Verbal Submission: MMA Power Rankings

Music to listen to:  Un Buitre Amable Me Pico (live) by the Omar Rodriguz-Group

Heavyweight ranking:

1) Cain Velasquez (next opponent: TBA)

2) Junior Dos Santos (next fight vs. Brock Lesnar)

3) Fabricio Werdum (next fight vs. Alistair Overeem)

4) Brock Lesnar (next fight vs. Junior Dos Santos)

5) Shane Carwin (next fight vs. Jon Olav Einemo)

Missed the cut: Frank Mir, Antonio Silva and Alistair Overeem

Thoughts:  With the purchase of Strikeforce by Zuffa, no division will be more effected than heavyweight for a variety of reasons.  First, you can argue that out of the top eight heavyweights in the world, the split of 5-3 in favor of the UFC is not as large as some other divisions, where Strikeforce may struggle to even have two fighters out of the top-ten in the division.  The significance of this is that you’re most likely going to see the first “cross-promotion” fight between Strikeforce and Zuffa in the heavyweight division so between the Grand Prix in Stikeforce and the “round-robin” of sorts for the UFC title between Velasquez, Lesnar and Dos Santos, which will hopefully be settled by the late fall of 2011, every match in this division must be watched.

Furthermore, if you’re into the backstage politics of MMA, its going to be interesting to see how guys with past negative relationships with the UFC such as Josh Barnett, Overeem and Emelianenko will work in the new regime.  However, after seeing the public spats between the UFC and fighters such as Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz to only have the fighters return to the Zuffa brand, any severed relationships can be repaired in combat sports.

I have Werdum ahead of Lesnar because the Brazilian has beaten Silva and Emelianenko in his last two fights, two top-ten guys in the division, while Lesnar lost his last fight to Velasquez.  Plus, if we play the hypothetical “what would happen if they met” game, I think that Werdum’s ground work would be superior to Lesnar’s wrestling.

When I do the rankings, I also look at past matchups and nearly forgot about the fact that Werdum lost his last fight in the UFC to Dos Santos by TKO in October of 2008.  I was tempted to put Werdum ahead in the rankings but had to respect the head-to-head result.

Despite Silva’s big win over Emelianenko, I still have him missing the top-five along with Overeem, who has turned his career around and gained tremendous momentum, especially if you include his stellar work in K-1 fighting.

Light Heavyweight ranking:

1) Jon Jones (next fight: TBA)

2) Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (next fight vs. Forrest Griffin)

3) Rashad Evans (next fight vs. Phil Davis)

4) Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (next fight vs. Matt Hamill)

5) Lyoto Machida (next fight: TBA)

Missed the cut: Ryan Bader, Phil Davis and Forrest Griffin

Thoughts:  The top spot in this division is set after Jones dismantled Rua at UFC 128 in March.  However, the rest of the division can go in either direction.

I have Shogun at second, but I’m sure a supporter of Forrest Griffin can shoot down that theory quickly.  Thankfully, both men will face each other in August.

I believe that if Evans and Jackson fought right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rampage earned the victory but those two men fought before and Evans outclassed him.

While I think that Bader and Davis may eventually be consistent members of the top-five rankings in the light heavyweight division, both of those men aren’t at that level yet.

Finally, I really wanted to include Dan Henderson in at least the “missed the cut” list, but he isn’t a top-eight fighter in the division anymore, even though he does deserve credit for earning the Strikeforce title by defeating Rafael Cavalcante in March.

Middleweight ranking:

1) Anderson Silva (next fight vs. Yushin Okami)

2) Yushin Okami (next fight vs. Anderson Silva)

3) Chael Sonnen (next fight: TBA)

4) Nate Marquardt (next fight vs. Anthony Johnson)

5) Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (next fight: TBA)

Missed the cut: Damian Maia, Michael Bisping and Vitor Belfort

Thoughts: While there was talk of Silva facing Georges St. Pierre in a fight, its appropriate that Okami, the last man to technically beat Silva in a fight back in 2006, gets another shot at the Brazilian.Okami showed his worth in a victory over Marquardt in November 2010.

I’ve seen some publications place Sonnen in the second spot of the rankings after his performance against Silva at UFC 117 in August 2010, but the subsequent failed drug test after that contest knocks him down one spot.

I also know that Marquart is now fighting as a welterweight, which means that this will probably be his last appearance in this section of the rankings, but he should be on the list for now.

