Showing posts with label Dan Henderson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dan Henderson. Show all posts

Dan Henderson fighting again in December?

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Bubba the Love Sponge mentioned on his Sirius radio show that he ran in to Pride Welterweight champion Dan Henderson in Las Vegas over the weekend. According to Bubba, Henderson told him that he could be fighting as soon as December. Henderson did not mention a possible opponent nor did he mention whether it would be at the 12/08 Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale or the 12/29 UFC 79 'Nemesis' card. He did tell Bubba that a fight at 185 was a possibility.

It is believed that Henderson has one fight left on his Pride contract which he was working under. He and the UFC are negotiating on a new deal, but at last word the sides weren't exactly what you'd call close.

Hat Tip: Sam Caplan

©2007 Combat Hooligans. Duplication of the content from this website without permission by its author(s) is prohibited. Any news, reports and commentary used from this site must be accompanied by a link to www.combat-hooligans.com

Henderson talks potential fight with Ortiz, UFC cutbacks and his UFC status

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In his latest MMANotebook the Houston Chronicle’s Steve Sivert has comments from UFC Light Heavyweight fighter and Pride Middleweight champion Dan Henderson.

Henderson on UFC making cutbacks and fighters being unhappy with it…

"It seems like guys could be happier," Henderson said. "Part of the problem is that they had a couple, three bad shows and got killed in Ireland (at UFC 72) on the money. And, possibly the fact that they spent a boatload of money buying Pride and didn't do anything with it; they are trying to make some cutbacks, and the fighters aren't overly happy about that."


Henderson is working under the terms of his Pride contract and that has one fight left on it. Sievert has the following on that…

Despite assurances from White that he would be taken care of in the UFC, Henderson is waiting for what he thinks is an equitable offer.

"He was telling me that, 'We haven't had guys leaving. We take care of the guys, that's why they're happy. We don't want guys that are unhappy,' " Henderson said about initial negotiations with White. "I haven't seen that."


The MMANotebook also has notes on HDNet fights with comments from Mark Cuban and a word on EliteXC going to Texas. You can access that article here

But, in a supplimental feature on the Brawl Sports Blog, Sievert has more comments from Henderson, this time as it relates to a potential fight with Tito Ortiz.

"It's not the fight that I'd ask for. Beating Tito won't get me a rematch (with light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson). I don't think he's top five
(in the 205-lb. division). I'd have to beat at least a top three guy to get the rematch."


While Henderson isn’t opposed to an eventual Tito fight, the fight he wants most is a rematch with Quinton Jackson, whom Henderson feels he defeated in their UFC 75 bout.

"Usually I'm not big on rematches right away, but I felt that one was so close - it could have went either way - and I know in my heart there's no way I'd lose to him again, so, of course, I want a rematch."


You can read the entirety of that post: here

Hat tip: Sam Caplan - 5 Ounces of Pain

©2007 Combat Hooligans. Duplication of the content from this website without permission by its author(s) is prohibited. Any news, reports and commentary used from this site must be accompanied by a link to www.combat-hooligans.com

Don't Miss The Hottest MMA Show On TV!

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"Inside MMA" airs tonight, October 5, at 9:30 ET. Only on HDNet.

Tonight's "Inside MMA" features:

* An Iraq war veteran who now does his fighting in the cage.
* In "Fight Club," we'll visit a popular training center.
* Highlights of matches from arouond the country.
* An updated "MMA Insider" rankings.


This week, your hosts Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten are joined by:

* Dan Henderson - Pride Middleweight Champion
* Josh Barnett - Former UFC Heavyweight Champion
* Ken Pavia - MMA Agent



For ticket information, click here

©2007 Combat Hooligans. Duplication of the content from this website without permission by its author(s) is prohibited. Any news, reports and commentary used from this site must be accompanied by a link to www.combat-hooligans.com

UFC 75 rating

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3.1, its a big number.


