let's discuss our LW rankings

alright bill hopefully this should work for you ...

So eliminating rounds would also eliminate the need for extreme weight cutting because big weight cutters would not be able to compete under those rules? Interesting, very interesting.

* Edited at 01.28.2014, 11:54 AM ET *

What if they scheduled Kabib Nurmagovedov to fight Diego Sanchez?  Would that be as wildly entertaining as it might appear?

I realize Kabib would not take the fight, nor should he.  And he would probably KO Diego in short order.  But wouldn't it be fun while it lasted?

Just a fun thought.  Not too serious here.

I'm pretty sure Khabib would take it (if he wasn't scheduled to fight Dos Anjos already). Dude was looking for a fight ... any fight ... 

I don't think he'd KO Diego, though, one does not KO Diego Sanchez (the TKO vs. BJ was doctor stoppage via Grand Canyon on the forehead), but he'd definitely outclass him from bell to bell, imo.

p.s. I rarely update my rankings so this^ isn't how I see the LW division :)))

* Edited at 02.05.2014, 11:16 AM ET *

i want to see Diego try the welterweights again

In a world where robbie lawler is one fight away from ufc gold who knows?

mine has not changed in while and I still stand by it

You must be a prophet then if you had Anthony Pettis ranked above the dude who was the 155 champ and 3 time defender a while ago ...

* Edited at 02.05.2014, 1:53 PM ET *

@yossgold, I don't know about "Dude was looking for a fight ... any fight ... " plenty of guys were calling to fight him on Twitter after Dana said that everyone was turning down a fight with Khabib. That could of been a bunch of posturing on their part, or Khabib wasn't looking for any fight but rather the right fight.

Could be, since I basically based my statement on what Dana said and the Cesar Gracie boys turning down fights with him, I take it with a grain of salt ... 

I still think that if Rustam hadn't injured himself and he was offered to fight Diego he'd have taken the fight since he's been out since September and the closest top 10 fight he could get would be March-April along with the fact that Diego is a very winnable big name with some great momentum behind him after his display vs. Gil, he'd rather get another one under his belt and solidify his marketability. 

Just a hunch.

Diego has been booked already for awhile. He's fighting Myles Jury at UFC 171. Khabib would of had to wait another six months if he wanted Diego.  

pettis beat henderson in wec so I had always had him above benson even while benson was champ I suspected he would beat Henderson . I don't need to be a prophet to have my own view on the light weight div since im bored I will pretend to be a prophet and give a long term breakdown .
1st I think benson won the josh tomson fight  so that's enough to keep him rank 2nd in my top ten like you said he was a former champ . Gilbert Melendez is  right up there is he was to fight  Khabib Nurmagomedov then the winner earms the next title shot .
but is seems like aldo is going to move up and fight Anthony Pettis so I think benson Henderson will end up fighting  Khabib Nurmagomedov and Gilbert Melendez will fight TJ Grant .
as for  Eddie Alvarez  and Michael Chandler  they are having a rubber match as we all pretty much know but I have them both top ten as they are pretty must two of the best out side the ufc :)
jim miller I think will fight grey maynerd .  and Diego Sanchez is open game  coming off his fight with gilbert


anyway done being a prophet but I thing 60% of these fights I said will happen sometime 2014/15

ooh and I don't know whos booked up and who isn't I was just defending my top 10 :) so don't be like oooh this persons booked and that one isn't

@Buffalo Ben  I would love it if Diego moved back to WW.  But as much as I like him, and you for your affection for him, I don't think he is big enough to hold his own in WW anymore.  The sport has moved on.

I would love it if the following fighters would change divisions.

Roy Nelson, HW > LHW

Jon Jones, LHW > HW (after Teixeira and Gustafsson, win or lose)

Anderson Silva, MW > LHW (after Weidman & GSP)
Vitor Belfort > LHW
Wanderlei Silva > LHW

GSP, WW > MW (after Hendricks)
Thiago Alves > MW
Nate Marquardt > MW
Patrick Cote > MW

Renan Barao > FW
Urijah Faber > FW

New announced LW fights since my last report.

