Top 10: LowKick.com Staff Middleweight Rankings
Posted on July 24, 2012, 01:57 PM by Anton GurevichAngry Commenter Guide: Evan Holober ranked the evens, Anton Gurevich ranked the odds
1. Anderson Silva
What else can be said about Anderson “The Spider” Silva? UFC Middleweight champ went 15-0 inside the Octagon at UFC 148, solidifying his place as the undisputed pound-for-pound king of Mixed Martial Arts rankings. Silva now faces one of the toughest set of challenges in the UFC Middleweight division, with Alan Belcher, Vitor Belfort, Chris Weidman, Michael Bisping all promising to dethrone the champ.
2. Chael Sonnen
The master of disaster did all he could to steal the title away from Anderson Silva July 7th. Sadly, for him, it was not enough. After a blitzkrieg from Chael in the first round Anderson was able capitalize on a few missed takedowns in the second to put the former Olympic team alternate away. He keeps the second spot on this list by the strength of his schedule over the past few years. He holds wins over Nate Marquardt, Yushin Okami, Michael Bisping, and Brian Stann to go along with his performances against Silva. If he decides not to move up, Chael would still be a favorite against anybody in the world at 185lbs not named Anderson.
3. Chris Weidman
Little by little, Chris Weidman established himself as one of top 185’ers in Mixed Martial Arts today.Weidman is currently 5-0 in the UFC, with notable victories over Alessio Sakara, Tom Lawlor, former UFC title challenger Demian Maia, and of course Mark Munoz. Weidman says he’s ready to become number one, with sights on Anderson Silva’s UFC Middleweight title. Getting a title shot now could be a little bit too soon for the relatively “green” Weidman, while fighting Vitor Belfort in the recently discussed #1 contender bout is probably the best opportunity to make another statement.
4. Alan Belcher
Alan "The Talent" Belcher's career in the UFC has been a bit of a roller coaster ride. He came in on short notice to take on Yushin Okami. He then KO'd the highly regarded Jorge Santiago with a highlight reel head kick, then put in a lack luster performance in a losing effort to TUF third season winner Kendall Grove. It had seemed that every time he had a high, or a bit of a streak, Alan would slip up and lose in either an stunning (Jason Day) or head-scratching (Yoshihiro Akiyama) performance. Recently, he has rattled off four straight wins which includes the streaking Rousimar Pahlares. If he doesn't have a slip up, like he's been prone to in the past, Alan has the all-around skillset to give anybody in the middleweight division a run for their money.
5. Luke Rockhold
Unfortunately for Rockhold, number 5 is the highest position he could ever get s Strikeforce Middleweight champion. Strikeforce talent pool is simply not deep enough to rank Rockhold in Top 3. Luke Rockhold is a top-tier fighter, with unorthodox striking skills that would make him a nightmare for any middleweight in the UFC. The champ has two high quality victories in Jacare Souza and Tim Kennedy, and a lot of credit from LowKick.com staff to get this #5 Middleweight ranking.
6. Vitor Belfort
A lot of folks don't know where to exactly place the Belfort in the 185lb pecking order. He has shown few weaknesses since his foray in to the middle weight ranks, and has taken out top tier fighters (Rich Franklin and Matt Lindland). The problem is his two most recent wins were over a career welterweight that came in 12 lbs over middleweight, and a guy who is 1-4 in his UFC career. Then again, since dropping down, he is 6-1 with his only loss coming to one of the greatest knockouts of all-time by Silva. He has the speed, power, and experience to be an exciting match up for pretty much any fighter in Zuffa's ranks. Since his return to the UFC he has not seen the score cards once.
7. Mark Munoz
Not so long ago, Mark Munoz was one of the top 3 middleweights on the planet. Chris Weidman pushed The Filipino Wrecking Machine down to number 7 with a devastating 2nd Round TKO victory live on Fuel TV. Munoz will have to climb back to the top by facing one of the fighters that are currently out of this list. Despite his loss to Weidman, Mark Munoz still has one of the most impressive records in the UFC, he’s 7-3, losing only to Weidman, Okami, and Matt Hamill.
