Passing the Guard: MMA Power Rankings October 2013

 

Music to listen to: Vital Signs by Rush

Time for some MMA rankings:

Heavyweight:

1) Cain Velasquez

2) Junior Dos Santos

3) Fabricio Werdum

4) Daniel Cormier

5) Antonio Silva

Outside: Josh Barnett, Frank Mir

Thoughts: Velasquez defended his UFC title against Dos Santos at UFC 166 with a fifth round stoppage, dominating from the second round on. The next opponent looks to be Werdum, who has won his last three UFC fights against Roy Nelson, Mike Russow and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Cormier presents an interesting case since he’s declared to move down to light heavyweight after beating Nelson at UFC 166 himself. For the time, he’s technically still a heavyweight, placing him in the rankings. Finally, I personally thought the stoppage in the Mir/Barnett wasn’t too soon meaning that Barnett earned a clean win.

Light Heavyweight:

1) Jon Jones

2) Alex Gustafsson

3) Rashad Evans

4) Phil Davis

5) Dan Henderson

Outside: Lyoto Machida, Glover Teixeira

Thoughts: As we head towards the end of the 2013 fight season, the Jones/Gustafsson battle at UFC 165 certainly placed itself in the realm as the fight of the year. The rest of the division leaves something to be desired, seeing how Evans Davis, Henderson and Machida have each fought and defeated each other over the past two years and also lost to Jones. Right now, I have Evans in the third spot but that can change tomorrow on my first cup of tea. Teixeira is a relatively new face in the title equation and should present Jones with something different in 2014.

Middleweight:

1) Chris Weidman

2) Anderson Silva

3) everyone else

Outside: Mark Munoz, Ronaldo Souza, Michael Bisping, Yushin Okami

Thoughts: Weidman/Silva 2 in December will be a special event and determine much about the careers of both men. The rest of the division hasn’t distinguished itself enough to earn a ranking.

Welterweight:

1) Georges St. Pierre

2) Johny Hendricks

3) Carlos Condit

4) Rory MacDonald

5) Jake Shields

Others: Ben Askren, Demian Maia, Martin Kampmann

Thoughts: St. Pierre and Hendricks will fight in November and I’m calling the upset already. We’ll see a new champion in the UFC but the analysis will be saved for another day. MacDonald has been the hotter fighter in comparison to Condit but I’m sticking with the head to head matchup in my rational for that pick. Ben Askren needs to beat a viable welterweight to even be considered in my top-five. I like Bellator as a promotion but the welterweight division is weak. Plus his fighting style would get beaten by the five guys I have in my rankings.

Lightweight:

1) Anthony Pettis

2) Ben Henderson

3) Gil Melendez

4) TJ Grant

5) Michael Chandler

Others: Josh Thompson, Gray Maynard

Thoughts: Henderson had an excellent run but Pettis got revenge and finally claimed UFC gold at UFC 164. Melendez had an entertaining battle against Diego Sanchez at UFC 166 and keeps himself in title contention. Grant’s had a rough go with injuries, missing out on a title shot against Henderson and now with Pettis. Thompson now gets a chance to face Pettis in December. The Bellator pay-per-view has had its detractors (not me personally) but a fight everyone can agree on is seeing Chander face Eddie Alvarez again.