Michael Johnson vs. Melvin Guillard, March 8, 2014, UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Jimi Manuwa
Renee Forte vs. Frank Trevino, March 15, 2014, UFC 171, Hendricks vs. Lawler
Leonardo Santos vs. Norman Parke, March 23, 2014, UFC Fight Night, 38, Shogun vs. Henderson 2
Gleison Tibau vs. Mairbek Taisumov, March 23, 2014, UFC Fight Night, 38, Shogun vs. Henderson 2
Donald Cerrone vs. Edson Barboza, April 19, 2014, UFC on Fox: Werdum vs. Browne
Pat Healy vs. Jorge Masvidal,  April 19, 2014, UFC on Fox: Werdum vs. Browne
Khabib Nurmagovedov vs. Rafael dos Anjos, April 19, 2014, UFC on Fox: Werdum vs. Browne
Yancy Medeiros vs. Joe Ellenberger, April 26, 2014, UFC 172: Jones vs. Teixeira

Top Tier: Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson, Gilbert Melendez, TJ Grant, Josh Thomson, Michael Chandler, Eddie Alvarez, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Pat Healy, Nate Diaz

Mid-Tier: Gray Maynard, Rafael Dos Anjos, Donald Cerrone, Diego Sanchez, Jim Miller, Joe Lauzon, Jamie Varner, Melvin Guillard, Michael Johnson, Rustam Khabilov, Jorge Masvidal, KJ Noons

Bottom Tier: Ross Pearson, Sam Stout, Curt Warburton, Kyle Watson, Matt Wiman, Andre Winner, Yves Edwards, Edson Barboza, Mark Bocek, Danny Castillo, Mac Danzig, Evan Dunham, Michael Johnson, John Makdessi, Anthony Njokuani, Aaron Riley, Shane Roller, George Sotiropoulos, Thiago Tavares, Paul Taylor, Gleison Tibau.

My 11-19

11. Gray Maynard
12. Rafael Dos Anjos
13. Donald Cerrone
14. Diego Sanchez
15. Jim Miller
16. Joe Lauzon
17. Jamie Varner
18. Melvin Guillard
19. Michael Johnson
20. Rustam Khabilov
21. Jorge Masvidal
22. KJ Noons
23. Ross Pearson
24. Sam Stout

Coming LW fights:

Cristiano Marcello vs. Joe Proctor, February 15, 2014, UFC Fight Night, 36
Francisco Trinaldo vs. Jesse Ronson, February 15, 2014, UFC Fight Night, 36
Rodrigo Damm vs. Ivan Jorge, February 15, 2014, UFC Fight Night, 36
Rafael dos Anjos vs. Rustam Khabilov, February 22, 2014, UFC 170: Rousey vs. McMann
Rafaello Oliveira vs. Erik Koch, February 22, 2014, UFC 170: Rousey vs. McMann
Kazuki Tokudome vs. Yui Chul Nam, March 1, 2014, UFC Fight Night: TUF China Finale
Michael Johnson vs. Melvin Guillard, March 8, 2014, UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Jimi Manuwa
Diego Sanchez vs. Myles Jury, March 15, 2014, UFC 171, Hendricks vs. Lawler
Renee Forte vs. Frank Trevino, March 15, 2014, UFC 171, Hendricks vs. Lawler
Leonardo Santos vs. Norman Parke, March 23, 2014, UFC Fight Night, 38, Shogun vs. Henderson 2
Gleison Tibau vs. Mairbek Taisumov, March 23, 2014, UFC Fight Night, 38, Shogun vs. Henderson 2
Donald Cerrone vs. Edson Barboza, April 19, 2014, UFC on Fox: Werdum vs. Browne
Pat Healy vs. Jorge Masvidal,  April 19, 2014, UFC on Fox: Werdum vs. Browne
Khabib Nurmagovedov vs. Rafael dos Anjos, April 19, 2014, UFC on Fox: Werdum vs. Browne
Yancy Medeiros vs. Joe Ellenberger, April 26, 2014, UFC 172: Jones vs. Teixeira

Presently, the following are not matched up in fights yet: Takanori Gomi, 

Some of the above fighters are just after having fought recently.

Injured: TJ Grant, Anthony Pettis, Ross Pearson

Since my last report, Benson Henderson won a close, controversial decision from Josh Thomson, who broke his right thumb in the first round.  Many thought Thomson won the fight anyway.

Donald Cerrone KOed Adriano Martins in the first round. Jamie Varner was bringing it to Abel Trujillo until he got caught and knocked the hell out cold.  

