Lets discuss our WW rankings

This should do it sir 

So deep that DHK, Brown and Askren can't make the top 10.

I'm confused so I'm asking for opinions. I posted this on junkie in their latest rankings article and when I tried to respond to Matt Erickson, I found out I was blocked. Is this really block worthy? 

mulefloyd • 4 hours agoHold on, this is waiting to be approved by MMAjunkie.

Just wow. Hendricks at #1 is practically the ONLY thing at WW that makes sense. Leaving GSP in there is trying to hold onto the past.

Lombard just won a very clear decision over Shields who holds wins over Condit, Lawler, and Woodley so I have him #2.

Lawler's past losses are overshadowed by his recent win over Rory and his performance Saturday so he's #3.

I have Rory at #4 but only because I'm giving him credit for beating Maia more clearly than Shields.

Going strictly by wins & losses Shields could be as high as #3 but I put him at #5 due to his age & one-dimensional fighing style.

Woodley lost to Jake last June so I can't rank him higher yet considering how inconclusive the Condit ending was. Condit has a VERY CLEAR pattern established of getting stronger as a fight goes on (Miura, Ellenberger, Rory, Hendricks).

I got Condit at #7 because he did lose and will likely be out for a while so has lost momentum.

My UFC top 10 finishes out with Maia, Ellenberger, and Saffiedine. I'm a huge Matt Brown fan but neither he nor Kim have beaten anyone to prove they belong in the top 10 yet and Jake's KO over Shields is cancelled out by his loss to Kampmann and his putrid showing vs. Rory. I've got Askren ranked just ahead of Maia. He's the only non-UFC fighter I have in my top 30 which can be found here: http://www.tapology.com/ur/900...

Rankings are subjective so there's no clear right and wrong but as the rankings in this article show there can be a clear agenda <cough>trying-to-sell-Rory-getting-a-title-shot</cough>

@Mule  I see your points and agree with you on weight-cutting.  But that is another issue.  I have posted extensively on it and usually get beaten up on it by the young people who don't see the problems like we do.

I have posted many common-sense approaches to it but don't care to get beaten up again.

Your rankings are good, but we disagree somewhat, as how could we not?

I have just updated my own Rankings just now.  I have raised Woodley into the Top 10 and bumped Matt Brown.  But as you know, these things are fluid and change easily.  

I think the most dangerous challengers to Hendricks' title are still Lawler, MacDonald, Woodley and Lombard.  Condit will be back and I can never count him out of the picture.  Always a pleasure sparring with you, Mule.

* Edited at 03.21.2014, 3:37 PM ET *

I have updated my Rankings.

New announced WW fights since my last report.

Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
William Macario vs. Neil Magny, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
Anthony Lapsley vs. Albert Tumenov, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
Danny Mitchell vs. Li Jingliang, May 24, 2014, UFC 173: Weidman vs. Machida
Peter Sobotta vs. Pawel Pawlak, May 31, 2014, Fight Night: Munoz vs. Mousasi
Paulo Thiago vs. Gasan Umalatov, May 31, 2014, Fight Night, Sonnen vs. Wanderlei
Bobby Voelker vs. Lance Benoist, June 7, 2014, Fight Night: Henderson vs. Khabilov

Top Tier - Johny Hendricks, Robbie Lawler, Carlos Condit, Rory MacDonald, Tyron Woodley, Jake Shields, Martin Kampmann, Jake Ellenberger, Demian Maia, Dong Kim.

Mid-Tier - Hector Lombard, Matt Brown, Ben Askren, Josh Koscheck, Mike Pyle, Mike Pierce, Jon Fitch, Tarec Saffiedine, Thiago Alves, Rick Story.

