FIGHT FORUM'S Official UFC Rankings -- March/April 2008

Heatwaves · 03-12-2008, 03:47 AM

FIGHT FORUM'S OFFICIAL UFC RANKINGS
MARCH/APRIL 2008

HEAVYWEIGHT ------------------------ Last month:
1. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (210) ------------ (1) UNANIMOUS!
2. Tim Sylvia (178) -------------------------- (2)
3. Andrei Arlovski (159) .--------------------- (4)
4. Fabricio Werdum (149) -------------------- (3)
5. Gabriel Gonzaga (103) .-------------------- (6)
6. Brandon Vera (97) ------------------------ (8)
7. Heath Herring (94) ------------------------ (-)
8. Frank Mir (71) -----------------------------(7)
9. Cheik Kongo (63) .------------------------- (5)
10. Jake O'Brien (15) ------------------------ (10)

Others receiving votes: Brock Lesnar (8), Eddie Sanchez (2), and Soa Palelei (1).

Note: Mirko CroCop also received two votes, but is ineligible since he is no longer with the UFC.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT ---------------- Last month:
1. Quintin Jackson (210 points) -------------- (1) UNANIMOUS!
2. Lyoto Machida (178) .--------------------- (2)
3. Chuck Liddell (143) ----------------------- (3)
4. Forrest Griffin (135) ---------------------- (4)
5. Keith Jardine (121) ----------------------- (6)
6. Maurico Rua (109) .----------------------- (5)
7. Wanderlei Silva (89) ---------------------- (7)
8. Rashad Evans (65) .----------------------- (9)
9. Thiago Silva (53) .------------------------ (8)
10. Tito Ortiz (34) -------------------------- (10)

Others receiving votes: Wilson Gouveia (9), Rameau Sokoudjou (8), Matt Hamil (1) and Jason Lambert (1),

MIDDLEWEIGHT ---------------------- Last month:
1. Anderson Silva (210 points) ------------- (1) UNANIMOUS!
2. Dan Henderson (174) ------------------- (2)
3. Rich Franklin (165) .--------------------- (3)
4. Nate Marquardt (148) .------------------ (4)
5. Yushin Okami (143) --------------------- (5)
6. Martin Kampmann (72) .----------------- (6)
7. Thales Leites (57) ---------------------- (7)
8. Patrick Cote (53) ----------------------- (8)
9. Jason McDonald (33) .------------------- (9)
10. Chris Leben (31) ----------------------- (-)

Others receiving votes: Travis Lutter (23), Ricardo Almeida (11), Michael Bisping (9), Jeremy Horn (9), Ed Herman (8), Alan Belcher (5), Dean Lister (2) and Drew McFedries (2).

WELTERWEIGHT ---------------------- Last month:
1. George St. Pierre (204 points) ------------ (1)
2. Jon Fitch (171) -------------------------- (2)
3. Matt Serra (155) .------------------------ (4)
4. Matt Hughes (154) .---------------------- (3)
5. Josh Koscheck (123) --------------------- (6)
6. Karo Parysian (110) ---------------------- (5)
7. Diego Sanchez (102) --------------------- (7)
8. Marcus Davis (56) .----------------------- (8)
9. Thiago Alves (48) ------------------------ (9)
10. Mike Swick (21) ------------------------ (10)

Others receiving votes: Roan Carneiro (5), Josh Burkman (2), Akihiro Gono (2), Chris Lytle (2) and Ryo Chonan (1).

LIGHTWEIGHT ----------------------- Last month:
1. B.J. Penn (207 points) ------------------ (1)
2. Sean Sherk (172) .---------------------- (2)
3. Joe Stevenson (159) .------------------- (3)
4. Kenny Florian (134) --------------------- (4)
5. Roger Huerta (116) --------------------- (6)
6. Frankie Edgar (113) --------------------- (5)
7. Tyson Griffin (89) ----------------------- (7)
8. Clay Guida (49) ------------------------- (9)
9. Joe Lauzon (40) ------------------------ (8)
10. Thiago Tavares (16) ------------------- (-)

Others receiving votes: Spencer Fisher (15), Kurt Pellegrino (15), Nate Diaz (13), Din Thomas (10), Mac Danzig (4) and Sam Stout (3).

21 Fight Forum Members submitted their selections this month.

This month's contributors were: Heatwaves, HaVoK, kev0, FatCatMC, Rumbin, Saskabush, giguer, Mulla, Toshinden, takeAnap, asronn, FightFan76, Harms, brookdiesel, CounterPuncher, glockmn, F_B, Pitbull, TheSteveOfMean, LABJJ and Malf.

The next voting/ranking thread will be posted after UFC 83, on or about April 20th.

Jasp · 03-12-2008, 04:55 AM

I think the rankings look pretty good.

Brad · 03-12-2008, 05:21 AM

I can't say too much as I didn't vote, but yeah they do look good, although I do think Karo is quite far down.

RampageMcKellar · 03-12-2008, 05:26 AM

Rankings look great, I didnt vote but I certainly agree with them.

Jasp · 03-12-2008, 05:55 AM

After taking a second look at it... maybe I think that Florian is ranked alittle to high, maybe he should be a few spots down, maybe 7 or 8.

But i didnt vote so who am i to complain

glockmn · 03-12-2008, 09:15 AM

looks good to me...these rankings are getting better every time

Mulla · 03-12-2008, 09:21 AM

Nice one Heatwaves!

Heatwaves · 03-12-2008, 12:23 PM

Thanks, Mulla.

The thing that I'm starting to like about these rankings is consistency. There aren't any dramatic shifts (unless fighters win or lose) and the only other movement seems to be because fighters were so closely ranked the month prior (like Hughes/Serra).

