Rankings

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KUMITE European MMA Rankings, April 2014

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Sorry I’m a bit late with the rankings this month, been busy. Anyways it’s been an active month with movement in every division and a few big changes based on fighters being removed due to inactivity or bans. Check it out…

Heavyweight

1- Alistair Overeem (Holland) 37-13 UFC
2- Vitaly Minakov (Russia) 14-0, Bellator def. Cheick Kongo 4/4
3- Andrei Arlovski (Belarus) 21-10, UFC
4- Stefan Struve (Netherlands) 25-6 UFC
5- Cheick Kongo (France) 20-8-2 Bellator lost to Vitaly MInakiv 4/4
6- Alexander Volkov (Russia) 21-4 Bellator def. Siala-Mo Siliga 11/4 UP 1
7- Damian Grabowski (Poland) 19-1 M-1 DOWN 1
8- Sergei Kharitonov (Russia) 22-6 IND
9- Alexey Oleinik (Ukraine) 53-9-1 IND
10- Marcin Tybura (Poland) 10-0 M-1 def. Maro Perak 4/4 UNRANKED

Light Heavyweight

1- Alexander Gustafsson (Sweden) 15-2, UFC
2- Jimi Manuwa (England) 14-1, UFC
3- Attila Vegh (Slovakia) 29-5-2, Bellator
4- Mikhail Zayats (Russia) 22-8, Bellator
5- Ilir Latifi (Sweden) 7-3 UFC
6- Jan Blachowicz (Poland) 17-3, KSW
7- Linton Vassell (England) 12-3, Bellator
8- Stephan Puetz (Germany) 9-1 M-1
9- Maxim Grishin (Russia) 17-6 IND
10- Mikkel Parlo (Denmark) 12-2 def. Johnny Cisneros 4/4 UNRANKED

Middleweight

1- Alexander Shlemenko (Russia) 50-7 Bellator UP 1
2- Michael Bisping (England) 24-5, UFC lost to Tim Kennedy 16/4 DOWN 1
3- Mamed Khalidov (Poland) 28-4-2, KSW
4- Gegard Mousasi (Armenia) 34-4-2 UFC
5- Frances Carmont (France) 22-8, UFC
6– Luke Barnatt (England) 7-0 UFC
7- Michal Materla (Poland) 20-4 KSW
8– Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (Russia) 23-2 M-1
9- Tom Watson (England) 16-6 UFC
10- Sultan Aliev (Russia) 11-2 IND NR

Welterweight

1- Tarec Saffiedine (Belgium) 15-3, UFC
2- Gunnar Nelson (Iceland) 11-0-1, UFC
3- Cathal Pendred (Ireland) 13-2-1, Cage Warriors
4- Nicholas Musoke (Sweden) 12-2 UFC
5- Adlan Amagov (Russia) 13-2-1, UFC
6- Gael Grimaud (France) 19-6, Cage Warriors
7- Nicolas Dalby (Denmark) 12-0 Cage Warriors
8– Paul Daley (England) 34-12-2 BAMMA
9– Andrey Koreshokov (Russia) 15-1 Bellator
10- Karl Amoussou (France) 17-6-2 Bellator def. David Gomez 18/4 UNRANKED

Lightweight

1- Khabib Nurmagomedov (Russia) 22-0, UFC def. Rafael dos Anjos 19/4
2- Rustam Khabilov (Russia) 17-1, UFC
3- Alexander Sarnavskiy (Russia) 26-2 IND
4- Ross Pearson (England) 15-6, UFC
5 – Marcin Held (Poland) 18-3 Bellator def. Derek Anderson 18/4 UP 5 
6- Ivan Buchinger (Slovakia) 26-4 M-1 def. Sergey Golyaev 4/4 UP 2
7- Musa Khamanaev (Russia) 13-3, M-1 DOWN 2
8- Norman Parke (Northern Ireland) 19-2-1 UFC DOWN 2
9- Piotr Hallmann (Poland) 14-2 UFC DOWN 1
10- Mansour Barnaoui (France) 11-2 BAMMA DOWN 1

