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 has 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 On Fox 9: Johnson vs. Benavidez
Steve Jeffery: Only a few weeks from our moving of Georges St. Pierre from the #1 to #2 slot in the pound-for-pound rankings, GSP vacated his title and voluntarily retired. It’s possible that he will return, and it would have been possible to keep him on the list for a while, but the UFC took the choice out of our hands and removed him from the selection system entirely.
As a result everyone else moved up one place and we needed to find a new #10 ranked pound-for-pound fighter. There are a lot of solid options (Ronda Rousey, Anthony Pettis, Gilbert Melendez, Frankie Edgar, Urijah Faber), but until Junior Dos Santos loses to someone other than Cain Velasquez he stands above the rest. For the record, Ronda Rousey was next on our list, but her lack of total fights kept her off for now.
Meanwhile, Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson just finished the #1 ranked contender in his division, and the smallest champion in the UFC continues to move up in the overall rankings.
Steve Jeffery: As mentioned above, Demetrious Johnson has not only defeated the top four men in his division, but last Saturday night he beat #1 ranked Joseph Benavidez a second time, and this time by knockout.
Benavidez may have lost to the champion again but he has had little trouble with anyone else in the division, while John Dodson hasn’t quite made a case to surpass him yet. For now Benavidez continues to be the #1 contender, but it will take some big wins to ever get a third match with the champion.
Also, former Bellator Bantamweight Champion Zach Makovsky took a short notice fight at Flyweight for his first ever shot in the UFC. His opponent was perennially-ranked Bantamweight Scott Jorgensen, also debuting at Flyweight. Makovsky won, and we decided even before the fight began that the winner would be the #10 ranked UFC Flyweight, replacing the somewhat stagnant Chris Cariaso.
Steve Jeffery: We didn’t really notice how shallow the Bantamweight division has recently become until this past weekend. Previously #7 ranked Scott Jorgensen has now moved to Flyweight, and currently #5 ranked Brad Pickett is following suit shortly.
While Urijah Faber’s impressive submission over Michael McDonald reinforced their positions in the division (Faber’s win all but guarantees him another shot at the title following Cruz and Barao’s title unification in February), things are looking less clear in the bottom half of the top ten.
With Jorgensen now out of the division entirely, we’ve moved formerly ranked Mike Easton back onto the list, but only tentatively unless be gets a big win soon. Once Pickett has his first Flyweight fight, the list of fighters with a solid enough resume to break into the top ten to replace him is currently looking pretty slim.
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, Renan Barao, 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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