) Ivan Menjivar

3) Joao Roque

4) Rumina Sato

5) Masakazu Imanari

[RavishingRickRudo]

Oh, look whose fancy now with his... Fireweights?

[Lei Tong]

Featherweights. Besides, if I wanted to go overboard with the snobbiness, I'd put together some half assed 132lbs and 123lbs. rankings.

 

Also, you really shouldn't sleep on the lower weight classes. "Kid" Yamamoto, anyone?

[RavishingRickRudo]

I will sleep on whatever I want! Whether it be a bed of money or a raggedy urine-soaked sleeping bag in a cardboard box at the back of a 7-11, dammit.

 

There's a 123 lbs now? What are they, the leaf-blowing-on-the-wind-weights??

[Lei Tong]

Bantamweights, the king of which is this individual here:

 

Also, due to MMA's skewed weight classes, it's easy to forget the seemingly infinite amount of talent at boxing's lower weights. If MMA ever does take off in Meh-hee-koh, there's a good chance such classes could produce a number of very good fighters.

[RavishingRickRudo]

I really don't want MMA to have an insane amount of divisions simply because I can't keep track of them all. With boxing I'm like, "ok, so this is the super-junior-bantam-feather-light-heavyweight IWBFC title holder... and that means... what now? OOoooh, he's a pound and a half heavier than the junior-bantam-feather-light-heavyweight IWBFC holder." Sooo confusing.

[Lei Tong]

I'm not saying that there needs to be a weight class every 6-8lbs. like in boxing, but to simply write off divisions for smaller fighters is insane. From a boxing perspective, look at the some of the fighters who would be "too" small for MMA in the states:

 

Manny Pacqiao, Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo, Marco Antonio Barrera, Jesus Chavez, In-Jin Chi, Jorge Arce, Vic Darchinyan, Eagle Kyowa, etc.

 

These are all very good fighters, and a number of them have been involved in some of the best fights of the past decade.

 

Besides, if the UFC and MMA in general is really interested in capitalizing of the Latino market, this would be the best way to do so, as most fighters from Latin countries do best at these smaller divisions.

[AboveAverage484]

K-1 Top 5:

 

1. Schilt

2. Le Banner

3. Aerts

4. Bonjasky

5. Musashi

[Guest Big_Jay101]

HW

-------

Fedor

Nog

Arlovski

Sergei

Hunt

 

LHW

--------

Liddell

Shogun

Silva

Couture

Arona

 

MW

-------

Franklin

Hendo

Loiseau

Busta

Lindland

 

WW

--------

Hughes

GSP

Sherk

Sanchez

Trigg

 

LW

--------

Gomi

Kid(even tho he is 145 he fights here)

Sakurai

Kawajiri

Shaolin

[starvenger]

If MMA ever does take off in Meh-hee-koh, there's a good chance such classes could produce a number of very good fighters.

Just so long as we don't get "mini"weights...

[AboveAverage484]

A lot of Southeast Asian countries, Thailand specifically, would also benefit from smaller weight classes.

[Guest Army Eye]

Heavyweight

1. Fedor Emelianenko

2. Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera

3. Cro Cop

4. Andrei Arlovski

5. Mark Hunt

 

Light-Heavyweight

1. Wanderlei Silva

2. Chuck Liddell

3. Shogun

4. Randy Couture

5. Ricardo Arona

 

Middleweight

1. Rich Franklin

2. Dan Henderson

3. Murilo Bustamante

4. Matt Lindland

5. Jeremy Horn

 

Welterweight

1. Matt Hughes

2. B.J. Penn

3. Georges St. Pierre

4. Frank Trigg

5. Sean Sherk

[Lord of The Curry]

Arlovski, the guy who went 3-0 and finished all fights this year is ranked lower then Cro Cop, the guy who couldn't finish anybody and went 1-2?

[Guest Army Eye]

Yes, because I look deeper than just the won/loss records. Arlovski is fighting medicore guys while Cro Cop is fighting top-tier talent. You think Andrei improves on Cro Cop's 1-2 record (one loss a very debatable decision) if he fought Fedor, Hunt, and Barnett?

