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MacGreeneMMA
MacGreeneMMA
  • Location: Virginia
  • Member Since: 2011.12.17
  • Predictions:  425  |  64.7%
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04.02.2012 | 2:00 PM ET

The Tapology pages will be updated some time this week, they may look a little different as some of the fighters I have ranked are not allowed/in the system, mostly FLW.


Updated Monday, April 2nd, 2012

World MMA Rankings by Mac Greene

Notes: Please keep in mind that retired fighters and those in the men's divisions that announce a move to another weight-class will no longer be ranked in their previous division, as the major organizations usually force fighters to focus on one at a time. The women's divisions are different, since most of the top female fighters compete outsidde of major promotions, they are allowed to be ranked in more than one division as it is more common for them to jump between wight-classes especially in the case of 145.

Fighters will not gain ranks based on their championship status, #1 contender status or name value, the status of the previous titleholder is what usually pushes most fighters to the #! spot. Example, depending on the depth in the division, if you are not ranked in the top 20 of a weight-class, it will be hard for you to move to the #1 spot with only one big win, it may be enough for you to crack the top 10 or even the top 5, again, depending on the division. You do not automatically take over the spot of the fighter you just defeated. 

Holding a win over a top fighter within your division may keep him or her from jumping you soon after, but depending on the success of the fighter and competition they have faced since that point may allow for them to jump ahead of you. Examples of this would be Mendes/Koch at FW, and Ueda/Dantas at BW.

Pound-for-pound rankings are mythical but very fun to do. A loss in a division may not give the individual that defeated you automatic entry into the PFP rankings. Example, Ellenbergers' win over Shields, Shields is ranked for what he's been able to do both at WW and MW, while Jake has not done enough to warrant a PFP ranking. Another example would be Hendricks/Fitch, while Hendricks is ranked above Fitch in the 170 rankings, both because of his previous high ranking, and the 2nd biggest win you can get in the division. He has not done enough to be ranked in the PFP just yet.

Lastly, moving up in the ranks of a division depends on a few things, your performance within a fight, win streak, finishing rate and competition level. Example, Alves does not drop very far in the WW ranks because of a strong performance in his loss to Kampann, and Boetsch is not able to move higher up the MW ranks because it was a come back victory. Just because you fight in a certain organization does not mean that you have faced better competition than someone outside of ZUFFA/Bellator in every case. 

Example, half of the fighters ranked in the men's FW, BW and most in the FLW divisions aren't under ZUFFA or Bellator contracts, so it would be easier for fighters in other promotions to make claim to a much higher placement in the ranks, this would be much harder to pull off in divisions like LW or WW. Name value does not mean a quality win in every case. Depending on the depth of a weight-class, a fighter with few quality wins may be able to sneak into the top 20. Keep all of this in mind before calling me crazy, LoL.

These rankings span 12 weight-classes, including 8 men's and 4 women's divisions. The women's 105 division will debut next month, as more fighters have recently shown interest in making the weight-class their home in the future. I am sure there are quality fighters in the lighter weights and women's divisions that I am not aware of.  I do not have the resources that many of the major MMA websites do, so I can only rank fighters that I follow.

Enjoy!

Men's Divisions: (Top 20)

Heavyweight (HW) (265lbs Limit)
#1. Junior dos Santos
2. Alistair Overeem
3. Cain Velasquez
4. Fabricio Werdum
5. Frank Mir
6. Daniel Cormier
7. Antonio "Big Foot" Silva
8. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
9. Josh Barnett
10. Fedor Emelianenko
11. Shane Carwin
12. Travis Browne
13. Mike Russow
14. Mark Hunt
15. Stefan Struve
16. Brendan Schaub
17. Cheick Kongo
18. Sergei Kharitonov
19. Roy "Big Country" Nelson
20. Gabriel Gonzaga

Notes: dos Santos moved into the top spot with his win over Velasquez back in November. With Cain's loss former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem takes the #2 spot with wins over top 5 fighters in his last 2 fights, Werdum and Lesnar. Holding big wins in the division, Velasquez does not dorp far.

