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Inaugural MMA Live Middleweight Rankings
Here is the third day of our inaugural rankings. Today we feature middleweight fighters, if you missed the lightweights or welterweights from previous days check them out by clicking their links.
1) Anderson Silva – I don’t think anybody can argue that Anderson Silva deserves the number one spot. He is that overpowering in the division that he hardly even tries anymore, as we saw in the Thales Leites fight. Silva holds the record for most consecutive victories within the UFC at 9 after his win over Leites. Silva has also defended the middleweight championship five times since winning it in 2006.
2) Nate Marquardt – Since losing to #1 Anderson Silva in 2007 Marquardt has been on the rise again. He had one slip up against Thales Leites in which he dominated the fight but ended up losing 2 points for infractions. Since losing there Marquardt has gone on to TKO victories over Martin Kampmann and Wilson Gouveia. Marquardt will be facing off against undefeated submission expert Demian Maia (#3) at UFC 102.
3) Demian Maia – Maia has had 5 fights in the UFC. He is a true submission master winning all 5 fights via submission, 3 rear naked choke and two triangle choke. He didn’t just win these fights by submission, 4 of the wins also came with some extra cash because Maia won “Submission of the Night” honors. Marquardt will be Maia’s toughest opponent to date but a win over him should almost promise Maia a title shot within the near future.
4) Yushin Okami – Okami is currently 7-1 in the UFC with his only loss a decision to Rich Franklin. Okami has UFC wins over the rising welterweight, Mike Swick, the late Evan Tanner and Dean Lister. Okami was scheduled to fight at UFC 98 but a torn ligament never allowed the fight to take place.
5) Gegard Mousasi – You would have to go back two years and a total of 12 fights to find the last time Mousasi lost. Mousasi has never competed in the UFC but he has faced many top named fighters over his years fighting including Evangelista Santos, Denis Kang, Melvin Manhoef and Mark Hunt. Upcoming fights for Mousasi include Renato Sobral at Affliction Trilogy and Sokoudjou at Dream 11 in September.
6) Dan Henderson – A true veteran of MMA Dan Henderson has spent many years fighting and in his prime years he owned the middleweight division. Previous wins include Rich Franklin, Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Renzo Gracie and Gilbert Yvel. His upcoming bout at UFC 100 is against fellow TUF 9 coach Michael Bisping. It has been said by Dana White that the winner will earn a title shot against Anderson Silva (#1).
7) Vitor Belfort – Another one of the sports legends is kind of making a comeback. UFC President Dana White also mentioned that Vitor Belfort might be coming back to the UFC to challenge for the middleweight title. Belfort is a UFC heavyweight tournament winner and a former UFC light heavyweight champion. Belfort’s most recent win was a stunning KO of Matt Lindland at Affliction Day of Reckoning. Belfort was out cold for around 5 minutes.
8 ) Thales Leites – His last fight for the title was an absolute embarrassment. Leites spent the fight retreating from the champion and falling to the mat on any attack that came towards him. Despite that Leites has wins over Nate Marquardt and Drew McFedries and his upcoming bout with Alessio Sakara at UFC 101 should show fans whether or not he is still prepared to fight.
9) Jorge Santiago – After streaking many wins together since leaving the UFC Santiago will be returning to the USA to face #7 Vitor Belfort at Affliction Trilogy. Hopefully for Santiago he doesn’t see himself drop like Matt Lindland.
10) Robbie Lawler – Lawler was doing great in his fighting right up until the start of June when he faced welterweight stand out Jake Shields at a catchweight of 182lbs. Lawler got destroyed in the opening round via guillotine choke.
Inaugural MMA Live Welterweight Rankings
The lightweight rankings were yesterday and here is day two of the rankings, the welterweights.
1) Georges St. Pierre - GSP has been one of the most dominating welterweights of all time. Since winning the title initially from Matt Hughes at UFC 65 GSP has only slipped once to Matt Serra. Many say that Serra got lucky in his striking and connected well on that one shot. Since losing to Serra though GSP has shown an amazing skill set defeating some of the biggest names in the welterweight division. Names such as Matt Hughes (#9), Jon Fitch (#3) and BJ Penn (lightweight #1).
