...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
Jed I. Goodman, MMATorch Columnist Goodman's Top Ten Middleweight Rankings:
1 Anderson Silva (23-4, 8-0 UFC, 14(T)KOs, 4 Subs)- What else can be said about the man that hasn't already been said?. He's the Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods of MMA. He's my number one ranked middleweight...hell he's everyone's number one ranked middleweight. He makes great fighters look average and good fighters look bad. In his last fight, with Patrick Cote, he was taken to a third round for the first time in his UFC career, mostly because he fight a cautious fight. He was never in danger, in fact some critics thought he was toying with Cote, I disagree. Nonetheless, after that performance, Silva is itching to get back into the cage. It is rumored he will be facing one of the losers from either Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans or Quinton Jackson vs Wanderlei Silva next.
Up Next: UFC 95, February 21st vs. TBD.
2 Robbie Lawler (16-4 1 No Contest, 13 (T)KOs, 1 Sub) - Lawler was supposed to face Joey Villasenor on November 8th, but Elite XC is no more. Since leaving the UFC he is 8-1 with one no contest. Once his contract dispute is settled I'd love to see him back in the UFC. He has improved immensely since his first stint and would no doubt be a top contender.
Up Next: TBD.
3 Yushin Okami (22-4, 6-1 UFC. 8(T)KOs. 4 Subs) - Okami has not fought since March when he beat the late great Evan Tanner. He Is actually the last person to beat Anderson Silva, although, I should add, that win came via disqualification because of an illegal kick by Silva. They tried to schedule a rematch between the two this past year, but Okami had to back out due to a broken hand. Should he beat Dean Lister later this month he will probably become the number one contender, again.
Up Next: UFC 92, December 27th vs. Dean Lister.
4 Gegard Mousasi (24-2-1, 14(T)KOs, 8 Subs) - At DREAM 6, in September, he beat Melvin Manhoef in the semi finals and Ronaldo Souza in the finals to become the first DREAM middleweight champion and the 2008 Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament winner. Since his last loss, to Akihiro Gono, Mousasi has 11 wins in a row, with only two of those going to decision. Another fighter I'd love to see in the UFC. He has a kickboxing fight on New Years Eve.
Up Next: K1: Premium 2008 Dynamite!!, December 31st in a K1 fight vs. Musashi.
5 Thales Leites (14-1, 5-1 UFC, 2(T)KOs, 9 Subs) - Leites has won five in a row, including a 78 second submission over Drew McFedries this past October. He showed tremendous heart in his split decision win against Nate Marquardt, who was deducted points in the second round, for kneeing Leites while he was down, and points in the third for strikes to the back of the Leites' head. A rematch between the two would be great, but Leites has declined and was quoted after the fight as saying "it was his obligation to knock me out in the second round after the illegal knee." I'd like to see him fight one more top contender before he receives a title shot.
Up Next: TBD.
6 Nate Marquardt (27-8-2, UFC, 5(T)KOs, 15 Subs) - I have him ranked under Leites because he suffered a narrow split decision loss to him at UFC 85 in June. However, Marquardt came back at UFC 88 and destroyed Martin Kampmann (the only fighter to beat Leites in the UFC) so they are very close as contenders. Marquardt already received his title shot against Anderson Silva and lost and I am not interested in seeing the rematch (and I doubt the UFC is either), so Marquardt is in the Rich Franklin boat (waiting for Silva to loss the title, retire, or move to another weight class).
Up Next TBD.
7 Kazuo Misaki (21-8-2, 4(T)KOs, 8 Subs, 1 No Contest)- Misaki, a judo expert, was the 2006 PRIDE Welterweight Grand Prix Winner. He has three wins in a row including a TKO victory over Joe Riggs in his last fight in September. He has losses to big names like Nate Marquardt and Frank Trigg, but also holds a victory over Dan Henderson. He fights Jorge Santiago, who has been on fire, next.
Up Next: World Victory Road's Sengoku 7, January 4th vs Jorge Santiago.
8 Matt Lindland (21-5, 6(T)KOs, 8 Subs) The former Olympic champion, has won ten of his last twelve. Those two losses, to Fedor Emelianenko and "Rampage" Jackson, were against men he had no business fighting; he is much better suited for the middleweight division. Lindland had a falling out with the UFC over sponsorship issues due to wearing an unapproved shirt at his weigh in for his fight at UFC 54 against Joe Doerksen. It's too bad though because he is another fighter that could make an impact in their middleweight division.
Up Next: Affliction: Day of Reckoning, January 24th vs. Renato Sobral.
9 Frank Trigg (18-6, 8(T)KOs, 6 Subs). Is on a three fight win streak. Could fight more often, but he has other avenues to create revenue for himself like broadcasting and recently trying his hand at pro wrestling. Trigg has done well at both welterweight and middleweight, although I think he may be stronger suited towards the welterweight division.
Up Next: TBD.
10.Chael Sonnen (21-9-1, 1-1 UFC, 7(TKOs, 3 Subs) - He beat Paulo Filho last month in a candidate for worst fight of the year. Filho came in out of shape and out of his mind and Sonnen, with an apparent broken arm, had a lackluster performance as well. He has, however, won seven of his last eight. Sonnen will next fight in the UFC as Zuffa has removed the heavier weight classes from WEC.
Up Next: TBD.
Goodman's Honorable Mentions:
Rich Franklin (24-3, 11-2 UFC, 13(T)KOs, 9 Sub) and Dan Henderson (23-7, 3-2 UFC, 10(T)KOs, 1 Sub) - I did not include either in the middleweight picture because both have recently moved up to light heavyweight (and are actually fighting each other in January). If I kept Franklin and Henderson in the middleweight division they would have been my number 2 and number 5, respectively.
Michael Bisping (17-1, 7-1 UFC, 11(T)KOs, 4 Subs - Has great record, but it's padded. I'd like to see him fight a top ten contender next.
Jorge Santiago (20-7, 8(T)KOs, 11 Subs) - Has seven wins in a row since leaving the UFC.
Patrick Cote (13-5, UFC, 6(T)KOs, 3 Subs - He made it to the third round against Anderson Silva, the first man to do that in the UFC, he also ummm....did I mention he made it to the third round against Anderson Silva?
Yoshihiro Akiyama (12-1, UFC, 5(T)KOs, 7 Subs, 2 No Contests) - Another good record, however many of his wins are against talent with losing records.
Demian Maia - (9-0, 4-0 UFC, 1(T)KO, 6 Subs) - Has looked great in his four wins in the UFC, would like to see him face stiffer competition next.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