[Lei Tong]

I think Andrei murders Bitch Tits, submits Hunt, and gets G&P'ed into oblivion by Fedor.

[AboveAverage484]

I think Hunt is getting too much credit here. The only credible heavyweight he has beaten is Cro Cop, and he has the same style as Hunt. If he would have fought some wrestlers/GNP specialists or some BJJ fighters then maybe I'd put him there. Kharitonov's record is more impressive against better fighters (Werdum, Rizzo, Schilt)

[Your Paragon of Virtue]

Cro Cop is actually 3-2 in 2005, for the record.

[AboveAverage484]

TTT, what say ye now?

[Lord of The Curry]

LW

 

1. Gomi

2. Ishida

3. Kawijiri

4. Melendez

5. Mach Sakurai

 

WW

 

1. GSP

2. Hughes

3. Sanchez

4. Kikuchi

5. Karo

 

MW

 

1. A. Silva

2. Lindland

3. Filho

4. Misaki

5. Henderson

 

LHW

 

1. Liddell

2. Shogun

3. Wandy

4. Ortiz

5. Babalu

 

HW

 

1. Fedor

2. Cro-Cop

3. Barnett

4. Nog

5. Sylvia

[Lei Tong]

Flyweight:

1) Shinichi Kojima

2) Mamoru Yamaguchi

3) Masatoshi Abe

4) Yasuhiro Urushitani

5) Yusei Shimokawa

 

Bantamweight:

1) Akitoshi Hokazono

2) Ryota Matsune

3) Marcos Galvao

4) Kenji Osawa

5) Miguel Torres

 

Featherweight:

1) Takeshi Inoue

2) Hatsu Hioki

3) Urijah Faber

4) Jeff Curran

5) Fredson Paixao

 

Lightweight:

1) Takanori Gomi

2) Tatsuya Kawajiri

3) Vitor Ribeiro

4) Mitsuhiro Ishida

5) Hayato Sakurai

 

Welterweight:

1) Georges St. Pierre

2) Matt Hughes

3) Diego Sanchez

4) Akira Kikuchi

5) Jon Fitch

 

Middleweight:

1) Anderson Silva

2) Rich Franklin

3) Matt Lindland

4) Nathan Marquardt

5) Paulo Filho

 

Lightheavyweight:

1) Chuck Liddell

2) Mauricio Rua

3) Ricardo Arona

4) Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

5) Renato Sobral

 

Heavyweight:

1) Fedor Emelianenko

2) Mirko Filipovic

3) Josh Barnett

4) Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

5) Tim Sylvia

 

Rankings based on UFC format (last weight class fought in, inactivity accounted for, etc).

[starvenger]

Just curious, but where does the Muscle-Humping Shark rank for you guys? And your rankings show that I need to watch more Bushido.

[AboveAverage484]

I think the reason a lot of people don't have him ranked highly is because he's beaten one fighter that wasn't even top 10 in his weight class. Compared to the records of guys like Gomi, Kawajiri, etc. it doesn't hold up.

[starvenger]

I think the reason a lot of people don't have him ranked highly is because he's beaten one fighter that wasn't even top 10 in his weight class. Compared to the records of guys like Gomi, Kawajiri, etc. it doesn't hold up.

It's not that I disagree, it's that I'm curious. UFC is (allegedly) making a push to revitalize the division, and I'm not sure that anyone cares about Sherk.

[Your Paragon of Virtue]

Rankings based on UFC format (last weight class fought in, inactivity accounted for, etc).

 

For the record, UFC means "Upstanding Fucking Citizens".

 

I will put some of mine up later.

[AboveAverage484]

I think the reason a lot of people don't have him ranked highly is because he's beaten one fighter that wasn't even top 10 in his weight class. Compared to the records of guys like Gomi, Kawajiri, etc. it doesn't hold up.

It's not that I disagree, it's that I'm curious. UFC is (allegedly) making a push to revitalize the division, and I'm not sure that anyone cares about Sherk.

 

I'm sure if he gets a couple more quality wins, he'll move up to at least 5 or 6, although I can't see him making any higher than that unless he returns to Japan.