2) Thiago Alves – Alves will be challenging for the title this July 11th against GSP (#1). On his road to the title shot Alves defeated #9 ranked Matt Hughes and #8 ranked Josh Koscheck. In the bout against Hughes, Alves may have come in a few pounds over limit but he wowed fans with his flying knee KO of a true MMA legend.
3) John Fitch – Fitch is an amazing fighter at welterweight, he has faced off against many different opponents and come out on top most of the time. At UFC 87 Fitch challenged for the title against GSP and took him all the way to a decision which he ended up losing. After that fight Fitch had a few issues with the UFC and even got fired for a day before returning to face Japanese fighter, Akihiro Gono. Fitch won that fight via unanimous decision. Fitch, like GSP and Alves will also be fighting on July 11th at UFC 100. His opponent will be Paulo Thiago (#7).
4) Jake Shields – Shields was the EliteXC welterweight champion before the promotion went bust. Now he finds himself, like most former EliteXC fighters, fighting for Strikeforce. Shields recently made quick work of Robbie Lawler in a catchweight bout (182lbs) defeating him via guillotine choke in the first round.
5) Mike Swick – After losing a middleweight bout to Japanese standout Yushin Okami, Swick dropped down a weight class. Swick now finds himself fighting at welterweight and he is having a hard time losing. Since making the drop Swick has defeated Marcus Davis, Jonathan Goulet and Ben Saunders.
6) Martin Kampmann – Kampmann has only had two fights at welterweight but he is looking good. He first beat Barros and then Carlos Condit, the former WEC welterweight champion.
7) Paulo Thiago - Thiago does not yet understand what losing is like. Maybe he will learn though when he faces John Fitch (#3) on July 11th at UFC 100. Thiago’s most recognizable win is over #8 Josh Koscheck. He defeated Koscheck via TKO at UFC 95.
Josh Koscheck - Koscheck has always been one of those fighters that gets so close and then falls back down. His most recent loss was to #7 Thiago and his most recent win was the event before that which was a stunning KO over Yoshiyuki Yoshida. Koscheck’s next fight will be against MMA veteran Frank Trigg at UFC 103.
9) Matt Hughes – Hughes could be called the greatest welterweight fighter of all time. Unfortunately he has let himself go a bit recently losing to Alves (#2) and St. Pierre (#1). Hughes did do a good job in his fight against Serra though which is why he still sees himself within the top 10.
10) Dan Hardy – Hardy has been putting on quite a show in his last few fights defeating Akihiro Gono, Rory Markham and of course Marcus Davis. Hardy may not fully deserve the number 10 spot but he made it there.
Outside top 10:
Karo Parisyan
Matt Serra
Special thanks to those who help put the list together, Jim Kammer, Tommy Yacyshyn and Zachary Romaniuk. Middleweight rankings will be right here on MMA-Live tomorrow.
New MMA-Live March Rankings
Heavyweight
1 Fedor Emelianenko
2 Josh Barnett
3 Andrei Arlovski
4 Brock Lesnar
5 Frank Mir
6 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
7 Tim Sylvia
8 Randy Couture
9 Gabriel Gonzaga
10 Cain Velasquez
** The only change to the Heavyweight rankings since last month is Cain Velesquez moving into 10th place knocking Alistar Overeem out of the rankings. This is mainly due to time since Overeems last fight and although Velasquez has not fought any big named fighters he is looking promising in all of his fights.
