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.
Official UFC Rankings Breakdown (February 24th, 2014)
UFC 170: Rousey vs. McMann
Steve Jeffery: At UFC 170, Sara McMann made for an intriguing challenger to the dominant reigning UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey. McMann’s undefeated record and Olympic Silver Medal in wrestling brought slightly more doubt to whether Rousey could just throw her on her back and submit with an armbar as she has done previously in every other fight in her career.
In the end the method was different, but the result was the same when McMann was stopped due to strikes in the first round following a brutal knee to the liver. It can be argued that the fight was stopped by the referee a bit early, but nevertheless Rousey’s striking proved to be as dangerous as the rest of her game. We’ve long had Sara McMann ranked a bit lower (#7) than most of the other UFC Rankings contributors (overall #4) due to a lack of big name wins and that placing seems to still fit. McMann will no doubt get another chance to re-prove herself against Top Five opposition next time out.
Meanwhile further down the card Alexis Davis had a hard-fought split decision win over Jessica Eye to likely create the next contender (if Cat Zingano remains out of action). A three fight win streak gave us just enough reason to bump Davis up one slot to #3, just above Meisha Tate who has had some tough recent losses against great competition.
Steve Jeffery: Raphael Assuncao is on an unlikely run towards the UFC Bantamweight title due to a six-fight win streak that would be impressive in any division in the UFC. It’s especially interesting in a Bantamweight division where the champion, Renan Barao, has smashed four of the top six challengers already.
We have actually had Assuncao ranked a few spots lower than the average prior to this last fight (#6 compared to the overall average of #3). This is because a long winning streak is impressive, but not as impressive as beating top competition. Assuncao win over short notice opponent Pedro Munhoz the other night is his sixth straight win, but really Assuncao’s most impressive win was a controversial split decision over #7 ranked TJ Dillashaw that we certainly disputed.
Nevertheless, Assuncao is still winning fights and improving each time out. As previously #5 ranked Brad Pickett has been on a bit of a slump and is about to leave for the Flyweight division, we have moved Assuncao up into his place, but not quite above Eddie Wineland who has been more impressive against better opposition.
Steve Jeffery: Former heavyweight Daniel Cormier (who has been ranked #3 for a while) has finally dropped down to 205 pounds as he has been talking about for most of the past year. Unfortunately his originally scheduled opponent Rashad Evans was injured 10 days prior to the fight, so Cormier didn’t get a chance to prove himself against one of the most established and accomplished fighters in his new division.
What he did get was Patrick Cummins, a former wrestling rival and recent barista who took the fight on almost no notice and created a grudge match that actually had some people intrigued prior to their fight. It’s rare in the UFC, especially now that there has been an established rankings system in place, for highly ranked fighters to fight not just unranked opponents but also fighters new to the promotion (it also happened in the Assuncao vs. Munhoz fight earlier in the card).
Unfortunately for Patrick Cummins the fight went the way that most expected, and he was knocked out about a minute into the fight. Now that Cormier has an official Light Heavyweight fight under his belt, it’s time to rank him in the division (and remove him from the Heavyweight rankings for now), but beating Patrick Cummins doesn’t prove very much. Due to the strength of Cormier’s Heavyweight wins and his seeming intention to stay in the division, we’ve started him out at #8. Below the former Champions and surging contenders, but above everyone those who are completely removed from the championship conversation. Cormier will likely get a chance to rocket up the rankings following his next fight.
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, Sara McMann, 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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