Top 5 of the Top 5: Heavyweight Division
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Welcome to the first ever combat-hooligans.com attempt at a ranking system for the 5 major weight classes in MMA: Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight, Middleweight, Welterweight and Lightweight.
A few notes on how this Is going to work. The panel is 1 person, and that one person is me. My rankings aren’t meant as a sign of all-time contributions, what could be done in the future, or a reflection of who I think would win in a fight between 2 fighters. This is pretty much the “What have you done for me lately” way of ranking things. As a result, champions get ranked hire by virtue of being champions.
I’m only ranking fighters I’ve actually seen. As time goes on this will be less and less of an issue, but I am willing to admit that my not having seen a fighter may be the only reason he’s missing from a list. Guys under or just coming off of drug suspensions are not going to be in the top 5.
We’re going to look this week at the heavyweight division (206-265)
Ranking last Updated: 08/17/2007
Last Fight: Def. Matt Lindland via submission at Bodog Fight ‘Clash of the Nations’ 04/14/2007
What exactly needs to be said about the Pride Heavyweight Champion? He’s riding a 7 fight win streak that includes names like Lindland, Mark Coleman, Mark Hunt, Mirko Cro Cop and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
His status being up in the air may hurt him in the future when it comes to my rankings but he’s a young guy and is pretty much awesome at everything. In other words, it could be a very long time before I have to move him from this spot.
Last Fight: Def. Heath Herring via Unanimous Decision at UFC 73 ‘Stacked’ on 07/07/2007.
If not for Fedor, we might be calling this guy the best ever. He’s got 4 losses, Fedor twice (they also fought to a no contest) and one each to Josh Barnett and Dan Henderson whom you may have heard of. He did avenge his loss to Barnett in September of 2006 with a unanimous decision victory in December of that same year.
We’ll overlook the fact that Heath Herring damn near fustigated him back at UFC 73, Nogueira showed an ability to recover and managed to get the decision. One more fight in UFC and with a win he’ll be getting his title shot.
Last Fight: Def. Tim Sylvia via Unanimous decision at UFC 68 ‘Uprising’ on 03/03/2007.
Honestly, Couture benefits greatly from the champions getting extra consideration. If he weren’t the champion I don’t think he’d be anywhere near my top 5 let alone where I’ve got him ranked now.
However, he did show in the Sylvia fight that he does still have what it takes to be a success in mixed martial arts at the age of 44. Sure, Sylvia had a back injury which did him no favors but Couture still game planned that fight to play to his strengths and out worked a much younger and larger man for 5 rounds.
Last Fight: Def. Mirko Cro Cop via KO at UFC 70 ‘Nations Collide’ on 04/21/2007.
He may be the most overlooked heavyweight going right now and that’s even after he nearly kicked Cro Cop in to retirement. It boggles my mind how some rankings still have him behind Cro Cop even with Gonzaga clearly outclassing him for the entire fight before fustigating him with a kick near the end of round 1.
He presents the man ranked just above him with a meriod of problems and could be the next heavyweight champion of the UFC.
Last Fight: Lost to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira via Unanimous Decision at Pride ‘Shockwave 2006’ on 12/31/2007.
If not for the fact his last fight was in December and that he’s currently looking for a new fighting home, he might be ranked even higher. Barnett’s losses are to Cro Cop 3 times, Pedro Rizzo and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He’d be an interesting matchup for Fedor and has a victory over Couture. He is the last of the top 5 because after that I’ve got serious question marks for a lot of fighters.
Other thoughts:
Fighter on the Rise: Brandon Vera
He’s a guy I’d expect to rank in the top 5 one day. He’s hurt by the lengthy layoff between fights but is expected back soon. He’s an entertaining heavyweight and is charismatic as well which helps his cause.
Fighter on the Decline: Andrei Arlovski/Mirko Cro Cop
It is a tie because even though Arlovski won his last fight against Fabricio Werdum he didn’t have an entertaining fight and he also has a couple of recent losses to Tim Sylvia on his record. He does however have a Great Sponsor
Cro Cop was fustigated by Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 70 and nearly retired. We’ll see how he does against Cheick Kongo on 09/09 but another poor showing might be it for him.
Fighter on the way back: Tim Sylvia
I give Tim Sylvia a bad time mainly because it annoys Ric and I find that to be more fun than most other activities. However, he’s still going to be a force because of his size, reach over most opponents and the fact he has something to strive for which is recapturing his heavyweight title. He needs to get healthy though as back surgery and a staff infection have been in his way.
Honorable Mention: Ben Rothwell
Easily the best heavyweight in the IFL, no doubt about it. The trouble is that he’s not facing the kind of competition he would see in other organizations like the UFC so right now he’ll have to settle for being a man among boys as it were in the IFL’s heavyweight division.
So there’s the top 5 heavyweights in my view. Next time we’ll drop 1 weight class down and look at the Light Heavyweight Division, probably the deepest division in the world though a case can be made for Welterweight.
You can leave your own rankings in the comments section.
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