Featherweight

1- Magomedrasul Khasbulaev (Russia) 21-5, Bellator def. Mike Richman 4/4 UP 2
2- Conor McGregor (Ireland) 14-2, 10-1 UFC
3- Tom Niinimaki (Finland) 21-5-1 UFC
4- Marat Gafurov (Ukraine) 9-0 M-1 NR def. Lee Morrison 4/4 UNRANKED
5- Shabulat Shamhalaev (Russia) 12-2-1, Bellator
6- Daniel Weichel (Germany) 33-8, Bellator
7- Joni Salovaara (Finland) 14-7 IND
8- Sergei Greicho (Lithuania) 15-5-1 OC
9- Niklas Backstrom (Sweden) 7-0 IND
10- Robert Whiteford (Scotland) 11-2 UFC

* Dennis Siver removed from rankings due to PED ban.

Bantamweight

1- Vaughan Lee (England) 14-9-1 UFC
2- Brett Johns (Wales) 10-0, Cage Warriors © def. James Brum 12/4
3- Ronnie Mann (England) 23-6-1 Cage Warriors UP 1
4- Cory Tait (England) 8-2 Cage Warriors UP 1
5- Timo-Juhan Hirvikangas (Finland) 8-2 Cage FC def. Tymoteusz Swiatek 5/4 UP 1
6- James Brum (England) 14-2, Cage Warriors lost to Brett Johns 12/4 DOWN 3
7- Sirwan Kakai (sweden) 9-2, IND UP 1
8- David Haggstrom (Sweden) 7-2-1 IND UP 1
9- Toni Tauru (Finland) 9-1-1 Cage Warriors UP 1
10- Magomed Biboulatov (France) 5-0 IND UNRANKED

* Martin McDonough now a Flyweight

Flyweight

1- Ali Bagautinov (Russia) 13-2 UFC
2- Brad Pickett (England) 24-8 UFC
3- Pietro Menga (England) 11-0 FCC ©
4- Marcin Lasota (Poland) 8-0 Cage Warriors
5- Neil Seery (Ireland) 13-10 UFC
6- Shaj Haque (England) 4-1 Cage Warriors def. Martin McDonough 12/4 UP 1
6- Mikael Silander (Finland) 10-3 The Cage def. Daniel Barez 5/4
7- Rany Saadeh (Germany) 6-1 BAMMA def. Mahmood Besharate 5/4 UNRANKED
8- Kairat Akhmetov (Kazakhstan) IND UNRANKED
9- Kevin Petshi (France) 5-0 IND def. Victor Balica 4/4
10- Phil Harris (England) 22-12 Cage Warriors DOWN 2

Women’s P4P

(Due to the less developed state of Women’s MMA we’re ranking our top ten female fighters from across the weight classes – we hope to expand this section in future.)

1- Joanne Calderwood (Scotland) 8-0 Invicta FC
2 – Marloes Coenen (Netherlands) 21-6 Invicta FC
3 – Katja Kankaanpaa (Finland) 8-1-1 Invicta FC
4- Rosi Sexton (England) 13-4 IND
5- Aisling Daly (Ireland) 12-5 Cage Warriors
6- Milana Dudieva (Russia) 8-3 ProFC
7- Maria Hoegaard Djursa (Denmark) 5-4 IND
8- Shiela Gaff (Germany) 10-6-1 UFC
9- Agnieszka Niedzwiedz (Poland) 6-0 Cage Warriors def. Gemma Hewitt 12/4 UNRANKED
10- Pannie Kianzad (Sweden) 4-0 IND DOWN 1

 

 

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KUMITE European MMA Rankings, March 2014

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It’s been a huge month for European MMA, from UFC Fight Night London and a busy Cage Warriors schedule to the debut of Europa MMA. The rankings have certainly been shaken in several divisions, so let’s take a look.

Heavyweight

1- Alistair Overeem (Holland) 37-13 UFC
2- Vitaly Minakov (Russia) 13-0, Bellator
3- Andrei Arlovski (Belarus) 21-10, WSOF
4- Stefan Struve (Netherlands) 25-6 UFC
5- Cheick Kongo (France) 20-8-2 Bellator
6- Damian Grabowski (Poland) 19-1 KSW
7- Alexander Volkov (Russia) 19-4 Bellator
8- Sergei Kharitonov (Russia) 21-6 IND
9- Alexey Oleinik (Ukraine) 53-9-1 IND
10- Magomed Malikov (Russia) 7-2 M-1

Not a big month for the ranked fighters, but April will be huge with Minakov vs. Kongo on 4/4 and big bouts for Alexander Volkov and a host of potential contenders including Konstantin Erokhin, Blagoi Ivanov, Phil DeFries and Daniel Omielanczuk.