Bottom Tier - Paul Daley, Erick Silva, Siyar Bahadurzada, John Hathaway, Brandon Thatch, Thiago Alves, Kelvin Gastelum, Josh Burkman, Brian Ebersole, Jordan Mein, Omari Akhmedov, Amir Sadollah, Paulo Thiago, TJ Waldburger, Seth Baczynski, Aaron Simpson, Mike Swick, Patrick Cote, Bobby Voelker, Court McGee, Duane Ludwig, David Mitchell, Claude Patrick, Sean Pierson, Papy Abedi, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Pascal Krauss, Benny Alloway, Lance Benoist, Nick Gatone, Chris Clements, Justin Edwards, Marcelo Guimaraes, Hyun Gyu Lim, Neil Magny, Sergio Moraes, Gunnar Nelson, Kyle Noke, Mike Ricci, Kenny Robertson, Manuel Rodriquez, Bradley, Scott, Stephen Thompson, Bob Whittaker, Keith Wisniewski, Colton, Smith, Dan Miller, James Head, Nate Marquardt,

Here are my 11-30 WW rankings.

11. Hector Lombard
12. Matt Brown
13. Ben Askren
14. Josh Koscheck
15. Mike Pyle
16. Mike Pierce
17. Jon Fitch
18. Tarec Saffiedine
19. Thiago Alves
20. Rick Story
21. Erick Silva
22. Siyar Bahadurzada
23. John Hathaway
24. Paul Daley
25. Josh Burkman
26. Jordan Mein
27. Kelvin Gastelum
28. Brian Ebersole
29. Brandon Thatch
30. TJ Waldburger

Coming WW Fights:

Thiago Perpetuo vs. Kenny Robertson, March 23, 2014, Fight Night: Shogun vs. Henderson 2
John Howard vs. Ryan LaFlare, April 11, 2014, Fight Night: Minotauro vs. Nelson
Patrick Cote vs. Kyle Noke, April 16, 2014, UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Kennedy
Thiago Alves vs. Seth Baczynski, April 19, 2014, UFC on Fox 11: Werdum vs. Browne
Jordan Mein vs. Hernani Perpeteo, April 19, 2014, UFC on Fox 11: Werdum vs. Browne
Jake Ellenberger vs. Tarec Saffiedine, April 26, 2014, UFC 172: Jones vs. Teixeira
Yan Cabral vs. Alexander Yakovlev, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
William Macario vs. Neil Magny, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
Anthony Lapsley vs. Albert Tumenov, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
Danny Mitchell vs. Li Jingliang, May 24, 2014, UFC 173: Weidman vs. Machida
Peter Sobotta vs. Pawel Pawlak, May 31, 2014, Fight Night: Munoz vs. Mousasi
Paulo Thiago vs. Gasan Umalatov, May 31, 2014, Fight Night, Sonnen vs. Wanderlei
Bobby Voelker vs. Lance Benoist, June 7, 2014, Fight Night: Henderson vs. Khabilov

Injured: Dan Hardy (physical issue), Amir Sadollah, Mike Pierce, Matt Brown, Adlan Amagov, Nate Loughran, Brandon Thatch.  Martin Kampmann and Nick Diaz are taking some time off.

Since my last report, Hector Lombard defeated Jake Shields decisively.  Johny Hendricks beat Robbie Lawler despite fighting with a torn left bicep, proving himself an extremely game, tenacious fighter.  Tyron Woodley beat Carlos Condit due to Condit suffering an injury, thereby somewhat dimming the luster of Tyron's win.  Kelvin Gastelum beat Rick Story in convincing fashion, thereby preventing Rick from climbing back into Top 15 status.  Promising Gunnar Nelson beat Omari Akhmedov by submission in the first round. confirming his heralds for his future.

An exciting WW fight coming up is Jake Ellenberger vs. Tarec Saffiedine on April 26.  Another one is returning Matt Brown against exciting Erick Silva on May 10.

I am unprepared to rank Woodley over Condit at the present moment due to how Tyron lost to Shields and how inconclusively Tyron won over Carlos.  But things can change fluidly, as we all know.

* Edited at 03.21.2014, 4:26 PM ET *

I think some of you guys have Rory ranked way to high

Why do you think that Justyn? If you look at his "resume" he has a finish over Pyle who's ranked, a pretty clear decision over Ellenberger, the loss to Robbie was competitive, and he beat Maia much more impressively than Shields. Those are my main reasons for placing him 4th.

