Sportsnet.ca's mixed martial arts rankings
by (Big Game) James Brydon
as of Oct. 26, 2009
Major changes this week in the pound-for-pound, heavyweight and light-heavyweight rankings, based mostly on the main event of UFC 104, but also on the co-main event and the headlining fight at the weekend's Dream.12 event in Japan.
The big deal was of course Mauricio (Shogun) Rua's fantastic performance against Lyoto Machida -- and one which probably should have won him the fight. That vaults him onto the pound-for-pound list, as well as rocketing him up on the light-heavyweight ranking.
I kept Machida above him, however, for three reasons: 1) He's still the champion, whether you agreed with the decision or not, and still undefeated; 2) Shogun wasn't convincing enough to take the belt away from Machida; 3) If the two were to meet again, I would pick Machida to win again.
Machida does drop a spot on the pound-for-pound list to just below B.J. Penn. Quinton (Rampage) Jackson is removed from the list to make room for Rua, but he stays among the light-heavyweights. Jackson says he's retired, but he could fight next month if he wanted to.
As for the bigger guys, Cain Velasquez looked great again against a formidable Ben Rothwell, earning him a spot in the rankings. Alistair Overeem continues to show he's one of the top heavyweights in the world with another quick win, albeit over pushover James Thompson. Overeem, and a bunch of others, move up in the ranks, while Josh Barnett is bumped off, in addition to Randy Couture, who is moving down a weight class to take on Brandon Vera and now appears on the light-heavyweight list.
A couple more changes:
Chael Sonnen replaces Yushin Okami on the middleweight list after his clear-cut win over the Japanese fighter, who hasn't won since December and has lost his last two against legitimate contenders. On the other hand, Sonnen has three wins in his past four fights, coming against Okami, Dan Miller and Paulo Filho. Not bad.
Eddie Alvarez moves up one notch in the lightweight ranking after a nifty submission win over Katsunori Kikuno in the Dream event. Meanwhile, Joe Stevenson looked really good in taking out Spencer Fisher Saturday night but it wasn't quite enough for him to crack the Top 10 again just yet.
Final note: Anthony Johnson looks like he could be a real force in the UFC's welterweight division. But he can't be coming in six pounds overweight. He'll have to get back to consistently making weight before he can make the list.
Pound-for-Pound
1. Anderson Silva
2. Georges St. Pierre
3. Fedor Emelianenko
4. B.J. Penn
5. Lyoto Machida
6. Brock Lesnar
7. Mauricio Rua
8. Mike Brown
9. Rashad Evans
10. Jon Fitch
Canadian pound-for-pound
1. Georges St. Pierre (St. Isidore, Que.)
2. Patrick Cote (Quebec City)
3. Sam Stout (London, Ont.)
4. Denis Kang (Vancouver)
5. Mark Bocek (Toronto)
6. Krzysztof Soszynski (Winnipeg)
7. Mark Hominick (Thamesford, Ont.)
8. Jonathan Goulet (Victoriaville, Que.)
9. Jason MacDonald (Red Deer, Alta.)
10. John Alessio (Duncan, B.C.)
Heavyweight
1. Fedor Emelianenko
2. Brock Lesnar
3. Frank Mir
4. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
5. Alistair Overeem
6. Shane Carwin
7. Junior Dos Santos
8. Fabricio Werdum
9. Cain Velasquez
10. Brett Rogers
Light heavyweight
1. Lyoto Machida
2. Mauricio Rua
3. Rashad Evans
4. Quinton Jackson
5. Thiago Silva
6. Forrest Griffin
7. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
8. Gegard Mousasi
9. Rich Franklin
10. Randy Couture
Middleweight
1. Anderson Silva
2. Nate Marquardt
3. Dan Henderson
4. Patrick Cote
5. Demian Maia
6. Paulo Filho
7. Vitor Belfort
8. Robbie Lawler
9. Yoshihiro Akiyama
10. Chael Sonnen
Welterweight
1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Thiago Alves
4. Jake Shields
5. Mike Swick
6. Josh Koscheck
7. Carlos Condit
8. Dustin Hazelett
9. Matt Hughes
10. Dan Hardy
Lightweight
1. B.J. Penn
2. Shinya Aoki
3. Eddie Alvarez
4. Kenny Florian
5. Diego Sanchez
6. Sean Sherk
7. Joachim Hansen
8. Gray Maynard
9. Gilbert Melendez
10. Tatsuya Kawajiri
Featherweight
1. Mike Brown
2. Urijah Faber
3. Hatsu Hioki
4. Waggney Fabiano
5. Jose Aldo
6. Leonard Garcia
7. Raphael Assuncao
8. Hideki Kadowaki
9. Norifumi Yamamoto
10. Masakuza Imanari
Bantamweight
1. Brian Bowles
2. Miguel Torres
3. Takeya Mizugaki
4. Masakatsu Ueda
5. Dominick Cruz
6. Manny Tapia
7. Rani Yahya
8. Joseph Benavidez
9. Will Ribeiro
10. Akitoshi Tamura
Previous rankings here.
