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 165: Jones vs. Gustafsson
Steve Jeffery: It’s not very common for a #1 contender to actually gain respect in losing, but that’s what appears to have happened with top Light Heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson following his close decision loss to champion Jon Jones. In a fight that really could have gone either way, Gustafsson put on the kind of performance that most 8-to-1 underdogs rarely provide.
Even with this loss it’s hard to dispute “The Mauler’s” claim as the second best in the division underneath a dominant champion that has never been tested before like he was last Saturday night. Whether or not Gustafsson receives an immediate rematch, for the moment he is still the top man in the division not wearing a title. He will probably hold that spot until someone can beat Jon Jones, or at least have an even closer fight, both of which seem improbable at the moment. Glover Teixeira is waiting to try though.
So after one of the best fights in years both the champion and the challenger retain their spots while we wait to see what’s next for each of them.
Steve Jeffery: For a fighter on a five-fight win streak going into last weekend’s fight, Francis “Limitless” Carmont has been very slow to make an impact on the UFC Middleweight division. It could be the dull fights or the couple of victories that most felt were undeserved, but he was proof that just winning fights doesn’t always make you a contender.
That was before Carmont completely dominated the also-streaking but overall more impressive Costa Philippou in one of the more dominating performances in recent memory. Sure, it wasn’t an exciting fight either, but at least Carmont earned the victory over the previously #7 ranked Middleweight in the world (both on our rankings, and the overall consensus rankings).
It’s going to be hard to deny Francis Carmont a big fight against a big name now that he has taken Philippou’s spot. Possibly a fight against the Michael Bisping vs. Mark Munoz winner will see if Carmont can hang now that he’s here. Philippou drops one spot to #8 now that his five-fight win streak is broken.
Steve Jeffery: Khabib Nurmagomedov has blasted his way into the UFC Lightweight ranks this year. While previously unranked by the overall consensus, we did have him at #10 going into this fight as he seemed to be one of the few fighters to maintain a streak in a division where a bunch of great fighters constantly halt each other’s momentum.
A win over Pat Healy is Nurmagomedov’s best win yet. Healy really should have been ranked at #7 following his huge victory over mainstay Jim Miller, before his failed drug test changed the fight to a no-contest.
Now Nurmagomedov is on a five fight win streak, has a big name victory under his belt, and is likely only a big win or two away from title contention. Pat Healy on the other hand is now coming off of a no-contest and a loss that will keep him out of the top ten for now. Fortunately for him, even though the Lightweight division is full of talent, the fact that everyone in it seems to trade victories means that it usually only takes a win or two to change everything.
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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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