8. Tim Boetsch
Another former 205lb fighter that has enjoyed immense success since moving to middleweight, Tim is a big guy at 185lbs. He was not very impressive in his most recent fight against Hector Lombard, but still did enough in the judges eyes to take the decision victory. "The Barbarian" blends his power with an incredible will to win, and it has shown in his comeback victory over Yushin Okami. He also took the decision against Lombard after breaking his foot early in the second round. With 4 straight wins at middleweight he appears to be in route to a match against a top tier opponent. A fight with Vitor or Rich Franklin would make a lot of sense next.
9. Michael Bisping
“The Count” can talk all he wants about being on a seven-fight win streak. Well, he’s not. Michael Bisping has improved greatly from his greatest fiasco at UFC 100, but he’s to make a true Top 5 statement. Bisping has no Top 10 victories on his record, his most valuable W’s are against Denis Kang, Jason Miller and Yoshihiro Akiyama. The Brit lost to Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva, and Dan Henderson, three fights that could’ve put him en route to a Top 3 spot.
10. Brian Stann
The former WEC titlist has made massive improvements since moving to the UFC, and dropping to the middleweight division. His striking has become more technical, and has become decent (which was a nice change from non-existent). He's beaten Chris Leben and Jorge Santiago while they were ranked in the top ten, and is 4-1 at 185lbs (his only loss coming to Chael Sonnen). For him to move ahead of the guys in front of him he will have to make some improvements, with wrestling being his most glaring weakness. Brian is set to take on Michael Bisping at UFC 152.
Comments
Poor Yushin Okami is no where to be found.
Second that. Okami should at least be ranked above Stann.
I see that Stann is on a titlist, can i get a copy of that list in double D?
7)Boestch
8)Okami
9)Bisping
10)Belcher
2) Henderson
3) Sonnen
Belcher and Bisping behind Boetsch and Okami is bull
Hendo is a LHW now.
Bisping is higher than that, even though I hate the Pr*ck.
100% bro - Bisping is that fighter eveyone loves to hate(including me) He needs a higher ranking though - he gave Chael a great fight and some may say he was robbed.
But Hamil was Robbed more Bisping - So Shut up!
See he's that fighter you love to hate.
I am surprised Anton has Anderson Silva as the number one MW in the world.
Lol, when I saw the article was written by him, I half expected his number 1 MW to be Chael
I'm surprised there wasn't a strike-through on Chael Sonnen as #1, then next to it Anderson Silva. Remember when he use to do a strike-through on UFC Middleweight Champion before writing Chael Sonnen?
For the love of god why is sonnen still at number 2 for??? silva has stopped him not once BUT twice... And bisping should be in the top 5.. these rankings our a joke.. Lets not forget belcher is only back and fought once and munoz should be was the count is... The rankings are Anton but not the world mw rankings...
Belcher's fought twice since he returned actually. His comeback fight was against Jason MacDonald, then he had another fight against Rousimar Palhares. Both fights ended the same way, with Belcher dribbling their heads off the canvas inside the first round. With the dominant fashion that he won both fights, it'd be a fairly big mistake in my opinion to put him up against anyone that isn't top 5 for his next fight.
Mines are (since Rankings doesn't work)
1. Silva
2. Sonnen
3. Weidman
4. Belfort
5. Belcher
6. Bisping
7. Munoz.
8. Rockhold
9. Boetsch
10. Okami
I think Rockhold is good but needs to prove it against a top level guy before he is put any where near the top 5.
Lombard showed what looking good against lower competition doesn't mean you will look good against top competition.
This is the exact same rankings I came up with but I'll just sharp yours instead of posting my own
my only gripe is Belfort he hasnt really beaten anybody at MW esp in the UFC, seems to high for the MW rankings
The fashion in which he beat Akiyama and Johnson (even though gassed) puts him up there for me but not just that, some guys can be put higher just due thinking their a better fighter than others on the list.
For example many people had Jones at #1 in the lead up to the Shogun fight.
I think Vitor is one of the guys who hasn't proven it lately but can still be ranked high.
Ranking on "who you think is better" is ****ing retarded. You rank on merit of wins and losses when they happened.
I thought Jones was going to kill Rua going in to their fight. However, I was smart enough to keep him behind Shogun in the rankings before that happened.
Akiyama was at MW, AJ was a catch weight, his only win in the UFC at MW is against Akiyama who has never won a fight in the UFC in my book.
David, I personally take wins at other weights in to ranking accounts (Shields moved to #2 at WW after his close win against Kampman because of his resume at MW recently). So I give his wins against AJ and Rich credence at MW.