Consistency may seem like a given, but when you have different people and a different number of people voting from month-to-month, anything can happen.

Good job, FF!

FatCat · 03-12-2008, 12:41 PM

Wow, these rankings look better every month! Thanks again Heatwaves!!

Ya know, now that we're all getting pretty good at this, any thoughts on maybe adding a pound for pound ranking too? I'm curious to see who our fellow FFers think is the best. Even if it's only the top 5, it could be interesting.

Osnodon · 03-12-2008, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jasp

I think the rankings look pretty good.

Except for Swick making the top 10 over Gono. That's just a straight up popularity decision.

Rumbin · 03-12-2008, 02:14 PM

Why is that? Gono has 1 win in the UFC over Tamden McCrory. Not exactly stellar competition. Swick looked like crap vs Burkman but its still a win.

My only complaint is that Gouviea isnt ranked and Tito is. That is unreal. Besides Can Shamrock, Tito hasnt had a decisive victory since Feb. 2005 over Vitor, which was another close call. Why do people still vote for him?

Oh and whoever voted for Palelei is uhhh.....a smart guy

Malf · 03-12-2008, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rumbin

Why is that? Gono has 1 win in the UFC over Tamden McCrory. Not exactly stellar competition. Swick looked like crap vs Burkman but its still a win.

My only complaint is that Gouviea isnt ranked and Tito is. That is unreal. Besides Can Shamrock, Tito hasnt had a decisive victory since Feb. 2005 over Vitor, which was another close call. Why do people still vote for him?

Oh and whoever voted for Palelei is uhhh.....a smart guy

Yeah, I commented on that in the voting thread. I got a huge "LOL" when I saw that.

stillstanding · 03-13-2008, 05:52 PM

Like just about everyone said "I didn't vote". But I have to agree that the rankings are pretty much dead on except one or two that I won't comment on due to the popular vote. Great job guys.

Rumbin · 03-13-2008, 09:29 PM

Can I please get some clarification on why people are ranking Tito still? I just dont see it

Toshinden · 03-13-2008, 11:11 PM

LW and WW look perfect to me - the only little things I would change are switching Okami and Marquardt (but that's a close call) and maybe bumping Kongo up a spot or 2... aside from that, this is possibly the best I've seen since I started keeping track of these.

Heatwaves · 03-14-2008, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rumbin

Can I please get some clarification on why people are ranking Tito still? I just dont see it

I'm not a Tito fan, by any stretch of the imagination, so I'm as unbiased as any to answer this question. While Tito is far from his glory days, he's no slouch either. He beat Forrest Griffin (albeit barely and albeit a much less experienced Forest Griffin) and he fought to a draw against Rashad (which Tito would have won had a point not been deducted). Not factoring in his wins against an over-the-hill Shamrock, his two other fights are enough to place him in the very back end of the top 10.

I will say this, however... for someone with as much experience as Tito has in the UFC, he's kind of an unknown entity right now. He hasn't fought a lot lately, and he's fought a little lackluster. If he performs well against Machida (win or lose) that may be enough to keep him as a top 10 LHW. If he get's manhandled, however, I may consider throwing him out.

Of course, no one may rank him ever again if he leaves the UFC.

FightFan76 · 03-14-2008, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FatCatMC

Wow, these rankings look better every month! Thanks again Heatwaves!!

Ya know, now that we're all getting pretty good at this, any thoughts on maybe adding a pound for pound ranking too? I'm curious to see who our fellow FFers think is the best. Even if it's only the top 5, it could be interesting.

I agree; they could just be included in the same ranking thread as the monthly and listed exactly the same as a weight class just above the HW rankings. I would be very interested to see how people rank fighters in the p4p category.....

Rumbin · 03-14-2008, 07:05 PM

Isnt it kind of hard to do a strict UFC P4P list? That would heavily dictate mine, as I would have Kid, Fedor, Faber, and maybe even Gomi all in my top 10.

Heatwaves · 03-14-2008, 07:09 PM

^^^ I'm not really sold on the P4P idea. Reason being, the weight class rankings have some tangible value. The fighters all fight within the same weight class and fight one another to move up and down the rankings. P4P rankings are completely intangible. Rarely, if ever, would these fighters fight one another, so their movement up and down the rankings would have nothing to do with competition against the other best P4Pers.

For example, if Fedor was in the UFC and won a few fights in a row AND BJ Penn was on an incredible ten-fight win streak, some people would vote BJ as the best and some Fedor. But they'd never fight each other to determine who the real P4P champ is. There'd be no sense of closure and the rankings wouldn't ever be consistent.

That being said, if everyone else wants it I'll include it.

FightFan76 · 03-15-2008, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heatwaves

^^^ I'm not really sold on the P4P idea. Reason being, the weight class rankings have some tangible value. The fighters all fight within the same weight class and fight one another to move up and down the rankings. P4P rankings are completely intangible. Rarely, if ever, would these fighters fight one another, so their movement up and down the rankings would have nothing to do with competition against the other best P4Pers.

For example, if Fedor was in the UFC and won a few fights in a row AND BJ Penn was on an incredible ten-fight win streak, some people would vote BJ as the best and some Fedor. But they'd never fight each other to determine who the real P4P champ is. There'd be no sense of closure and the rankings wouldn't ever be consistent.

That being said, if everyone else wants it I'll include it.

I see and understand your points Heatwaves but no p4p rankings are definte and are all pretty much subjective. This is really just all for fun and would really be interesting to see what some peoples reasoning would be for ranking fighters where they did. The fact that fighters more than likely would not fight each other makes the importance of justification even more relevant. It wouldnt hurt to try, you could always pull the idea if it dont work out.....