©2007 Combat Hooligans. Duplication of the content from this website without permission by its author(s) is prohibited. Any news, reports and commentary used from this site must be accompanied by a link to www.combat-hooligans.com

UFC 75 'Champion Vs. Champion' Delayed Play-by-Play

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Hi, and welcome to our coverage of UFC 75 'Champion Vs. Champion'. You will in fact notice that I am not Euan Taylor the man who was supposed to do this report. I don't know where Euan is and quite frankly at this moment I'm not concerned.
What I do know is this. We advertised a column on this show to go up shortly after the PPV broadcast ended and that did not happen. I don't know why Euan didn't do his report, I'll get the reason/excuse later. However, the fact of the matter is that it is not ok for us to advertise something and then not deliver. It is especially bad when it is for a recent event. It is one thing for a DVD review to not be done on time, or some other feature, but when it is a live show it is worse because a mass group of people are going to be looking for results/opinion on the show in a short amount of time. We at this site, have had issues with advertising things and them then not being done at all or done late.
You have my word that this practice is coming to an end. The fact is that if TNA or WWE were to advertise something for a PPV and not deliver than we'd be here ripping them a new asshole for as long as we remembered the offense. Why then shouldn't we expect our readers/listeners to take the same attitude toward us?

So, I apologize on behalf of the whole site, for not just this instance but any where something was promised but not delivered. This will not happen again, and maybe that means we just don't say we're going to do anything and have everything be a surprise. Whatever be the case, we're going to work on the problem because we do not want that to happen again especially not repeatedly.

So, I'm sorry you didn't get what you were promised. I hope the fact that I altered my plans for this evening to cover this show, so at least you have this is some sort of make-good.

The food of choice tonight is A&W root beer and popcorn chicken. Scott is with me for this one.

We're seeing the end of Unleashed right now with Tito-Forrest. Everytime I watch this fight, I think Forrest wins, but I bet on Tito when it happened so officially he still wins.

The spikeTV portion will begin shortly, and I'll have it for you. Refresh your browser for the latest.

Goldberg and Rogan open the show. They talk about the main event, Bisping-Hamill and run down the rest of the card for the show.

Up first will be Houston Alexander Vs. Alessio Sakara in a Light Heavyweight contest.

Commercial break...

1. Houston Alexander Vs. Alessio Sakara - Ref. Yves Lavigne
R1: Sakara tries the takedown, gets it tries to pass Alexander's guard, loses it and eats a knee for his trouble. Alexander drops Sakara and goes right to the ground and pound and this fustigation is complete.

Yeah, he's for real.

Winner: Houston Alexander - R1

Goldberg, we'll get the official decision when we return. I'd say the decision is pretty official already.

Comercial Break...

The promo Houston cut was short lived as a run-in telephone call from my mom prevented me from paying attention.


We go commercial, then come back so UFC can do some advertising, then go to commercial again. I like Fight Night's better because they're live and thus they can't pre-time the number of commercials.

We interupt your regularly scheduled commercials for a Welterweight contest.

2. Marcus Davis Vs. Paul Taylor - Ref. Yves Lavigne
Scott picked Davis because his nickname isn't assassin. It is also not Ireland so he's not a Celtic Warrior either.

R1: Fight on the feet early with exchanges of punches and Taylor landing some nice body kicks. Taylor sends Davis down and is looking to finish but Davis maintains his composure. The fight ends up on the ground with Taylor controlling for awhile but then Davis reverses and looks to finish and starts to rain down elbows. Speaking of rain, it currently is, and that isn't helping. He hoks an armbar and that finishes.

Winner: Marcus Davis - R1 Submission

Again, we get the official word after the break, but again...Davis made it pretty official. That was a real fun fight while at lasted, so 2 for 2.

Commercial Break...

Rogan fawns over Davis and Davis fawns over Taylor. He thanks people for stuff. They say the main event is presented commercial free. The rest of the show is presented commercial over-doing it.

Commercial Break...

A promo airs for the Ultimate Fighter 6, I'll be watching.

Another commercial airs.

3. Cheick Kongo Vs. Mirko Cro Cop - Ref. Big John McCarthy
I laugh when Buffer says: "Striker!" in reference to Mirko.

R1: It is mostly a standup battle as expected with the guys working in the clinch for awhile. They end up on the ground with Kongo on top but Cro Cop escapes and gets the mount but Kongo reverses and has top position as the round ends. 10-9 Mirko.

A TUF 5 Marathon is next Saturday, good season.

R2: Kongo hits a body kick in the early going and takes one from Cro Cop. Here's a switch, Kongo takes Mirko down and gets side control. Kongo who had no ground game in his last 2 fights, at least has been introduced to one, not that they're in a committed relationship yet.