Light Heavyweight (LHW) (205lbs Limit)
#1. Jon "Bones" Jones
2. "Suga" Rashad Evans
3. Dan "Hendo" Henderson
4. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
5. Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida
6. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
7. Phill Davis
8. Forrest Griffin
9. Alexander Gustafsson
10. Ryan Bader
11. Rafael "Feijão" Cavalcante
12. Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal
13. Gegard Mousasi
14. Thiago Silva
15. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
16. Rich Franklin
17. Vladimir Matyushenko
18. Stanislav Nedkov
19. Stephan Bonnar
20. Tito Ortiz

Notes: Evans holds strong as the 2nd best LHW but "Hendo" is hot on his heels with an epic win over "Shogun". Machida and Jackson are barely hanging on to their placings, dropping multiple fights in their last 5 appearances. Davis stays in the top 10 after the Evans loss, while Gustafsson continues a fast rise up the ranks, and Bader cracks the top ten with the win over Jackson.

Middleweight (MW) (185lbs Limit)
#1. Anderson "The Spider" Silva
2. Chael Sonnen
3. Mark Muñoz
4. Michael "The Count" Bisping
5. Rousimar Palhares
6. Yushin Okami
7. Luke Rockhold
8. Brian Stann
9. Chris Weidman
10. "The Phenom" Vitor Belfort
11. Hector Lombard
12. Tim Boetsch
13. Alexander Shlemenko
14. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza
15. Chris "The Crippler" Leben
16. Tim Kennedy
17. Alan "The Talent" Belcher
18. Mamed Khalidov
19. Jorge Santiago
20. Aaron Simpson

Notes: Sonnen once again claims #2 with wins over Stann and Bixping, Muñoz moves up a spot with the Okami loss. Okami falls in the ranks, while Pahares moves up and Weidman sneaks into the top 10. Boetsch is also on the move with his recent stoppage of former #2, Okami.

Welterweight (WW) (170lbs Limit)
#1. Georges "RUSH" St. Pierre
2. Carlos Condit
3. Jake Ellenberger
4. Johny Hendricks
5. Jon Fitch
6. Josh Koscheck
7. Jake Shields
8. Martin "Hitman" Kampmann
9. Diego Sanchez
10. Rick "Horror" Story
11. Thiago "Pitbull" Alves
12. Paulo Thiago
13. Charlie Brenneman
14. Rory MacDonald
15. Tyron "T-Wood" Woodley
16. Ben Askren
17. Douglas Lima
18. Dong Huyn Kim
19. Brian Ebersole
20. Kazuo Misaki

Notes: Condit and Ellenberger all but tie at #2, coming in at #2 and #3 respectively. Hendricks claims the #4 spot with the knockout of Fitch. Fitch holds strong in the 5 slot. Kampmann slides into #8 with the Alves win. BJ Penn is not currently ranked due to only having 2 wins at 170 in around 6 or 7 years, and like Diaz has retired.

Lightweight (LW) (155lbs Limit)
#1. Benson Henderson
2. Frankie "The Answer" Edgar
3. Gray "The Bully" Maynard
4. Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez
5. Jim Miller
6.  Shinya Aoki
7. Clay "The Carpenter" Guida
8. Michael Chandler
9. Anthony "Showtime" Pettis
10. Eddie Alvarez
11. Nathan Diaz
12. Joe Lauzon
13. Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone
14. Gleison Tibau
15. Edson Barboza
16. Melvin Guillard
17. Rafael dos Anjos
18. George Sotiropoulos
19. Evan Dunham
20. Ronys Torres

Notes: Henderson slides into the #1 spot with his big win over pound-for-pounder Edgar. Miller holds strong at #5 while Chandler moves into the top 10 from his previous #13 rating with the win over Alvarez. Diaz looks to crack the top 10 with a win over Miller.