I'll admit I probably have him too high at number 3. But who else is there? I don't think Lombard or Woodley is better than him. 

Condit is the only one I have ranked beneath him that I think could beat him. He already did once, and I think he'd do it again.

If Rory doesn't fight for the title (and since Hendricks is hurt, it might be awhile), I would love to see a rematch between Rory and Condit.

I like jon fitch

Why don't you think Lombard is better? I could see why you would say Woodley - the Marquardt KO and the L'n'P over Tarec but Lombard's only losses are decisions to MW grinders. Jake Shields is one of the best at that style and Lombard beat him more impressively than GSP imo. Lombard's strenth, judo, and power make him a WW version of Liddell except he doesn't need to backpedal.

@mule ya, I understand what you're saying and you're right now that I go back and look at his resume it is pretty impressive but I don't think a win over Shields should put him in that high of a position, given what Shields has done as of late.

You mean beating Woodley and Maia? :)

Now that I think about it, I am conflicted that I ranked Dong Kim 10th and Hector Lombard 11th.

I should have switched them, and the next time I adjust my rankings, I will correct it.  Unless of course, something happens in the meantime to change things.

I'm just too tired at this moment to go back and make the correction.  Apologies.

by beating JAke Shields Hector has done more in the UFC than Kim has so far. Also, why are so many of you ranking Kampmann so high?

* Edited at 03.23.2014, 7:56 PM ET *

I have updated my Rankings.

New announced WW fights since my last report.

Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
William Macario vs. Neil Magny, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
Anthony Lapsley vs. Albert Tumenov, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
Danny Mitchell vs. Li Jingliang, May 24, 2014, UFC 173: Weidman vs. Machida
Peter Sobotta vs. Pawel Pawlak, May 31, 2014, Fight Night: Munoz vs. Mousasi
Paulo Thiago vs. Gasan Umalatov, May 31, 2014, Fight Night, Sonnen vs. Wanderlei
Bobby Voelker vs. Lance Benoist, June 7, 2014, Fight Night: Henderson vs. Khabilov

Top Tier - Johny Hendricks, Robbie Lawler, Carlos Condit, Rory MacDonald, Tyron Woodley, Hector Lombard, Jake Shields, Jake Ellenberger, Martin Kampmann, Demian Maia, 

Mid-Tier - Dong Kim, Matt Brown, Ben Askren, Josh Koscheck, Mike Pyle, Mike Pierce, Jon Fitch, Tarec Saffiedine, Thiago Alves, Rick Story.

Bottom Tier - Erick Silva, Siyar Bahadurzada, John Hathaway, Paul Daley, Josh Burkman, Jordan Mein, Kelvin Gastelum, Brian Ebersole, Gunnar Nelson, Brandon Thatch, Omari Akhmedov, Amir Sadollah, Paulo Thiago, TJ Waldburger, Seth Baczynski, Aaron Simpson, Mike Swick, Patrick Cote, Bobby Voelker, Court McGee, Duane Ludwig, David Mitchell, Claude Patrick, Sean Pierson, Papy Abedi, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Pascal Krauss, Benny Alloway, Lance Benoist, Nick Gatone, Chris Clements, Justin Edwards, Marcelo Guimaraes, Hyun Gyu Lim, Neil Magny, Sergio Moraes, Gunnar Nelson, Kyle Noke, Mike Ricci, Kenny Robertson, Manuel Rodriquez, Bradley, Scott, Stephen Thompson, Bob Whittaker, Keith Wisniewski, Colton, Smith, Dan Miller, James Head, Nate Marquardt,

Here are my 11-30 WW rankings.