Rogan and Goldberg exchange comments on why Kongo is marketable, and spend most of the time talking about his "cool name" instead of his "ability to knock people out". Priorities!!


Kongo pretty much spends the rest of the round working Cro cop over with knees to the body. 10-9 Kongo. 19-19 overall.

Commercial.

R3: Kongo nails a right, then hits some knees and catches Mirko in the testiculars and gets his second warning. After a brief break due to package infraction, we're back to action and back to Kongo working the body with more strikes of the knee and kick variety.
Cro Cop hits a body kick but isn't pressing the way he was in round 1. Kongo just starts pouring on the kicks and knees with about a minute left to go. Round ends, Kongo 10-9, 29-28 Kongo overall.

Winner: Cheick Kongo - Unanimous Decision
I knew the decision before I saw the fight, and don't have an issue with it.

Commercial...

Kongo kinda sounds like Balki from Perfect Strangers. That show ruled.

Mike Goldberg runs down Fight Night 11 and UFC 76.

Stop me if you've heard this before, but Commercial...

4. Matt Hamill Vs. Michael Bisping - Ref. Mario Yamasaki
Hamill comes out to Born in the USA, heel heat!!! When the UFC eventually goes to Canada, some American needs to come out to "Blame Canada" from the South Park movie, I'd give that *****!

R1: Fight starts on the feet with Hamill getting the better of the exchange and then it goes to the mat. Bisping back up and eats another fist, which is considered the weakness in Hamill's game. Hamill rocks Bisping and has busted him open. Bisping nails a nice right toward the end of the round but Hamill is still outstriking him. Hamill 10-9.

Commercial...

R2: Fight goes to the ground right away, but Hamill eventually lets Bisping get up, he's real comfortable with the striking. Hamill takes Bisping down again with seeming ease. Fight ends up back on the feet and is a boxing match the rest of the round with Hamill in control. Hamill 10-9, 20-18 Hamill overall.

Commercial...

R3: Bisping starts the round with good strikes. Hamill tries a takedown but Bisping shakes it off. Hamill does eventually gets a takedown and goes for Bisping's back. Bisping is able to get up, attempts a knee and is taken down again. Bisping works looking for an armbar or other submission but Hamill has none of it. Eventually, Bisping is back up, and Hamill drops his hands as the fight ends. Closer round, but Hamill got a couple takedowns, I'll give it 10-9 to Hamill, 30-27 Hamill but that last round is arguable.

Winner: Michael Bisping - 29-28, 27-30, 29-28 Split decision.

A bad ecision by the judges to put it mildly. Sure, you can argue for Bisping winning round 3 but he didn't win the first or the second round. That's a freaking horrible, horrible decision. Talk about a hometown gift, Hamill was wrong and sorry to all the Brits but Bisping had no business getting his hand raised.

Commercial...

Bisping's a cock. "Who's the real winner of the Ultimate Fighter?" This dude's lucky this fight was in his home country, had this been in the States his bitch ass would've been handed a 30-27 decision loss. The 2 judges who scored the bout for him were probably scared that the crowd would jump them tie them to a poll, gang rape them like they were goats and pour tea down their throats until they drown. Nice to see TNA sent 2 staff over to judge that fight.

Commercial...

Back with Goldberg-Rogan and some guy who has a belt of some sort for being the champion of something. They talk the fight that is left, Rampage-Henderson.

5. Dan Henderson Vs. Quinton Jackson Ref. Big John McCarthy

R1: Rampage starts on a rampage and they exchange strikes for awhile. Henderson uses a foot sweep to take Jackson down in to side control. They work on the mat a bit then Rampage scrambles up and takes a right to the body. Another exchange at about the 30 second mark which Henderson gets the better of, but the round ends with little else. I give it to Henderson for the takedown and doing better on the feet. Henderson 10-9.

R2: Second round, more of a slugfest with Rampage nailing some nice elbows and while it is a close round, 10-9 Rampage. 19-19 overall.

R3: Rampage gets the better of the early standup in the round and then scores a takedown. Jackson hits some knees to the body while down and Henderson was admonished to watch the back of the head. Henderson able to reverse the position but Rampage stands up and a knee ends the round. Close but I'll give it to Jackson 10-9. 29-28, Jackson overall.

