The hosts of The Hammer MMA Radio have been contributing to the UFC’s Official Fighter Rankings since its inception earlier this year. While the UFC have confirmed that these rankings may not necessarily impact their matchmaking, the three of us still put a lot of thought into our selection process at the conclusion of each event. Following each event we will be breaking down our thought process on a few of the relevant divisions right here at Last Word On Sports.
You can find our updated Rankings, as well as the overall UFC Rankings at http://www.ufc.com/rankings, all updated on the Monday immediately following every UFC event.
UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Sonnen
Steve Jeffery: Travis Browne has more than made up for this flukey injury loss to Bigfoot Silva last year. The first step was knocking out Gabriel Gonzaga in just over a minute last April. While that was impressive, it pales in comparison to surviving the best that the heavily favored Alistair Overeem could throw at him and then winning with an impressive kick to the face and brutal hammerfists.
Not only have we now moved Browne past Overeem (previously ranked #6), but also past Frank Mir, who is not currently experiencing the best run of his career. Browne is likely only one win away from title contention and should only need to beat one of the few names above him on the list to get that opportunity.
Alistair Overeem on the other hand is spiraling down the rankings. This is now two fights in a row that he was solidly winning before getting brutally knocked out. Another loss will likely drop him right out of the Top 10 and possibly the entire UFC organization due to his high-level contract.
Steve Jeffery: Chael Sonnen’s position in the official UFC rankings has been rather controversial, especially over this past fight weekend. Previously he was one of the highest ranked Middleweight but after deciding to go to Light Heavyweight to challenge Jon Jones he was made available in both weight classes in the selection process. As a result, media were splitting the vote depending on the division they individually felt that he was fighting in.
Going into his headlining Light Heavyweight fight against Shogun Rua this past weekend, he was ranked only at #9 in Middleweight and not at all in Light Heavyweight. We personally took him out of the Middleweight division when he started competing at Light Heavyweight and did not rank him at all since he hadn’t won a fight at that weight. Now he has and did so in impressive fashion. Chael Sonnen is now our #7 ranked Light Heavyweight.
With the loss Shogun Rua continues his slide towards the bottom of the Top 10. As hard as it is to believe the former Champion could become completely unranked, the pressure is really on him now to win his next fight.
Steve Jeffery: The #10 ranked UFC Lightweight always seems to be our hardest spot to fill in the entire Official UFC Rankings. First there was Pat Healy’s drug test failure and the overturned win that followed. Then Raphael Dos Anjos beat Evan Dunham in a fight that most actually thought Dunham won including us. Add in a bunch of “almost there but not quite” guys like Myles Jury, Edson Barzoza and Jamie Warner, no-one really seemed to fit except for the inconsistent but still-proven Joe Lauzon.
Of course, not many expected Lauzon to lose to Michael Johnson this past weekend, much less in one of the most one-sided decisions of the year. That brutal loss to an unranked opponent was enough to drop Lauzon out of the top 10, but not quite enough for Johnson to replace him due to Johnson’s spotty recent record.
So our #10 ranked lightweight situation continues. After much debate, we’re putting Dos Anjos back in. That said he’s hanging on by a thread and really needs to look impressive next week against the dangerous Donald Cerrone.
The Hammer MMA Radio has featured interviews with some of the biggest names in MMA over the years, including Georges St. Pierre, Matt Hughes, BJ Penn, Sean Sherk, Mark Coleman, Rory MacDonald, Brendan Schaub, Mark Bocek, Nate Diaz, Mark Hominick, Martin Kampmann, Johny Hendricks, and many more, all of which are archived at http://www.thehammermma.com.
The Hammer MMA Radio continues to bring unparalleled, independent coverage of all things MMA to fans of the sport and they always bring you straight goods and the last word, and we at LWOS are pleased to be partners with them.
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