11. Dong Kim
12. Matt Brown
13. Ben Askren
14. Josh Koscheck
15. Mike Pyle
16. Mike Pierce
17. Jon Fitch
18. Tarec Saffiedine
19. Thiago Alves
20. Rick Story
21. Erick Silva
22. Siyar Bahadurzada
23. John Hathaway
24. Paul Daley
25. Josh Burkman
26. Jordan Mein
27. Kelvin Gastelum
28. Brian Ebersole
29. Gunnar Nelson
30. Brandon Thatch
31. TJ Waldburger

Coming WW Fights:

John Howard vs. Ryan LaFlare, April 11, 2014, Fight Night: Minotauro vs. Nelson
Patrick Cote vs. Kyle Noke, April 16, 2014, UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Kennedy
Thiago Alves vs. Seth Baczynski, April 19, 2014, UFC on Fox 11: Werdum vs. Browne
Jordan Mein vs. Hernani Perpeteo, April 19, 2014, UFC on Fox 11: Werdum vs. Browne
Jake Ellenberger vs. Tarec Saffiedine, April 26, 2014, UFC 172: Jones vs. Teixeira
Yan Cabral vs. Alexander Yakovlev, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
William Macario vs. Neil Magny, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
Anthony Lapsley vs. Albert Tumenov, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
Danny Mitchell vs. Li Jingliang, May 24, 2014, UFC 173: Weidman vs. Machida
Peter Sobotta vs. Pawel Pawlak, May 31, 2014, Fight Night: Munoz vs. Mousasi
Paulo Thiago vs. Gasan Umalatov, May 31, 2014, Fight Night, Sonnen vs. Wanderlei
Bobby Voelker vs. Lance Benoist, June 7, 2014, Fight Night: Henderson vs. Khabilov

Injured: Dan Hardy (physical issue), Amir Sadollah, Mike Pierce, Adlan Amagov, Nate Loughran, Brandon Thatch.  Martin Kampmann and Nick Diaz are taking some time off.

Since my last report, Hector Lombard defeated Jake Shields decisively.  Johny Hendricks beat Robbie Lawler despite fighting with a torn left bicep, proving himself an extremely game, tenacious fighter.  Tyron Woodley beat Carlos Condit due to Condit suffering an injury, thereby somewhat dimming the luster of Tyron's win.  Kelvin Gastelum beat Rick Story in convincing fashion, thereby preventing Rick from climbing back into Top 15 status.  Promising Gunnar Nelson beat Omari Akhmedov by submission in the first round. confirming his heralds for his future.

An exciting WW fight coming up is Jake Ellenberger vs. Tarec Saffiedine on April 26.  Another one is returning Matt Brown against exciting Erick Silva on May 10.

I am unprepared to rank Woodley over Condit at the present moment due to how Tyron lost to Shields and how inconclusively Tyron won over Carlos.  But things can change fluidly, as we all know.

* Edited at 03.23.2014, 8:16 PM ET *

Ben, because of Martin's "strength of schedule" to steal a phrase from NCAA basketball because I find selecting and seeding those teams to be just as hard to do as ranking MMA fighers. If you look at Kampmann's losses he's only lost to top 10 fighters and arguably won the Shields fight although the judges saw differently. While, yes, he's on a losing streak, it's very comparable to Hendo in the LHW division: no bad losses as far as losing to guys they should clearly beat.  I have Martin out of the top 10 but pretty highly ranked still if you only look at his recent record.

New announced WW fights since my last report.

Daniel Sarafian vs. Kichi Kunimoto, June 14, 2014, UFC 174

Top Tier - Johny Hendricks, Robbie Lawler, Carlos Condit, Rory MacDonald, Tyron Woodley, Hector Lombard, Jake Shields, Jake Ellenberger, Martin Kampmann, Demian Maia, 

Mid-Tier - Dong Kim, Matt Brown, Tarec Saffiedine, Ben Askren, Josh Koscheck, Mike Pyle, Mike Pierce, Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, Rick Story.