R4: Jackson rocks Henderson early. They get to the mat and Quinton Jackson just holds and controls Henderson on the mat. That's not something I would've predicted. Round comes crawling to an end. Rampage 10-9, 39-37 Rampage in the fight.

R5: Henderson tries things but Quinton is able to defend against his takedown attempt. Finally, a flury of success for Henderson but it doesn't last long as Quinton is able to scramble to his feet after Henderson's takedown and scores one of his own. Rampage 10-9, 49-46 overall.

Winner: Quinton Jackson - Unanimous Decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46)

Rampage cuts a wacky promo that I can't describe because I won't do a good enough job and that's that.

Final Thoughts: I've had worse Saturday Night's than watching this show. I don't know if I would've liked it so much with a 39.95 pricetag. The Hamill decision was absolutely terrible, Bisping better count his lucky charms, check the time on Big Ben, use his Irish Spring soap, Thank the Lepricons who stole his hagus eating, kilt wearing ass the decision.

I hope you enjoyed the delayed play-by-play. Once again, I apologize for anyone who came to the site looking for a report earlier. We did advertise it and didn't deliver and I apologize for that and will make sure it doesn't happen again.

©2007 Combat Hooligans. Du
plication of the content from this website without permission by its author(s) is prohibited. Any news, reports and commentary used from this site must be accompanied by a link to www.combat-hooligans.com

UFC 75 Live Results/Spoilers

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Euan will be along with his drunken recap shortly after the conclusion of the show, but we've got results for those that just can't wait.

  1. Jess Liaudin Def. Anthony Torres at 4:10 R1 via strikes.
  2. Dennis Siver Def. Naoyuki Kotani at 2:04 R1 via KO.
  3. Thiago Silva Def. Thomas Drwal at 4:23 R2 via ref stoppage.
  4. Gleison Tibau Def. Terry Etim via Decision.
  5. Houston Alexander Def. Alessio Sakara at 1:12 via strikes.
  6. Marcus Davis Def. Paul Taylor at 4:14 R1 via Armbar.
  7. Cheick Kongo Def. Mirko Cro Cop via Unanimous 29-28 decision.
  8. Michael Bisping Def. Matt Hamill via split decision 29-28, 27-30, 29-28.
  9. Quinton Jackson Def. Dan Henderson via Unanimous 48-47, 49-46, 49-46 decision.



©2007 Combat Hooligans. Duplication of the content from this website without permission by its author(s) is prohibited. Any news, reports and commentary used from this site must be accompanied by a link to www.combat-hooligans.com

UFC 75 'Champion Vs. Champion' Preview and Predictions

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Welcome to my predictions for UFC 75. I went 6-4 earlier in the week for WEC 30 and hopefully I can improve on that. My coin was 5-5 and hopefully it can decline in accuracy, that was a close call. For those interested, I’m using the same coin as I did for Wednesday’s show which is a U.S. quarter, a 1979 quarter to be exact.

Lightweight Bout (Dark):
Naoyuki Kotani: 25, 5'8, 155, 17-6-5
Vs.
Dennis Siver: 28, 5'7, 155, 10-4-0
A trouble bout for both of these men because the loser drops to 0-2 in the UFC and is at risk of not being brought back. Siver is a kick boxer primarily. As is the case with a majority of the fighters in the dark bouts I’m not overly familiar with either. I believe Kotani is the more well-rounded of the 2 and I tend to favor those types of fighters.
Winner: Naoyuki Kotani
Coin Picks: Dennis Siver
Welterweight Bout (Dark):
Anthony "The Crush" Torres: 29, 5'10, 170, 5-1-0
Vs.
Jess "The Joker" Liaudin: 33, 5'9, 170, 11-8-0
At UFC 70 I predicted that Liaudin would lose to Dennis Siver because Siver was fighting out of Germany and Liaudin out of France and we all know how that contest between nations usually goes. Then Liaudin who is actually English proceeded to own Siver beating him by first round submission. Torres is making his return to the UFC after a year plus layoff. Torres was a replacement for Anthony Johnson. I’m predicting Liaudin as a way of apologizing for my error the last time.
Winner: Jess Liaudin
Coin Picks: Jess Liaudin