While everyone has been focusing on the lack of competition in the Strikeforce welterweight division for Nick Diaz, the lack of depth in the middleweight division is also an issue for the promotion for their champion, Souza.  I’m potentially smelling a fight against the winner of the Maia/Mark Munoz contest which takes place at UFC 131 in June.

Welterweight ranking:

1) Georges St. Pierre (next opponent: TBA)

2) Jon Fitch (next opponent: TBA)

3) Jake Shields (next opponent: TBA)

4) Nick Diaz (next opponent: TBA)

5) Thiago Alves (next fight vs. Rick Story)

Missed the cut: B.J. Penn, Josh Koscheck and Carlos Condit

Thoughts:  The first thing you should notice is all of the guys who don’t have an official opponent at this time.

St. Pierre just defeated Shields ten days ago so neither fighter will probably be available to compete until late 2011 at the earliest.  Jon Fitch and B.J. Penn fought t a draw and both sustained injuries that prevented a scheduled rematch between the two combatants in July.  Nick Diaz is contemplating professional boxing and has even started negotiations with Jeff Lacy.

As far as the rankings, besides St. Pierre, the rest of the list can be interchanged with solid arguments on all sides, which makes this arguably the deepest division in MMA.

Lightweight ranking:

1) Frankie Edgar (next opponent: TBA)

2) Gilbert Melendez (next opponent: TBA)

3) Grey Maynard (next opponent: TBA)

4) Shinya Aoki (next opponent: TBA)

5) Eddie Alvarez (next opponent: TBA)

Missed the cut: Kenny Florian, Anthony Pettis and Jim Miller

Thoughts: In the top-five, three of the men hold titles, all in different promotions.  That’s the bad news for potential matchups.

The good news is that you’re going to eventually see it work out.

First, Edgar will eventually face Maynard, even though it was a blow for the UFC that both men got hurt before their scheduled matchup on May 28.  When those guys fight, they will probably get the winner of Anthony Pettis (who should be the most mad out of anybody on the events of the past few months) and Clay Guida.  I wouldn’t even be surprised if that matchup turns into a fight for the interium belt.  One that happens, Jim Miller or maybe even Melendez gets a shot at the UFC belt.

The first wild card is Aoki, but he’s probably going to stay in Japan and fight for Dream so the rest of my focus will go to Alvarez, who has publicly criticized the health care policies of Zuffa in the past and even indicated that its a factor in staying with Bellator.

In the past two days, Zuffa has announced a universal healthcare policy for those injured during training, which should have interested Alvarez.  Furthermore, the Bellator champion will eventually look for bigger challenges that his current promotion won’t be able to offer.

Featherweight ranking:

1) Jose Aldo (next opponent: TBA)

2) Chad Mendes (next opponent: TBA)

3) Hatzu Hioki (next opponent: TBA)

4) Manny Gamburyan (next fight vs. Tyson Griffin)

5) Diego Nunes (next fight vs. Kenny Florian)

Missed the cut: Marion Sandro, Joe Warren and Josh Grispi

Thoughts:  Jose Aldo looked human against Mark Hominick on Apr. 30 but earned the victory to stay in the top spot.

Mendes will probably get the next shot at the UFC title and face Aldo in a potential fight of the year candidate.

Hioki may not be known among North American MMA fans but the current Shooto 143 world champion and Sengoku champ showed his merit as a top-five fighter in the rankings by his win over Donald Sanchez on Apr. 29.

Bantamweight ranking:

1) Dominick Cruz (next fight vs. Urijah Faber)

2) Urijah Faber (next fight vs. Dominick Cruz)

3) Joseph Benavidez (next opponent: TBA)

4) Brian Bowles (next fight vs. Takeya Mizugaki)

5) Miguel Torres (next fight vs. Demetrious Johnson)

Missed the cut: Scott Jorgensen, Mizugaki and Mizugaki

Thoughts: We get to see Cruz and Faber in one of the most anticipated rematches in MMA history at UFC 132 in July.

If you’re tired of hearing about the issue of training camp “teammates” refusing to fight or making changes to compete against each other from the Jon Jones/Rashad Evans drama, get ready for some more if Faber wins his fight against Cruz because the next logical opponent for the California Kid would be his protege and fellow Team Alpha Male companion, Benavidez.

I can see an argument for having Jorgensen ahead of Torres but I picked the person who I think would win the fight between the two at this current time.

OK, those were my rankings.  What are your thoughts?