@Evan
But you have Belcher at #4. Hes beaten Palhares who was a fringe top 10. That would put Belcher at fringe top 10. Bisping would be too since he hasnt beaten a top 10.
Same as Vitor
You have to use "who you think is better" which you used.
If it werent for "who you think is better", rankings would be
1)Silva
2)Sonnen
3)Boetsch
4)Okami
5)Weidman
6)Munoz
........ yeah on the spot thats as far as I can go off the top of my head. The others have beaten each other and lost to others so it gets fuzzy.
Give me your rankings that strictly follow merit of wins/losses so we can compare.
There is merit in a persons percieved ability. I believed Jose Aldo and Jon Jones were the best before they got the belts and sure enough the guys that had the belts were not the number 1 guys. So Shogun and Mike Brown were the best in the world deceptively because of the belts they wore gave them that impression. Most thought it would change and they were right because the best had proved themselves in other ways than a belt. A rank should be proved by percieved value by the majority of the people judging and most times that will include a specific resume but others are more complicated due to different factors involved.
No I didn't. I used quality of wins. Specifically Palhares was around 7,8, and 9 everywhere. That's not fringe top ten. That's firmly in the top ten, and Alan Belcher dominated him at his own game. That's impressive, and that moved him up my rankings on quality of victory.
It has nothing to do with who I think is better. If it had to do with who I think is better Chris Weidman would have been #2, Vitor Belfort #3, Bisping at #4, and Rich Franklin somewhere around 6 or 7.
Okami is not on the list because he lost his last fight to a Tim Boestch who was borderline top 25 fighter at the time.
Everything myself and Anton ranked, because these were agreed upon just explained odds and evens, was based on merit for me personally.
borderline top 25? come on he wasn't a top 10 when he fought Okami but easily a top 20
Palhares was #10-#13 on most rankings from what I remember. (Just checked online and most sites have Palhares around these spots before the Belcher fight)
Even if you were right and Belcher beat a #10 MW...... so he becomes #4 in your book? Yet you claim you dont use the "who I think is better" method. You may not base it solely on that theory but you cant deny that you are using it to structure your rankings.
But still it makes no sense because Belcher was top 15-20 before the Palhares fight.
He may have dominated him but you claim thats more reasonable than Boetsch coming from behind and KOing Okami who was a top 5 guy? (Though I believe virtually all of the top 10 would beat Boetsch)
Boetsch, according to merit, is much further ahead of Belcher in the rankings
Using quality of a win is a perception of merit. You rank people higher on their quality of wins which is a percieved opinion based on the factors you percieve in their fights. Shogun lost badly to Forrest and yet many percieved him to be able to take the title which he did because he wasn't in top form in his first Forrest fight. Many people believed Chuck would beat Tito and he did twice. We have our own rankings here as do other sites and they vary on every site because of percieved merit.
You answered your own question, although you were right about his ranking at the time. I was wrong about that and it effected his position. Although he would not moved much at all from that position based on where I had him at (#8), and what seems to be the majority (around #11). You were right, I was wrong.
The difference is though between the two fights is how impressive each victory was. Boetsch was getting the crapped kicked out of him until he basically grabbed the back of Okami's neck and punched until he stopped fighting. That is impressive in his heart, and will to win. But not as impressive as pure dominance. Belcher didn't lose a second of his fight, and won the grappling against not only a killer with subs; but a guy who took second at the most recent ADCC. That is a quality win right there.
According to merit there around the same spot in UFC's pecking order. Let's not pretend that either is that far ahead when it comes to climbing the ranks in the UFC.
According to quality of win/SOS in the past 3-4 fights Belcher is ahead.
Why? Because he beat Nick Ring and Kendall Grove? Neither in spectacular fashion?
Well now you're talking about quality of wins and how well they performed in victory and defeat, basically ranking them on their skill rather that record, which you said you don't do.
Now your running around your own argument.
How they perform in victory and defeat are what constitute quality of win or loss. Just because you could explain in a round about way, does not mean it is even remotely accurate. I rank on quality of wins and losses. Not on percieved skill level against competition.
Don't see how you can put Stann above Okami or Botsch. People hate on Bisping for not having an "official" win against a top 10 but who has Stann beat that is a top ranked fighter? His best win in the UFC is over Leben
Stann isn't ahead of Boestch.
His best win in the UFC was Santiago when Jorge was close to being a top 5 fighter. Leben was also borderline top 10 after KOing Wanderlei (after Wand beat Bisping).