Featherweight (FW) (145lbs Limit)
#1. José Aldo
2. Hatsu Hioki
3. Pat Curran
4. Erik "New Breed" Koch
5. Chad Mendes
6. Diego Nunes
7. Patricio "Pitbull" Freire
8. Dustin Poirier
9. Marlon Sandro
10. Hiroyuki Takaya
11. Yuri Alcantara
12. Robert Peralta
13. Chan Sung Jung
14. Mark "The Machine" Hominick
15. Tatsuya Kawajiri
16. Ricardo Lamas
17. "Lion" Takeshi Inoue
18. Daniel Straus
19. Cub Swanson
20 Bart Palaszewski

Notes: Hioki stays strong at #2 while Curran locks up #3 with back-to-back knockouts of Sandro and Warren. Koch rides a 4 fight win streak since losing to Mendes, including big wins over Assuncão and Brookins. He jumps the only man to defeat him to take the #4 spot. Mendes slides down from #3 to #5 with the Aldo loss.

Bantamweight (BW) (135lbs Limit)
#1. Dominick Cruz
2. Renan "Barão" Pegado
3. Urijah Faber
4. Scott Jorgensen
5. Brian Bowles
6. Miguel Torres
7. Bibiano Fernandes
8. Eduardo Dantas
9. Brad "One Punch" Pickett
10. Masakatsu Ueda
11. Zach Makovsky
12. Michael McDonald
13. Takeya Mizugaki
14. Ivan Menjivar
15. Antonio Banuelos
16. Eddie Wineland
17. Rodolfo Diniz
18. Alexis Vila
19. Yusup Saadulaev
20. Damacio Page

Notes: Pegado takes #2 with a big win over former #3 Jorgensen, adn top 10 Pickett. It's not just his great record and massive win streak that jumps him ahead of Faber, it's performance at BW. Fernandes cracks the top 10 with his win over Banuelos in the finals of DREAM's BW Grand Prix, takes the #7 slot.

Flyweight (FLW) (125lbs Limit)
#1. Ian McCall
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Jussier da Silva
4. Yasuhiro Uru****ani
5. Mamoru Yamaguchi
6. Darrell Montague
7. Shinichi "BJ" Kojima
8.  José "No Chance" Tomé
9. Fumihiro Kitahara
10. Haruo Ochi
11. Rambaa Somdet
12. Alexandre Pantoja
13. Yuki Shojo
14. Dustin Ortiz
15. Kiyotaka Shimizu
16. Ulysses Gomez
17. John Dodson
18. Tatsuya Watanabe
19. Mitsuhisa Sunabe
20. Sean Santella

Notes: McCall does not lose his #1 ranking with the draw in his UFC on FX 2 bout with Johnson as he still has a great resume at Flyweight. Formerly rated the #2 Bantamweight in the world, Benavidez comes in at #2 again, this time at 125 with his win over the slot's former owner, Uru****ani. Da Silva takes back #3 with the Uru****ani loss. A draw is not a win, which is why "Mighty Mouse" is not currently ranked at FLW.

Women's Divisions: (Top 20)

Featherweight (FW) (145lbs Limit)
#1. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos
2. Marloes Coenen
3. "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey
4. Amanda Nunes
5. Hiroko Yamanaka
6. Rin Nakai
7. Shayna Baszler
8. Milana Dudieva
9. Yana Kunitskaya
10. Romy Ruyssen
11. Cindy Dandois
12. Eleina Maxwell
13. Ediane Gomes
14. Ashley Sanchez
15. Kelly Kobold
16. Julia Budd
17. Lauren Taylor
18. Shana Nelson
19. Sarah D'Alelio
20. Fiona Muxlow

Notes: No one comes close to challenging "Cyborg" at 145, and none seem to want to. It shows the thiness of the division when 6 of the top 10 rated fighters calso compete at BW, and the majortiy of the division's top 20 could easily drop down to 135 or lower. With that said, the division still has some solid prospects but needs quality 145ers to bring depth to the weight-class.

