RingSide Report

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Anderson Silva & the MMA Scene

By Ben Bieker

Strikeforce

They have had one event, of importance, since the last rankings article. There were two match-ups that could have affected the rankings. The Ronaldo Jacare and Robbie Lawler fight moved Jacare up one spot in the ranking above Hector Lombard because he now has a win over another top-ten opponent, and while Lombard has done a lot recently his opponents have not been the caliber of Lawler. In that fight Lawler lost, and that moved him down one spot. This had to happen because he lost, but he put on a valiant effort. In his move down Jorge Santiago moved up considering his only loss in recent memory is to someone he beat on a later occasion. The Nick Diaz fight did not affect the rankings because even though he won he beat an unranked opponent, ho only had two fights in the division. Plus, his performance was not that good if he had blown Santos out of the water he might have moved up.

UFC

The Fight for the Troops card had a few fights that affected the lighter rankings. Mike Brown lost another fight against an unranked opponent. This dropped him out of the top 10 completely. This opened up a spot for Mark Hominick to come into the rankings at number 10. While he should be ranked higher the other people in that division are more proven, or have beaten Hominick in the past. Those are the only two fights that changed the top 10. Guillard is on the verge of being in the Lightweight rankings, but one more convincing win will make him rise up into it.

UFC 126 produced a lot of change in the top ten for multiple divisions. The rankings changed in the Light Heavyweight division. Jon Jones obliterated Ryan Bader moving him up to number 5. Bader’s loss also knocked him down one spot. The fight between Franklin and Forrest Griffin also changed the ranking Rich lost which knocked him out of the top ten, that made room for Matt Hamill to debut. Even though Rich has a win over him Matt is on a good win streak over quality opponents and has a chance to move up more in his next fight. Forrest win shifted a lot of things. he moved up from 5 to 3 which some people may think is a little to high, but you have to remember he has a win over Rampage and Shogun, the original number 1 and 3, and his only loss in recent memory is to the number 2 in the division and the number one pound for pound fighter in the world in Rashad Evan and Anderson Silva respectively. That is why he moved up so high, which is up to debut just contact me if you want to hear a reason why, and we can hash it out. That move shifted more as it moved Rampage down one, and Forrest win along with Jones moved Machida down two spots.

The other moves happen under 145 pounds. Chad Mendes’ win over Michihiro Omigawa shot him up to Omigawa’s original spot of three. Omigawa dropped down two spots since he could not stay above Dustin Poirier. THe shifting of Mendes up to 3 made Manny Gamburyan, Hatsu Hioki, and Josh Grispi all move down one spot also. The Demetrious Johnson Kid Yamamoto fight and the Antonio Banuelos/ Miguel Torres fight shifted the Bantamweight division a lot also. First Miguel moved up one spot over Brain Bowles, even though he has a previous loss to him, because Brain has been out of competition since his last loss. brain will be able to regain that spot with a win in his comeback fight. Demetrious decision win moved him up to Antonio’s old spot of 7 because of Antonio’s recent loss, and his win over Kid is stronger than either of Uriah’s or Eddie’s last opponents. This moved Antonio, Uriah, and Eddie all down one spot.

HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (over 205 pounds)*
1. Cain Velasquez
2. Junior Dos Santos
3. Fabricio Werdum
4. Fedor Emelianenko
5. Brock Lesnar
6. Shane Carwin
7. Frank Mir
8. Josh Barnett
9. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
10. Antonia Silva

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (205-pound limit)
1. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
2. Rashad Evans
3. Forrest Griffin
4. Quinton Jackson
5. Jon Jones
6. Lyoto Machida
7. Ryan Bader
8. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
9. Dan Henderson
10. Matt Hamill

MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISION (185-pound limit)
1. Anderson Silva
2. Chael Sonnen
3. Yushin Okami
4. Nathan Marquardt
5. Demian Maia
6. Ronaldo “Jacare” de Souza
7. Hector Lombard
8. Jorge Santiago
9. Robbie Lawler
10. Mamed Khalidov

WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION (170-pound limit)
1. Georges St-Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Thiago Alves
4. Josh Koscheck
5. Jake Shields
6. Carlos Condit
7. B.J. Penn
8. Paul Daley
9. Nick Diaz
10. Matt Hughes

LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION (160-pound limit)
1. Frankie Edgar
2. Gilbert Melendez
3. Gray Maynard
4. Jim Miller
5. Eddie Alvarez
6. Shinya Aoki
7. Anthony Pettis
8. George Sotiropoulos
9. Kenny Florian
10. Taytsu Kawajiri

FEATHERWEIGHT DIVISION (145 pound-limit)
1. Jose Aldo
2. Diego Nunes
3. Chad Mendes
4. Dustin Poierer
5. Michihiro Omigawa
6. Manny Gamburyan
7. Hatsu Hioki
8. Josh Grispi
9. Joe Warren
10. Mark Hominick

BANTAMWEIGHT DIVISION (135 pounds or less)
1. Dominick Cruz
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Scott Jorgensen
4. Miguel Torres
5. Brain Bowles
6. Brad Pickett
7. Demetrious Johnson
8. Antonio Banuelos
9. Eddie Wineland
10. Uriah Faber

The next rankings will come out after the March 5th weekend because a Strikeforce and Bellator card happen that weekend, and depending on who is fighting it could shift the rankings a lot. Here is a list of events and match-ups that could change the rankings in order of the event that is closest to happening.

Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva

Fedor Emelianenko (#4 Heavyweight) vs. Antonio Silva (#10 Heavyweight)
Andrei Arlovski vs. Sergei Kharitonov

UFC 127

Jon Fitch (#2 Welterweight ) vs. B.J. Penn (#7 Welterweight)
Michael Bisping vs. Jorge Rivera
Dennis Siver vs. George Sotiropoulos (#8 Lightweight)
Carlos Condit (#6 Welterweight) vs. Chris Lytle

UFC on Versus 3

Martin Kampmann vs. Diego Sanchez

Strikeforce Columbus
Rafael Cavalcante vs. Dan Henderson (#9 Light Heavyweight)
Tim Kennedy vs Melvin Manhoef

Remember these listed matches won’t always change the rankings, but could depending on the outcome of other fights also. Plus, with the bouts subject to change another fight could come out that could have significance also. This is just a heads up on what matches are to come that could serve the top ten of any weight class a notice.

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