Okami lost out to Stann simply because Stann won after losing to Chael. Okami is still coming off a loss.
Okami (or Palhares) will be back ahead of Stann with a win, however if Stann beats Bisping he will be even higher.
so did you put Sonnen near the bottom of the top 10 when he lost to Silva since he was coming off loss and others were on win streaks?
"Yet he lost to a very low ranked Tim Boestch. Stann lost to the consensus #2 MW in the world."
I wrote this below, can you parlay into that for the consensus #2 fighter in the MW division losing to the consensus #1 fighter in the world?
belcher and rockhold over belfort..seriously? and okami is still top ten well above stann who only beat leben. okami just beat marquart and munoz not too long ago both top 10 guys
Yet he lost to a very low ranked Tim Boestch. Stann lost to the consensus #2 MW in the world.
Stann stopped both Leben and Santiago. One borderline top 10, one borderline top 5.
doesnt matter who you lose to what matters is who you beat and okami has beaten some of the best and saying jorge santiago being borderline top 5 is possibly the most ridiculous thing ive ever heard. cool he had one of the best fights in 2010 and even has a few solid wins but none over any top 10 guys and he proved over and over he could not hang with any1 in the ufc
Kazuo Misaki stayed in the top ten for close to 4 years. That'll happen when you beat Dan Henderson, then win the last Pride WW GP.
Jorge also had wins over Jeremy Horn when he was still relevant, Trevor Prangley, and Kazuhiro Nakamura. He was extremely high regarded when he made the move.
...and yes, losses count against you in rankings. Especially, when you lose to somebody so far down.
I agree with griffin that wins mean much more than a loss. Anyone can get rocked and ko'd, ANYONE. Not everyone can outclass their opponents for a whole fight.
Also agree with griffin saying Santiago was top 5 is crazy.
Fact is Jorge has been KO'd in 3 UFC fights and outclassed via grappling in his latest one in the promotion. He has went 17-5 in his last 22 and 4 of those wins were his only UFC fights, showing he can;t handle top fighters.
He was also KO'd by Belcher and Leben in their worst periods of their UFC career.
He was KO'd by Leben when Chris was on a 6 fight win-streak, and being pushed for a MW title shot (until he ran into Anderson Silva). How's the the worst period of his career?
He handled Kazuo Misaki when he was a top ten fighter. Him being borderline top 5 might have been crazy, however it was a reality upon him entering the UFC as I believe almost every big site had him no lower than 7.
He wasn't on a 6 fight win streak as Silva ran through him and then Leben followed up with 2 bad losses after KOing Jorge.
In a 4 fight period where he looks bad in 3 of those fights he pulls out his only win and finish against Santiago. It is the only time in his career he has went 1-3 in 4 fights, also being humiliated in some of those loses.
Hahaha, you could easily use a four fight period with the wins against Fioravanti and Rivera involved instead of the two fights afterwards. That would make him 6-1 in the fights leading up to his KO win against Santiago.
Revisionist history (from a person who obviously wasn't watching the sport yet), paints Leben in to a corner in the regard of worst streak of his entire career. One of those losses was humiliating (Silva), the others were a close fight with a still prime Starnes and a good back in forth submission loss to Jason MacDonald.
I'll admit I wasn't watching the sport back then but I was only 14 and the only fights I had seen were from Royce, Chuck, Rampage and Ortiz.
I understand. What I'm trying to explain to you is its easy just to look back at his record to say that's the worst streak of Leben's career, but as a guy who followed him for a long time, it definitely wasn't. It actually might be the best Leben that's been around. He was faster, and more athletic back then (even if a bit less skilled).
Here's what you need to do Joe Silva,you dimwitt! Belfort vs Belcher,Franklin vs Le,Lombard vs Sonnen,Palhares vs Cote,Boestch vs Weidman,give Wandy another fight maybe Munoz,if Pricksping wins against Stann give him the title shot,and make sure you have a nice opponent waiting for when The Crippler returns! mail me my check asap,thanks!!!
yeh that list is a joke. Bisping should be higher. I agree with keiths list
me too!
It not for days to get Sonan sleep or tap ha! *facepolm* Is no can get to not ha! Why no other for days to Silva no can Bisping ha! Poor Bisping sleep or tap 2st round ha! *facepolm* go back littel leeges baby Bisping pore baby ha! :-) =