Music to listen to: Look of Love by Isaac Hayes
Its been a long frickin time since we did a mixed martial arts power rankings here on the Inquirer. That changes now.
Heavyweight:
1) Cain Velasquez
2) Junior Dos Santos
3) Fabricio Werdum
4) Travis Browne
5) Antonio Silva
Other contenders: Josh Barnett, Alistair Overeem, Mark Hunt, Stipe Miocic
Thoughts: The top tier of this division has expressed significant inactivity during the first seven months of 2014 but that changes for the better in the last quarter of this calendar year. Velasquez and Werdum will battle at UFC 180 for the title during the month of November in Mexico. Dos Santos and Miocic were supposed to fight later this year but both guys got hurt. The interesting thing about that fight was that if Werdum and Dos Santos were able to win their respective fights, we would have probably seen that as the next title fight. Travis Browne was one of the hottest fighters in MMA until his loss to Werdum in a relatively one-sided decision earlier this year.
Light Heavyweight:
1) Jon Jones
2) Alex Gustafsson
3) Daniel Cormier
4) Glover Teixeira
5) Anthony Johnson
Other contenders: Rashad Evans, Phil Davis
Thoughts: We’ll take this division from the bottom up. Welcome to the top-five Johnson. His dominating victory over Nogueira puts the Blackzilian in the title picture. Its been an improbable run for Johnson who wasn’t even in the UFC and looked to be unofficially banned for life after failing to make weight at welterweight and middleweight multiple times. Now, he’s potentially one victory away from a title shot.
For Johnson to get that opportunity, he will most likely have to get past a capable Teixeira who lost his title fight to Jones at UFC 172 but still a major threat in the division.
All of us were looking forward to Jones/Gustafsoon 2 at UFC 178 in Septembr but the Swede got hurt and Cormier steps into the spot. While you may question Cormier getting a title fight at light heavyweight when he’s only had two fights in the weight class, his undefeated run has included impressive wins at heavyweight and he’s carried over his success into the new division.
Jones avoids facing his physical carbon copy in Gustafsson but gets a new opponent who may be a better wrestler and stronger. We’ll analyze Jones/Cormier as it gets closer but any novice MMA spectator knows that the majority of Jones’ gameplan will be to keep his distance and avoid the takedown. Exciting fight for an intriguing division.
Middleweight:
1) Chris Weidman
2) Anderson Silva
3) Lyoto Machida
4) Vitor Belfort
5) Ronaldo Souza
Other contenders: Luke Rockhold, Tim Kennedy
Thoughts: This is the most volatile division in the sport based on two announcements within the past month. First, Belfort has been granted a provisional license to fight again without the usage of testosterone replacement therapy and has a title shot against Weidman at UFC 181. Belfort earned a title shot based on results but he also had help from TRT so was that the real Vitor we saw fight or an illegally enhanced one? There’s a lack of a title contenders for Weidman so this fight makes sense to happen this year.
The other announcement that came down was that Silva will return to the Octagon in January 2015 to face Nick Diaz in a middleweight bout. Its an odd fight because Silva is coming off a major leg injury that should have honestly ended his career and Diaz is a natural welterweight moving up to fight one of the top-five fighters of all-time. Silva is still second in my current rankings but is stuck in championship limbo because of his two losses to Weidman. I’m not interested in seeing a third fight between those two but if Vitor beats Weidman and Silva gets past Diaz…
Welterweight:
1) Johny Hendricks
2) Robbie Lawler
3) Rory MacDonald
4) Tyron Woodley
5) Matt Brown
Other contenders: Carlos Condit, Hector Lombard, Ben Askren
Thoughts: Lawler earned an impressive decision victory over Matt Brown last month to earn another shot at Hendricks. Give credit to MacDonald for defeating Woodley earlier this year. I didn’t the Canadian had it in him. He now places himself in clear position to face the winner of Lawler/Hendricks in 2015. Condit and Lombard are dealing with major injuries that hurt their position in my rankings. Askren remains one of the biggest enigmas in MMA, first leaving Bellator and now fighting for One FC against inferior competition. As a fight fan, I want the top fighters to battle each other and Askren’s undefeated record along with fighting style makes him a highly regarded middleweight. He should be in the UFC.
Lightweight:
1) Anthony Pettis
2) Benson Henderson
3) Gil Melendez
4) Eddie Alvarez
5) Khabib Nurmagomedov
Other contenders: Michael Chandler, Rafael dos Anjos, Donald Cerrone, Nick Diaz, Bobby Green
Thoughts: Another intriguing division that has been hampered by injuries. Pettis will finally get back in the Octagon later this year against Melendez in a title fight later this year. Henderson continues to grind along and actually finished a fight defeated Rustam Khabilov back in June. It was his first finish in 10 UFC fights. He will face dos Anjos later this month. Nurmagomedov has become a social media favorite from his unique name, elite wrestling, undefeated mark and bear wrestling during his free time. Unfortunately, the 25-year-old has an injured knee and won’t fight Cerrone later this year.
The Sports Inquirer 
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