Top 10 anyone?

[roadfighter3]

in the past week, the LHW class has gone through some MAJOR events. First, the seemingly untouchable UFC champ was brutally knocked out by a guy who had fallen out of a lot of our top 5s. Now, a guy who was ranked 2 or 3 for a lot of us (Rampage) was knocked out and badly beaten by a guy who wasnt even a solid top 10 fighter (once again, at least in the opinions of many people). And then we have guys like Overeem and Lil Nog who are proving themselves to be VERY dangerous fighters, as well as naka who is starting to show a lot of promise (i dont care who hes lost to. randleman is by no means an easy fight to take, especially at LHW). Not to mention that babalu just subbed wiuff who is also a tough top 20 fighter, and that babalu is the only one ever to have beaten shogun. Oh yeah, and now Igor is officially a LHW. And he beat a top 15 (top 10 even) Yuki. Now what the fuck does all this do tot he top 10 structure? 3 weeks ago, mine looked something like this

1) Wanderlei Silva
1) Randy Couture (tied)
3) Rampage Jackson
4) Chuck Liddell
4) Ricardo Arona (tied)
6) Rogerio Nogueira
7) Dan Henderson
8) Tito Ortiz
9) Hidehiko Yoshida
10) Vitor Belfort

(although for 8 9 and 10, guys like overeem, yuki, and such could easily have replaced the other guys)

Now, I don't really know what the fuck to do with my top 10 or top 15.

Maybe it will look something like this:

1) Wanderlei Silva (nothing changes here)
2) Chuck Liddell (just knocked out the unstoppable couture!)
3) Rogerio Nogueira (SUBMITTING dan henderson DEFINITELY is a big deal, and remember he recently just beat allistair. i honestly do think he is top 3 material. his BJJ is slicker than his brother's, and his maturity as a fighter has really developed lately.)
4) Shogun Rua (knocking out rampage in 4 minutes makes you a superstar IMO)
4) Randy Couture tied (the reason his drop is so big is because three guys just did seemingly impossible things while he just lost)
6) Ricardo Arona (he won a good match against lister who is top 20, but those other 3 guys did much more impressive things)
7) Hidehiko Yoshida (lasted against silva TWICE, something very few guys can do)
8) Rampage Jackson (BIG drop here. He is still potentially top 3 or 4 IMO, but he needs to get out of his slump.)
9) Babalu Sobral (i think we all know what this guy can do, and i would have loved to see him in the GP)
10) Igor Vochanchyn (he just beat a great fighter, but id like to see him establish himself more in the LHW class before placing him higher)
11) Allistair Overeem (shows immense promise, but the vitor he beat has been in somewhat of a slump)
12) Dan Henderson (big drop for dan, unfortunately, after having a real tough time beating yuki and then getting submitted. getting submitted is something top 10 fighters rarely should ever do. Dan is potentially like # 6 still, but he needs to get his act together and maybe spar with some new guys.)
13) Kazuhiro Nakamura - (i dont know what it is about him, but i really like this guy and i hope he does well int he GP.)
14) Tito (does he even belong in the top 15 anymore?)
15) Yuki Kondo (Only reason he is below Tito is that Tito raped him back in the day. Yuki, although losing his last few, shows that he is a solid fighter, definitely worty of top 15)


feel free to criticize. this list was dont off the top of my head, so ill be the first to admit it isnt perfect. when suggesting changes, though, keep these points in mind:

1) can you honestly picture fighter A beating fighter B, and with more than a 50/50 chance? and what has fighter A done to show this?
2) who has fighter A beaten lately, and how?
3) how has fighter A performed in the past year or two?
4) who has fighter A lost to in the past and how?

[AKA]

1.Wandy
2.Chuck
3.Randy
4.Babalu
5.Shogun
6.Rampage (how long??? He seems to have lost his fighting spirit:( its like Wandy break something in his fighters mind)
7.Hendo
8.lil nog
9.arona
10.ninja

[-=[DM]=-]

1. Wandy/Chuck - Impossible to decide who is number one without some kind of unification bout
2. Randy Couture
3. Rogerio Nogueira
4. Shogun
5. Rampage
6. Tito
7. Arona
8. Overeem
9. Henderson
10. Igor - Based on his LHW wins.

Tough to rank actually as the lower half is pretty much interchangeable ranking wise.

[Grant Ellis]

I think it is best to wait for this tournament to be over.

[Water]

As of after the first round here are my rankings:

1) Wanderlei Silva
2) Chuck Liddell
3) Randy Couture
4) Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
5) Mauricio Rua
6) Quinton Jackson
7) Ricardo Arona
8) Dan Henderson
9) Renato Sobral
10) Igor Vovchanchyn

Honourable mention goes to:

Hidehiko Yoshida
Kazuhiro Nakamura
Alistair Overeem
Yuki Kondo
Tito Ortiz

[roadfighter3]

yeah, like DM says, ranking 6-10 is really subjective because as opposed to boxing, mma guys have such fewer bouts. thats why tournaments like this GP really excite me, because it sets up so many fights that we've waited all too long for. by the end of the GP i predict that everything will be topsy turvy. maybe silva will be ousted from his #1 status for the first time in like 3 or 4 years!

im glad that others also rank lil nog high now. i personally never really believed in him that much as a fighter until recently. i bet against him with allistair (damn 20 bucks out the window) but luckily i didnt bet on the hendo match, or id be down even more.

one more thing... it's a real pity IMO that rampage is out so early. this is almost like cro cop losing to randleman. i understand that hes been going through a lot of personal changes, becoming a christian and getting married and basically tryign to get his life together, and i support him in his endeavors, but i hope he finds the balance between fighting and living real life real soon. i want him back in the top 3 where he belongs.