New Site Feature: The Top 5 of the Top 5 - to debut on 08/17

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The top 5 of the top 5 is my own rankings of the top 5 fighters in each of the 5 major MMA weight classes:

1. Lightweight: 146-155
   
2. Welterweight: 156-170
   
3. Middleweight: 171-185
   
4. Light Heavyweight: 186-205
   
5. Heavyweight: 206-265

A couple of notes:

1. I'm not doing featherweight and bantamweight rankings due to not having seen much of either division, and the fact that I believe the 2 weight classes finally starting to come to prominence is leaving them in flux. Once I've seen a larger cross-section of fighters in those classes, I'll add them to the rankings.
   
2. The same is true for Women's MMA.
   
3. I'll debut 1 weight class a week for the next 5 weeks.
   
4. After the 5 weeks are done, I'll revise the rankings periodically, though not sure how periodically.

The criteria I will use for my rankings:

1. I'm the single voter. If any other guys on the site want to weigh-in on their top 5 of the top 5 that's fully within their rights but these rankings are going to be determined by myself.
   
2. In order to qualify for the top 5, I've had to see you fight more than once. I'm not going to rank someone in my top 5 because other sites say that they're good fighters, I have to actually watch a fighter so I can make my own evaluation. This will prevent some big names, who I've not seen yet from cracking the top 5 but as time passes this will become less and less of an issue.
   
   
3. The rankings are going to be based off of recent accomplishment more than anything else. I'm not saying that my #2 heavyweight would beat my #4 heavyweight, you don't rank something to project future outcomes, especially in fighting. You can however, rank people based on what they have done recently.
   
4. Champions for major organizations are going to get extra consideration.
   
5. Level of competition will be a factor.
   
6. Inactivity hurts. Guys that haven't fought in awhile will be dropped a bit by that fact. What constitutes a prolonged absense is purely going to be arbitrary I will admit.
   
7. Ultimately, this is a list of who has caught my eye and why.

So, next week, I debut the top 5 of the top 5 in the heavyweight division.