Lightweight Bout (Dark):
Gleison Tibau: 23, 5'10, 155, 25-3-0
Vs.
Terry Etim: 21, 6'1, 155, 9-0-0
Etim is 1-0 in the UFC defeating Matt Grice at UFC 70 while Tibau is 1-1 overall. I’ve not really got a lot to say about either fighter, but I’m going to predict an Etim victory because he’s the homeboy.
Winner: Terry Etim
Coin Picks: Terry Etim

Light Heavyweight Bout (Dark):
Thiago Silva: 24, 6'1, 205, 10-0-0
Vs.
Thomas "Travolta" Drwal: 25, 6'1, 205, 14-1-0
Drwal is making his UFC debut. Silva defeated James Irvin at UFC 71 when Irvin blew his knee out. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Thiago Silva and don’t really care for Drwal’s nickname. Therefor, I will predict a Silva win.
Winner: Thiago Silva
Coin Picks: Thomas Drwal

Welterweight Bout Dark:
"Relentless""Paul Taylor: 27, 6'0, 170, 8-1-1
Vs.
Marcus "The Irish Hand Grenade" Davis: 33, 5'10, 170, 17-4-0
I guess since they’re not in Ireland this time, Marcus Davis can be the Hand Grenade again instead of the Celtic Warrior. Marcus Davis is riding a 4-fight winning streak in the UFC and is facing Paul Taylor who was victorious in his UFC debut. Taylor may or may not be the brother that Euan was yelling at on the podcast a few weeks ago. For his sake, I hope he’s not because if he were then a vicious humbling would be in order.
Davis was written off as a Welterweight since his stint on the Ultimate Fighter 2 but has really come on. It isn’t that he’s great at one thing in particular but he does a lot of things very well. It is this versatility that will make the night rough for Mr. Taylor.
Winner: Marcus Davis
Coin Picks: Paul Taylor

Light Heavyweight Bout:
Houston "The Assassin" Alexander: 35, 6'0, 205, 7-1-0
Vs.
Alessio "Legianarious" Sakara: 25, 6'1, 205, 15-4-0
Oh, we all remember Houston Alexander at UFC 71. We all remember how we were writing him off and making jokes about Nasa disasters. We remember how he owned Keith Jardine in less than 1 minute and made us all look very stupid. We then remember him cutting a wacky promo and having the charisma of many men. We remember this because while Sakara is a good fighter, we’re not making that mistake a second time.
Winner: Houston Alexander
Coin Picks: Houston Alexander

Heavyweight Bout:
Cheick Kongo: 6'4, 240, 20-3-1
Vs.
Mirko Cro Cop: 32, 6'2, 220, 22-5-2
Both of these men fought on UFC 70. It was a case of polar opposites because where Kongo was victorious in a boring fight, Cro Cop was humbled in a big way in an exciting fight. We learned at UFC 70 that Cheick Kongo’s takedown defense sucks a big giant bag of suck with extra suck sauce and king sized suck soda. That’s ok though because Cro Cop isn’t going to want to take this to the ground. They are both strikers and this should be a fun fight while it lasts. Kongo is more effective in the clinch but Cro Cop is good at keeping his distance and hitting punishing blows. A standup war makes sense and a Cro Cop victory by fustigation also makes sense.
Winner: Mirko Cro Cop
Coin Picks: Cheick Kongo
Light Heavyweight Bout:
Michael "The Count" Bisping: 28, 6'2, 205, 14-0-0
Vs.
Matt "The Hammer" Hamill: 30, 6'1, 205, 5-0-0
This was the fight we appeared headed for on the Ultimate Fighter 3 before Matt Hamill suffered an injury and was taken out of the contest. Hamill has a good wrestling background but doesn’t have much of a striking game and lacks experience. Bisping has had difficulty with his last 2 opponents in Eric Schafer and Elvis Sinosic but has recovered nicely to bet them both. Hamill’s hope for a win is to take Bisping down and hold him there which would make for a boring decision victory. On the good side though, that would make for a not boring Euan review of the match. However, Bisping’s fighting in front of the hometown crowd, has the experience edge and is a more complete fighter. That spells bad news for Hamill.
Winner: Michael Bisping
Coin Picks: Michael Bisping