Many promising coming fights include: Michael Johnson vs. Melvin Guillard, Donald Cerrone vs. Edson Barboza, Pat Healy vs. Jorge Masvidal, & Khabib Nurmagovedov vs. Rafael dos Anjos.

Two fights I wouldn't mind watching would be: TJ Grant vs. Pat Healy and Jorge Masvidal vs. Rafael dos Anjos.  

The big news in LW is that Jose Aldo has finally committed to moving up to LW, and vacating his FW belt.  He will fight Anthony Pettis for the LW title as soon as Pettis is medically cleared to fight by his doctors.

This will shake up the LW division.  This fight preempts the other LW challengers, Henderson, Thomson, Melendez, Grant, etc. 

Aldo moving up will also shake up the FW division, as they leading fighters scramble to win the newly-vacated FW title.  It will also indirectly shake up the BW division.  As soon as present BW title holder Renan Barao fights presently- reinjured Dominick Cruz, he will consider moving up to FW, thereby vacating the BW title and creating another scramble to fill that title.

All in all, a most refreshing chain reaction domino effect is in play, for the good of the sport and everyone in it!  A long time coming!

* Edited at 02.06.2014, 11:15 AM ET *

I'm pretty sure my opinion on weight-cutting is known so the moving between classes thing is a sore point to me. I just want to see even sized matchups within the same weight class instead of Rumble vs. Brenneman, Jones vs. Rashad, or Bendo/Edgar.

I'd like to see Aldo vs. Henderson for stylistic reasons: Aldo seems content to have become the striking version of GSP in that he's content to do enough striking to get the other fighter to not want to initiate and then hang back and while I don't like Henderson's point style, he's never failed to pressure his opponent and engage on some level so I think we'd quickly find out if Aldo's tdd can stand up to a large LW who's at least a pretty good wrestler, if his  BJJ credentials translate to MMA, and we'd actually get an exciting fight which I consider to be the most important factor.

Top 4 along with Alvarez & Chandler would make up my Level 1.

Khabib, Nate, & Grant are all very close but Khabib's undefeated and has looked better each time out & I gave Nate the leg up on Grant due to his experience and Grant's layoff.

Jury & Khabilov may very well be at least as good as Khabib but imo haven't looked as consistent, Jury's still unbeaten & Rustam does have the 1 loss.

I put Diego at 10 & Gomi at 11 because of their careers. Diego's only been stopped by B.J. & has the win over Guida as well as his wins at WW. I do take into account fighters accomplishments in other weight classes because imo it's short-sighted and just flat out stupid to think that changing weight classes "magically" makes you a new fighter.

 

Bill, I notice you don't have Jury ranked. Where would you put him and what are your thoughts on his matchup with Diego?

Myles Jury?  I don't have him listed?  How the heck did that happen?  I'm normally more careful than that.

I guess I would insert him #22, betwwen Masivdal and Noons.  After his fight with Diego, we'll all know more about his keeping his composure under extreme pressure.

If he beats Sanchez in decisive fashion, I'd move him up to #15.  I'm not a 1-fight ranker, unlike some others.  I like to be patient and see what develops over time.  He beat Michael Johnson decisively, but Johnson didn't seem himself.  He looked like he was mailing it in.  No aggression. 

He handled Johnson. I thought you said you had more respect for fights that went the distance? Johnson was also subbed by Paul Sass AND Reza Madadi. That's 3 losses vs. 2 maybe 3 decent wins in Tibau, Ferguson, & Castillo. Although now I look at your rankings it fits in since you still haven't move up any of the "younguns". And I also notice you don't have Bobby Green anywhere even though he handled Healy as easily if not more so than Jury did Johnson. And now Green is set to meet Jim Miller. I like it when the Joe Silva makes little round robin like tourneys. 

So if Jim Miller beats Green or vice versa, how will you untie the rankings knot that is Healy/Miller/Green?


Here's the rest of mine: 







I really have my doubts about Gomi, I think Cowboy would have little trouble with Dos Anjos if they were to fight again, I'm not sold on Trujillo yet but his only loss is to Khabib, and obviously I'm very high on Silverio and Martins, and I'd love for T.J. Grant to fight Benson, Gilbert, or Thomson so I'd have a better idea of where to rank him. His layoff and Maynard's bad showing vs. Nate make me doubt him a little but he still hasn't lost at LW.

* Edited at 02.22.2014, 4:00 PM ET *