Bantamweights (BW) (135lbs Limit)
#1. Sarah Kaufman
2. "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey
3. Miesha "Takedown" Tate
4. Marloes Coenen
5. Sara McMann
6. Alexis Davis
7. Shayna Baszler
8. Vanessa Porto
9. Amanda Nunes
10. Hitomi Akano
11. Roxanne Modafferi
12. Liz Carmouche
13. Julie Kedzie
14. Tonya Evinger
15. Milana Dudieva
16. Sarah D'Alelio
17. Rin Nakai
18. Jennifer Maia
19. Jennifer Tate
20. Holly Holm

Notes: Rousey moves into the #2 spot with her win over former Strikeforce Champion Tate, but does not quite have the resume at 135 to take #1. That rating belongs to Kaufman, who also holds a win over Tate, as well as many top fighters within the division. Rousey will have to defeat the once beaten Kaufman before claiming her spot at the top of the division.

Flyweight (FLW) (125lbs Limit)
#1. Tara LaRosa
2. Zoila Gurgel
3. Rosi Sexton
4. Cat Zingano
5. Sheila Gaff
6. Aisling Daly
7. Barb Honchak
8. "Slick" Sally Krumdiack
9. Carina Damm
10. Jessica Eye
11. Takayo Hashi
12. Munah Holland
13. Carla Esparza
14. Marianna Kheyfets
15. Maiju Kujala
16. Katja Kankaanpaa
17. Heather Clark
18. Hanna Sillen
19. Angela Magana
20. Jennifer Maia

Notes: One of the top fighters in the women's divisions for more than 8 years, LaRosa has proven to be the top 125 pound fighter in the world since dropping to the division. Gurgel's knockout of Sexton keeps her in the #2 spot, a loss that remain's Sexton's only defeat at the weight. Zingano and Gaff hold strong at #4 and #5, respectively.

Strawweight (SW) (115lbs Limit)
#1. Zoila Gurgel
2. Megumi Fujii
3. Jessica "JAG" Aguilar
4. Ayaka Hamasaki
5. Seo Hee Ham
6. Kyoko Takabayashi
7. Yuka Tsuji
8. Katja Kankaanpaa
9. Mei Yamaguchi
10. Carla Esparza
11. Sanja Sučević
12. Lisa Ellis-Ward
13. Lena Ovchynnikova
14. Patricia Vidonic
15. Saori Ishioka
16. Karla Benitez
17. Tomomi Sunaba
18. Mika Nagano
19. Emi Fujino
20. Ashley Cummins

Notes: Posting 3 top 10 wins in as many months in 2010, Gurgel stays at the top of the SW division, remaining the only woman to hold a victory over Fujii. ATT's Aguilar holds in at #3 but Jewls Queen Hamasaki is not far behind with her stoppage of Korea's Ham. Finland's Kankaanpaa smashes through the ranks with back-to-back wins over Benitez and the former #6 rated, Yamaguchi. Serbian prospect Sučević moves into the #11 spot with her win over former top ten ranked, Ovchynnikova.


Pound-For-Pound Rankings

Men's Rankings:
#1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Anderson Silva
3. Jon Jones
4. José Aldo
5. Dominick Cruz
6. Dan Henderson
7. Frankie Edgar
8. Jon Fitch
9. Jake Shields
10. Rashad Evans

Notes: GSP and Silva continue their battle for #1 PFP 
Pound-For-Pound Rankings. They may soon have more competition for the placement as Jones and Aldo continue to dominate their respective divisions. Edgar drops 2 spots after losing his title to Henderson as Henderson makes it back into the discussion with wins over Rua and Emelianenko.