Light Heavyweight Championship Unification Bout:
"Dangerous" Dan Henderson: 37, 6'1, 205, 22-5-0
Vs.
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson: 28, 6'1, 205, 27-6-0
The Unification bout we’ve all been waiting for and you had better enjoy it because it is potentially the only one you’re going to get.
Both of these men have a wrestling background but both would prefer to use it to avoid takedowns and would rather stand and trade. I’m not sure that this is the best idea for Henderson. I’ve been thinking about this since my Henderson pick on the audio show and really I’m not going to go against Rampage in a standup battle. He knocked out Liddell for crying out loud and Henderson is no Liddell on the feet. I could live to regret changing my mind, but I’m flip flopping from the show and am taking Quinton Jackson.
Winner: Quinton Jackson
Coin Picks: Quinton Jackson

Join Wandering Euan Taylor for a recap of this event. You can see the rest of the staff’s picks for this event by click here


©2007 Combat Hooligans. Duplication of the content from this website without permission by its author(s) is prohibited. Any news, reports and commentary used from this site must be accompanied by a link to www.combat-hooligans.com

UFC 75 Weigh-in Results

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  1. Welterweight Bout: Jess Liaudin (170) Vs. Anthony Torres (170)
  2. Lightweight Bout: Dennis Siver (154) Vs. Naoyuki Kotani (155)
  3. Light Heavyweight Bout: Thomas Drwal (204) Vs. Thiago Silva (204)
  4. Lightweight Bout: Terry Etim (155) Vs. Gleison Tibau (156)
  5. Light Heavyweight Bout: Houston Alexander (203) Vs. Alessio Sakara (205)
  6. Welterweight Bout: Marcus Davis (169) Vs. Paul Taylor (171)
  7. Heavyweight Bout: Mirko Cro Cop (220) Vs. Cheick Kongo (231)
  8. Light Heavyweight Bout: Michael Bisping (205) Vs. Matt Hamill (205)
  9. Light Heavyweight Championship Bout: [Pride] Dan Henderson (204) Vs. [UFC] Quinton Jackson (204)


Everyone made weightt for tomorrow's event. Euan will be here tomorrow with a recap of the show.

©2007 Combat Hooligans. Duplication of the content from this website without permission by its author(s) is prohibited. Any news, reports and commentary used from this site must be accompanied by a link to www.combat-hooligans.com

Top 5 of the Top 5: Middleweight 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.

We’re going to look this week at the Middleweight Division (171-185)
Ranking last Updated: 09/01/2007

  1. Anderson Silva: 32, 5’11, 185, 19-4-0
    Its not hard to put the UFC Middleweight champion in the top spot. He’s got a big defense coming up against Rich Franklin but has been dominant since joining the UFC with a quick distruction of Chris Leben.

  2. Paulo Filho: 29, 5’8, 185, 15-0-0
    The top spot was easy, the rest is hard. You’ve got Filho, Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin all with an argument. Filho is the WEC Middleweight champion and is talented enough to be in this spot. It hurts him that the Middleweight division is thinner than even the UFC’s and it will be interesting to see where competition comes from. However, the others all have other strikes against them which makes him my #2 in spite of that fact.

  3. Rich Franklin: 33, 6’1, 185, 22-2-0
    Since his lost to Silva, Franklin has bounced back with a convincing win over Jason MacDonald and a pretty boring win over Yushin Okami. He’s next in line for Silva’s title and in front of pretty much a hometown crowd. It is easy to forget how dominant he was when you only focus on Silva devastating his nose. We’ll find out on 10/20 if he’s able to rebound.

  4. Dan Henderson: 37, 6’1, 185, 22-5-0
    I said champions got weighted higher and that is true here. However, he is more focused on his Light Heavyweight career at the moment, preparing to defend against Quinton Jackson at UFC 75. Still, if Henderson were to go back to Middleweight he’d be right in the mix and in a hurry.

  5. Matt Lindland: 37, 6’0, 20-5-0
    Here’s another guy who would be ranked higher if not for the fact that 2 of his last 4 fights were losses to Fedor Emelianenko and Quinton Jackson but in between those he holds victories over Carlos Newton and Jeremy Horn.
    He’s still a dangerous Middleweight though even if the competition is harder to find. Plus, I do think the Middleweight division is probably the weakest of the 5 major weight classes.


