Passing the Guard: MMA Power Rankings February 2013

Music to listen to:  Pentagonia by Elektro Guzzi

Time for my MMA Power Rankings:

Heavyweight:

1)  Cain Velasquez

2)  Junior Dos Santos

3)  Daniel Cormier

4)  Antonio Silva

5)  Alistair Overeem

Others:  Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir

Thoughts:  Velasquez deserves the top spot after regaining the UFC heavyweight title over Dos Santos at UFC 155 in a decisive victory.  The rest the rankings were difficult but Cormier soundly beat Silva who earned the impressive upset over Overeem last week.  While Cormier’s resume may be slightly lighter than his counterparts, he has looked the best over the last six months.  I’ve seen some rankings have Werdum in the top-five and that’s understandable because he does possess a victory over Silva but I’m sticking with my picks.

Light Heavyweight:

1)  Jon Jones

2)  Dan Henderson

3)  Lyoto Machida

4) Alex Gustafsson

5)  Phil Davis

Others:  Rashad Evans, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Maurico Rua

Thoughts:  Jones is clearly the top fighter in the division and arguably in all of mixed martial arts.  I’m not looking forward to his title defense against Chael Sonnen in April but that’s for another post.  Henderson is solidly in the second spot and will get a chance to solitify the position with a victory later this month against Machida.  I was impressed with Gustafsson’s victory over Rua back in December 2012 and seems primed for a title shot in late 2013 or early 2014.  The most disappointing fighter in the division is Evans, who has looked uninspired in his last two losses to Jones and Nogueira last week.  He’s out of my top-five and may be close to dropping out the top-ten by the end of the year.

Middleweight:

1)  Anderson Silva

2)  Chael Sonnen

3)  Chris Weidman

4) Vitor Belfort

5)  Michael Bisping

Thoughts:  The division stays the same because Silva is clearly the top fighter in the division and the sport, Sonnen is busy fighting light heavyweights for titles, Weidman is injured and Belfort along with Bisping have holes in their resumes to gain consideration for moving up the ranks.

Welterweight:

1)  Georges St. Pierre

2)  Carlos Condit

3)  Nick Diaz

4)  Johny Hendricks

5)  Damian Maia

Others:  Jon Fitch, Rory MacDonald

Thoughts:  While some could argue that Hendricks deserves the next UFC title shot against St. Pierre, the allure of the GSP/Diaz fight was too much to pass up and we will finally see the two fight in UFC 158 in March.  Condit will get his shot to keep a hold of the second spot with his scrap against MacDonald on the same fight card.

Lightweight:

1)  Benson Henderson

2)  Gilbert Melendez

3)  Anthony Pettis

4)  Gray Maynard

5)  Nate Diaz

Others:  Jim Miller, Michael Chandler, Donald Cerrone

Thoughts:  In arguably the deepest division in MMA, recent developments are starting to give stability to the lightweights.  Henderson has established himself as the top guy in the division with an impressive victory over Nate Diaz in his last fight and will have a chance to etch himself as a top-five pound-for-pound fighter if he defeats former Strikeforce champion Melendez in April.  Pettis’ TKO of Cerrone was an eye-opener and put the entire fight nation on notice for a potential rematch against Henderson in late 2013.

Featherweight/Bantamweight/Flyweight:

1)  Jose Aldo

2)  Renan Barao

3)  Demetrious Johnson

4)  Pat Curran

5)  Joseph Benavidez

Others:  Ian McCall, Urijah Faber, Chad Mendes

Thoughts:  For those of you who are new to the site, welcome, I rank the last three weight classes into one division because of the constant fluctuation of fighters between the divisions.  Aldo earned a solid victory over Frankie Edgar last week to keep the top spot in the rankings.  Johnson had an impressive defense of his flyweight title over John Dodson a few weeks ago.  Noticeably absent from my rankings is Dominick Cruz who is still technically the UFC bantamweight title holder but hasn’t fought in more than a year due to injuries.  When Cruz returns to action, he will have a place in the rankings.

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?