Women's Rankings:
#1. Zoila Gurgel
2. Tara LaRosa
3. Megumi Fujii
4. Cristiane Santos
5. Marloes Coenen
6. Sarah Kaufman
7. Rosi Sexton
8. Miesha Tate
9. Jessica "JAG" Aguilar
10. Shayna Baszler

Notes: After having the best year of any woman in the history of the sport, Gurgel stays at #1 but not without competition as LaRosa is not far off. Fujii and Santos hold strong in their positions, while Tate drops a few spots with her recent loss to the previously unranked 135er, Rousey.

Twitter: MacGreeneMMA

Responses

thefreeman
thefreeman
  • Location: Washington State
  • Member Since: 2010.11.03
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04.02.2012 | 2:11 PM ET


Rankings always get alot of abuse on forums and while I normally wouldn't participate ........ you have Josh Koscheck ranked #6 but Mike Pierce isn't even in the top twenty after taking Josh to a VERY close SD that I scored for Pierce.

 

 

Also Dustin Poirier should be higher especially after pitbull got submitted this weekend

Gregory
Gregory
  • Location: Boston
  • Member Since: 2010.05.24
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  • Post Score: 275

04.02.2012 | 4:50 PM ET


Thanks for posting!
If there are flyweight fighters you need added to Tapology you can just let us know.

Women's P4P:  No Ronda Rousey?  As for Tara LaRosa I don't think she deserves such a high spot.

"I live, I die, I live again."

Lopati
Lopati
  • Location: Hillsboro, OR, 97123
  • Member Since: 2011.08.05
  • Predictions:  18,574  |  61.4%
  • Forum Posts:  13,352
  • Post Score: 179

04.02.2012 | 5:11 PM ET

LaRosa is not athletic enough.  I agree with Sensei Gregory

"One does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted. If one were to present the sportsman with the death of the animal as a gift he would refuse it." Jose Ortega y Gasset

WishIsHere
WishIsHere
  • Location: New York
  • Member Since: 2011.07.24
  • Predictions:  24,429  |  64.4%
  • Forum Posts:  7,003
  • Post Score: 232

04.02.2012 | 5:33 PM ET

Also I'm not sure I can give Gurgel the top spot because the Mega Megu fight was a robbery by definition. I mean come on it's freakin Bellator. The only worse robberies I've seen are Garcia vs Phan and Warren vs Galvao (in recent memory because there are probably a few that are quite a bit older).

* Edited at 04.02.2012, 5:34 PM ET *

"I bought a Bruno mars cd once - gunn4206"

MacGreeneMMA
MacGreeneMMA
  • Location: Virginia
  • Member Since: 2011.12.17
  • Predictions:  425  |  64.7%
  • Forum Posts:  25
  • Post Score: 36

04.03.2012 | 8:09 AM ET

Thanks for the feedback, do I post a thread about flyweights, or should I email someone?

A split decision loss is not a win, you do not jump others with a loss, even if I disagree with the decision I can't score based on how I scored a fight, but I have no problem with ranking Mike at #20, Misaki was kinda rediculous for me to do I think, lol. When an official decision has been made, I can't go against it because I disagree with it, what I can do is rank based on performance, again, in a loss doesn't let you jump anyone, just keeps you from dropping down the ranks.

Patricky was submitted at LW, not Patricio at FW, they are brothers, not the same person.

Same thing goes for Gurgel, can't ignore 3 top ten wins in 3 months at SW, or a big win at FLW, even though I only scored one round for her, she does deserve the ranking imo. She may get dropped soon though.

Greg, we will probably always disagree on this my friend, lol. Cyborg is 10-1 with maybe 4 quality wins, LaRosa is 21-2 with around 9 quality wins over top fighters in the FLW, BW and FW. Keep in mind also that LaRosa and Cyborg both hold wins over Akano and Baszler. It's clear that she's winning based more on skill than size, imo atleast. LaRosa has a similar record to Fujii, but bigger wins.

Her athletic ability should not even be in this discussion, it means nothing if she keeps winning.

Just my thoughts. 

Thanks for the replies!


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