Fighter on the Decline: Chris Leben – has not looked good in losses to Kalib Starnes, Anderson Silva or Jason MacDonald.
Fighter on the Rise: Terry Martin – has looked impressive in all of his middleweight fights and has Leben up next.
Fighter I want to see more: Jason Miller – Mayhem is one of the most entertaining personalities in the sport.

Previous Rankings:
  1. Heavyweight Division: 08/16
  2. Light Heavyweight Division: 08/26


Next up is the Welterweight Division, maybe the deepest in the world.

©2007 Combat Hooligans. Duplication of the content from this website without permission by its author(s) is prohibited. Any news, reports and commentary used from this site must be accompanied by a link to www.combat-hooligans.com

Top 5 of the Top 5: Light Heavyweight Division

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Yeah, I said I'd have it last friday but things happened. Here it is though...Middleweights this Friday unless the world ends or I get busy.

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.

We’re going to look this week at the Light Heavyweight division (186-205)
Ranking last Updated: 08/27/2007

  1. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson: 29, 6’1, 205, 27-6-0
    I want to say for the record that I do not think that Rampage is the best 205 fighter in the world. However, he does deserve to be the #1 ranked fighter because he is the UFC champion and he has 2 victories over Chuck Liddell of whom you may have heard. A loss to Shogun Rua and a couple to Wanderlei Silva are the major ones on his record.

  2. ”Dangerous” Dan Henderson: 37, 6’1, 205, 22-5-0
    He’s primarily fought at Middleweight but as I mentioned previously being a champion will get you higher in the rankings than guys who I think are probably better but don’t hold the belt. Plus, I’ve probably underestimated Dan Henderson in the past more than any other fighter and this will be payback. He faces Rampage on Sept. 9 to unify the belts, so that will have a definite impact on the next set of rankings.

  3. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua: 25, 201, 16-2-0
    This is the man who I think is the rightful best 205 pound fighter in the world and now that he’s in the UFC I don’t suspect it will be very long before he is at the top of the rankings. Hell, I think he’s so good I almost put him at the top even though he’s not holding a belt…but Rampage’s destruction of Liddell was too hard to be ignored.
    His only 2 losses are to Babalu Sobral and Mark Coleman and those were a long time ago in MMA circles. Plus, at 25 he’s got a long career ahead of him and already holds a 2005 victory over Quinton Jackson.

  4. ”The Ice Man” Chuck Liddell: 37, 6’2, 205, 20-4-0
    Hey, don’t forget about this guy. Sure, the loss to Rampage was devastating but it by no means is a cause to forget the 7 straight KO’s that came before it. He does have to work his way back up to the title and his age is a bit of a factor but he’s been so great for so long that you can’t rule him out from getting back to the belt.

  5. Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva: 31, 5’11, 199, 31-7-1
    It was close for my final spot between Silva and Rimeau Thierry Sokoudjou. It is hard to ignore the fact that Sokoudjou was the first man to KO a Nogueira brother (Rogerio) at Pride 33 and then beat another top 205 fighter in Ricardo Arona at Pride 34 in a short span of time. However, I had to go with Silva in the end because the resume is longer and because he’s going to still be competing against the top of the division. I’m sorry but you’re not going to convince me that the Light Heavyweight Division in Hero’s is deeper than that of the UFC. Silva recently returned to the UFC and (assuming Chuck Liddell beats Keith Jardine) is headed for a probable match with Liddell in December.


Fighter on the rise: Sokoudjou: It is hard to ignore his 2 big wins this year.
Fighter on the Decline: Tito Ortiz: Barely beat Forrest Griffin, looked impressive against an out of gas Ken Shamrock, lost to Chuck Liddell, gassed out against Rashad Evans in a draw. He’s still young and I’m not counting him out but he’s not been as impressive lately as you’d think.
Hidden Gem: Wilson Gouveia, has been impressive every time I’ve seen him.
Fighter I want to see more from: Houston Alexander: He’s too charismatic to not be featured.

My final thoughts on this ranking are that it is the division that is most likely to be shaken up in the next month. We’ve got Gouveia-Lambert, Machida-Nakamura, Rua-Griffin and Liddell-Jardine at UFC 76. Then of course before that we’ve got Henderson-Jackson at UFC 75. So all the top Light Heavyweights are going to be in action soon and there’s the potential for this to have to be the first rankings that are completely redone.

For my heavyweight rankings: click here



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