Time for a long-overdue MMA Division Rankings from The Sports Inquirer.
Music to listen to: High Noon by DJ Shadow
Heavyweight:
1) Junior Dos Santos
2) Cain Velasquez
3) Alistair Overeem
4) Brock Lesnar
5) Fabricio Werdum
Just missed the cut: Shane Carwin, Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Thoughts: Dos Santos is clearly the king of the division after his dominating first-round defeat of Velasquez to claim the UFC title. He’ll get the winner of Lesnar and Overeem who fight in December. I considered placing Werdum ahead of Lesnar but I think if both men fought today, the Minnesotan would win the battle. Furthermore, Werdum struggled in his last fight against Overeem and showed some flaws that would be taken advantage of in a fight against Lesnar. I also really wanted to include Josh Barnett in the outside of top-five list as well, especially with Carwin being injured and Barnett on a nice winning streak but didn’t make the call.
Light heavyweight:
1) Jon Jones
2) Dan Henderson
3) Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
4) Rashad Evans
5) Lyota Machida
Just missed the cut: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Phil Davis and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Thoughts: Jones is still the top fighter in the division but there’s been a shake-up after him in the rankings. Henderson looked near retirement after his loss to Jake Shields in Strikeforce: Nashville in April 2010 but has turned it around with four wins in a row, three of them in 2011, which makes him a prime candidate for fighter of the year. He also won a hard-fought decision over Rua in one of the best MMA fights in history at UFC 139 earlier this month. Rua is still a top-flight fighter and placed above Evans and Machida who are also lurking for a UFC title shot against Jones possibly in late 2012.
Middleweight:
1) Anderson Silva
2) Chael Sonnen
3) Yushin Okami
4) Mark Munoz
5) Damian Maia
Thoughts: This division has started to become Silva and everyone else. However, Munoz has climbed up the rankings in 2011 and may be a fight or two away from vying for the UFC crown.
Welterweight:
1) Georges St. Pierre
2) Nick Diaz
3) Jon Fitch
4) Carlos Condit
5) Josh Koscheck
Just missed the cut: Jake Shields, Jake Ellenberger, Johny Hendricks
Thoughts: This may be the deepest division in all of MMA. GSP is still the top guy but beyond that, you can almost interchange the next four guys in the rankings. I currently have Diaz after his impressive win over BJ Penn in October. Fitch, Condit and Koscheck are in the same category and it’s a rainy Tuesday in Georgia so I’ll take Fitch. Shields had been a mainstay in my top-five but his loss to Ellenberger in October merit’s the demotion.
Lightweight:
1) Frankie Edgar
2) Gilbert Melendez
3) Ben Henderson
4) Gray Maynard
5) Clay Guida
Missed the cut: Shinya Aoki, Jim Miller and Donald Cerrone
Thoughts: Actually, THIS may be the deepest division in MMA. On any given night, I think the top five guys could beat each other, even though Edgar would be a strong favorite over the other four. I wanted to put Aoki in my top-five but I’ll give Guida slight credit for a respectable loss to Henderson earlier this month. It’s also tough to kick Eddie Alvarez out of my top-eight after losing his Bellator world title to Michael Chandler last week. However, Alvarez’s level of wins within the division was questionable before the loss compared to the other guys and the defeat cost him a place in the rankings.
Featherweight:
1) Jose Aldo
2) Chad Mendes
3) Hatsu Hioki
4) Pat Curran
5) Marlon Sandro
Thoughts: Aldo has continued his domination of the division and will have a stiff test against Mendes in January 2012. I expected a little more from Hioki at his UFC debut in October but he won the fight and that’s the ultimate goal.
Bantamweight:
1) Dominick Cruz
2) Urijah Faber
3) Joseph Benavidez
4) Brian Bowles
5) Scott Jorgensen
Thoughts: Cruz is getting close to cleaning out the division but will probably have to beat Faber a second time before making that claim.
Those are my thoughts, what are yours?
The Sports Inquirer 
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