Light-Heavyweight
1 Rashad Evans
2 Forrest Griffin
3 Quinton Jackson
4 Lyoto Machida
5 Wanderlei Silva
6 Antonio Rogerio Nogueria
7 Chuck Liddell
8 Thiago Silva
9 Dan Henderson
10 Keith Jardine
** Absolutely no change in the Light-Heavyweight rankings. As far as I can remember February held no Light-Heavyweight fights…
Middleweights
1 Anderson Silva
2 Robbie Lawler
3 Yushin Okami
4 Demian Maia
5 Nathan Marquardt
6 Gegard Mousasi
7 Chael Sonnen
8 Kazuo Misaki
9 Michael Bisping
10 Thales Leites
** No fighter moved in or out of the Middleweight rankings but based on Demian Maia’s winning streak and performance at UFC 95 I did move him up a place. Marquardt did also put on a stunning performance but in my mind Maia sits higher.
Welterweights
1 Georges St. Pierre
2 Thiago Alves
3 Jon Fitch
4 Josh Koscheck
5 Jake Shields
6 Matt Hughes
7 Diego Sanchez
8 Carlos Condit
9 Matt Serra
10 Paulo Thiago
** A one-in-one-out for the Welterweights. Paulo Thiago sees himself moving into 10th place after his fast knockout over Josh Koscheck at UFC 95. I saw no reason for Koscheck to drop any due to all the fighters around him not fighting in a while. If Matt Hughes defeats Matt Serra, Hughes would probably move up in the rankings. As of right now he is slowly falling due to lack of activity.
Lightweights
1 BJ Penn
2 Shinya Aoki
3 Kenny Florian
4 Eddie Alvarez
5 Sean Sherk
6 Tyson Griffin
7 Joachim Hansen
8 Gesias Calvancante
9 Josh Thompson
10 Jamie Varner
** No movers within the lightweight division due to the fact that most of the fighters within the top 10 (excluding Jamie Varner) have not had a fight since we started these rankings. Probably next month I will end up dropping fighters like Thompson and Calvancante for those on the outside. Who is on the outside? I would have to say the Joe Lauzon and Clay Guida have the best chance of getting in.
ESPN MMA Live – UFC 95 Preview
ESPN MMA LIVE – UFC 95 Preview on MMA-Live.com
MMA-Live Updated February Rankings
Lightweights
1 BJ Penn
2 Shinya Aoki
3 Kenny Florian
4 Eddie Alvarez
5 Sean Sherk
6 Tyson Griffin
7 Joachim Hansen
8 Gesias Calvancante
9 Josh Thompson
10 Jamie Varner
Welterweights
1 Georges St. Pierre
2 Thiago Alves
3 Jon Fitch
4 Josh Koscheck
5 Jake Shields
6 Matt Hughes
7 Diego Sanchez
8 Carlos Condit
9 Matt Serra
10 Mike Swick
Middleweights
1 Anderson Silva
2 Robbie Lawler
3 Yushin Okami
4 Nathan Marquardt
5 Demian Maia
6 Gegard Mousasi
7 Chael Sonnen
8 Kazuo Misaki
9 Michael Bisping
10 Thales Leites
Light-Heavyweights
1 Rashad Evans
2 Forrest Griffin
3 Quinton Jackson
4 Lyoto Machida
5 Wanderlei Silva
6 Antonio Rogerio Nogueria
7 Chuck Liddell
8 Thiago Silva
9 Dan Henderson
10 Keith Jardine
Heavyweights
1 Fedor Emelianenko
2 Josh Barnett
3 Andrei Arlovski
4 Brock Lesnar
5 Frank Mir
6 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
7 Tim Sylvia
8 Randy Couture
9 Gabriel Gonzaga
10 Alistair Overeem
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ESPN: MMA Live Episode 35 – UFC 93 Preview and 2008 Awards
ESPN MMA Live Episode 35 on MMA-Live.com
MMA-Live’s Middleweight Rankings January Edition
Anderson Silva
Robbie Lawler
Yushin Okami
Nathan Marquardt
Dan Henderson
Gegard Mousasi
Matt Lindland
Chael Sonnen
Kazuo Misaki
Michael Bisping
Here is MMA-Live.com’s first ranking of the Middleweights. These will be updated at the beginning of each month to keep readers of MMA-Live up-to-date on who we believe the best fighters are in each division.
Check out our Lightweight Rankings and our Welterweight Rankings.