Bottom Tier - Erick Silva, Siyar Bahadurzada, John Hathaway, Paul Daley, Josh Burkman, Jordan Mein, Kelvin Gastelum, Brian Ebersole, Gunnar Nelson, Brandon Thatch, Omari Akhmedov, Amir Sadollah, Paulo Thiago, TJ Waldburger, Seth Baczynski, Aaron Simpson, Mike Swick, Patrick Cote, Bobby Voelker, Court McGee, Duane Ludwig, David Mitchell, Claude Patrick, Sean Pierson, Papy Abedi, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Pascal Krauss, Benny Alloway, Lance Benoist, Nick Gatone, Chris Clements, Justin Edwards, Marcelo Guimaraes, Hyun Gyu Lim, Neil Magny, Sergio Moraes, Gunnar Nelson, Kyle Noke, Mike Ricci, Kenny Robertson, Manuel Rodriquez, Bradley, Scott, Stephen Thompson, Bob Whittaker, Keith Wisniewski, Colton, Smith, Dan Miller, James Head, Nate Marquardt,

Here are my 11-30 WW rankings.

11. Dong Kim
12. Matt Brown
13. Tarec Saffiedine
14. Ben Askren
15. Josh Koscheck
16. Mike Pyle
17. Mike Pierce
18. Jon Fitch
19. Thiago Alves
20. Rick Story
21. Erick Silva
22. Siyar Bahadurzada
23. John Hathaway
24. Paul Daley
25. Josh Burkman
26. Jordan Mein
27. Kelvin Gastelum
28. Brian Ebersole
29. Gunnar Nelson
30. Brandon Thatch
31. TJ Waldburger

Coming WW Fights:

John Howard vs. Ryan LaFlare, April 11, 2014, Fight Night: Minotauro vs. Nelson
Patrick Cote vs. Kyle Noke, April 16, 2014, UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Kennedy
Thiago Alves vs. Seth Baczynski, April 19, 2014, UFC on Fox 11: Werdum vs. Browne
Jordan Mein vs. Hernani Perpeteo, April 19, 2014, UFC on Fox 11: Werdum vs. Browne
Jake Ellenberger vs. Tarec Saffiedine, April 26, 2014, UFC 172: Jones vs. Teixeira
Yan Cabral vs. Alexander Yakovlev, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
William Macario vs. Neil Magny, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
Anthony Lapsley vs. Albert Tumenov, May 10, 2014, Fight Night 40
Danny Mitchell vs. Li Jingliang, May 24, 2014, UFC 173: Weidman vs. Machida
Peter Sobotta vs. Pawel Pawlak, May 31, 2014, Fight Night: Munoz vs. Mousasi
Paulo Thiago vs. Gasan Umalatov, May 31, 2014, Fight Night, Sonnen vs. Wanderlei
Bobby Voelker vs. Lance Benoist, June 7, 2014, Fight Night: Henderson vs. Khabilov
Daniel Sarafian vs. Kichi Kunimoto, June 14, 2014, UFC 174

Injured: Dan Hardy (physical issue), Amir Sadollah, Adlan Amagov, Nate Loughran, Brandon Thatch.  Martin Kampmann and Nick Diaz are taking some time off.

The word online is that the UFC is working on putting together, Demian Maia vs. Mike Pierce, and Rory MacDonald vs. Tyron Woodley.  Both sound good to me.  WW Champion Johny Hendricks completed successful surgery on his left bicep and should ready to go maybe by October or November.  MacDonald vs. Woodley sounds like a next contender fight to me.  Time will tell.

I would like Gunnar Nelson to get a good fight.  Mike Pyle might be interesting.

* Edited at 03.27.2014, 9:29 AM ET *

It looks like MacDonald vs. Woodley will set up the next title challenger.  I wouldn't mind seeing Hector Lombard matched with Robbie Lawler.  That would be an interesting fight.

* Edited at 03.27.2014, 2:45 PM ET *

Tarec Saffiedine has just pulled out of his April 26 fight with Jake Ellenberger.  They put Robbie Lawler in there to replace him, and moved it to May 26, UFC 173.  Should be one sick fight.  Hopefully, it will be as action-packed as Hendricks vs. Lawler.

I predict Robbie to take it.  But just hope it's a great fight.

* Edited at 03.29.2014, 10:54 AM ET *

Does anyone feel that the winner of Lawler vs. Ellenberger on May 24, should fight the winner of Woodley vs. MacDonald on June 14?

Would that be a good idea or logical?

Why don't people have Ben Askren ranked anymore? He's ranked at #80 right now. I've still got him at 16.