By E. Marcel Pourtout, Editor

Music to listen to: Prayers for Rain by The Cure

 

Another month, another time for MMA Power Rankings from The Sports Inquirer.

Heavyweight:

1 – Cain Velasquez

2- Junior Dos Santos

3- Fabrico Werdum

4- Travis Browne

5- Mark Hunt

Thoughts: Velasquez and Werdum face each other at UFC 180 in November with the winner TBD. If Werdum wins, we can see Junior Dos Santos get a shot at the title if he can get past Stipe Miocic at UFC on Fox 13 in December. Despite losing to Werdum in a five-round decision against Werdum, I still have Browne in the fourth spot. Mark Hunt’s improbable career revival has him in the fifth spot.

Light Heavyweight:

1- Jon Jones

2- Alex Gustafsson

3- Daniel Cormier

4- Glover Teixeira

5- Anthony Johnson

Thoughts: This list is set for the forseeable future as Jones and Cormier won’t fight until Jaunary 2015. The winner of that bout will get Gustafsson who’s also on the shelf until 2015. Teixeira gets Phil Davis later this month to stay in striking distance of another title shot. Anthony Johnson is on the short list for 2014 Fighter of the Year but is suspended indefinitly due to legal issues.

Middleweight:

1- Chris Weidman

2- Anderson Silva

3- Vitor Belfort

4- Lyoto Machida

5- Ronaldo Souza

Thoughts: Weidman and Belfort were supposed to fight in December but the bout has been pushed back to February 2015. Silva gets Nick Diaz in January 2015. The top level of this division takes the rest of this calendar year off.

Welterweight:

1- Johny Hendricks

2- Robbie Lawler

3- Rory MacDonald

4- Tyrone Woodley

5- Hector Lombard

Thoughts: Cut and dry division at the top. Winner of Hendricks/Lawler fight in December should face MacDonald in early 2015.

Lightweight:

1- Anthony Pettis

2- Gilbert Melendez

3- Khabib Nurmagomedov

4- Donald Cerrone

5- Rafael Dos Anjos

Thoughts: Another directly laid out division. Pettis and Melendez fight for the UFC title in December. The winner of that bout should face the victor of a Nurmagomedov/Cerrone fight that will hopefully be scheduled soon. Dos Anjos looks to be the odd man out of the title picture despite a thrashing of Benson Henderson earlier this year. The good news for fight fans is that Dos Anjos faces Nate Diaz in December to keep his name in the title picture.

Featherweight:

1- Jose Aldo

2- Chad Mendes

3- Cub Swanson

4- Frankie Edgar

5- Conor McGregor

Thoughts: The top two spots are clear cut and both men battle each other for the UFC title later this month. Swanson and Edgar will fight in November for a most-likely title shot. I have McGregor fifth even though Ricardo Lamas and Dennis Bermudez have better resumes. At this moment, I think McGregor is the better fighter which is how the rankings are done on the Inquirer.

Bantamweight:

1- TJ Dillashaw

2- Renan Barao

3- Dominic Cruz

4- Urijah Faber

Thoughts: Cruz is back and a “unification” bout with Dillashaw seems just about right for early 2015.