Light Heavyweight

1- Alexander Gustafsson (Sweden) 15-2, UFC defeated Jimi Manuwa 8/3
2- Jimi Manuwa (England) 14-1, UFC lost to Alexander Gustafsson 8/3
3- Attila Vegh (Slovakia) 29-5-2, Bellator lost to Emanuel Newton 21/3
4- Mikhail Zayats (Russia) 22-8, Bellator lost to Muhammed Lawal 28/2
5- Ilir Latifi (Sweden) 7-3 UFC defeared Cyrille Diabate 8/3 UP
6- Jan Blachowicz (Poland) 17-3, KSW
7- Linton Vassell (England) 12-3, Bellator UP1
8- Stephan Puetz (Germany) 9-1 M-1 defeated Viktor Nemkov on 14/3 NR
9- Maxim Grishin (Russia) 17-6 NR
10- Viktor Nemkov (Russia) 19-5 M-1 lost to DOWN3

Ilir Latifi was the big winner this month with his dominant win over the now retired Cyrille Diabate. Diabate’s loss and retirement allowed Maxim Grishin into the top ten, while Stephan Puetz enters at 8 thanks to his win over Viktor Nemkov who drops to tenth.

Next month sees big fights for Linton Vassell, Volkan Oezdemir and veteran Vladimir Matyshenko who could all improve their standing or enter the top ten.

Middleweight

1- Michael Bisping (England) 24-5, UFC
2- Alexander Shlemenko (Russia) 50-7 Bellator UP1 defeated Brennan Ward 28/3
3- Mamed Khalidov (Poland) 28-4-2, KSW DOWN 1
4- Gegard Mousasi (Armenia) 34-4-2 UFC
5- Frances Carmont (France) 22-8, UFC
6– Luke Barnatt (England) 7-0 UFC
7- Michal Materla (Poland) 20-4 KSW UP1 def. Jay Silva 22/3
8– Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (Russia) 23-2 M-1 DOWN1
9- Tom Watson (England) 16-6 UFC
10- Ramazan Emeev (Azerbaijan) 11-2 M-1

Wins for Shlemenko and Materla boost their stock a bit, while wins for Abu Azaitar and Norman Paraisy at Cage Warriors push them closer to the top ten.

Big fights for Michael Bisping, Mikkel Parlo and Max Nunes to come in April.

Welterweight

1- Tarec Saffiedine (Belgium) 15-3, UFC
2- Gunnar Nelson (Iceland) 11-0-1, UFC
3- Cathal Pendred (Ireland) 13-2-1, Cage Warriors
4- Nicholas Musoke (Sweden) 12-2 UFC
5- Adlan Amagov (Russia) 13-2-1, UFC
6- Gael Grimaud (France) 19-6, Cage Warriors
7- Nicolas Dalby (Denmark) 12-0 Cage Warriors def. Sergeo Churilov 22/3
8– Paul Daley (England) 34-12-2 BAMMA
9– Andrey Koreshokov (Russia) 15-1 Bellator
10- Jim Wallhead (England) 25-8 Cage Warriors

Aslambek Saidov drop out to accommodate Andrey Koreshkov after a big win, but otherwise a quiet month for the top of the division.

With Koreshokov, Saidov and Ali Arish all in action next month, there could well be more movement.

Lightweight

1- Khabib Nurmagomedov (Russia) 21-0, UFC
2- Rustam Khabilov (Russia) 17-1, UFC
3- Alexander Sarnavskiy (Russia) 26-2 IND
4- Ross Pearson (England) 15-6, UFC
5- Musa Khamanaev (Russia) 13-3, M-1
6- Norman Parke (Northern Ireland) 19-2-1 UFC Majority Draw with Leo Santos 23/3
7- Ivan Buchinger (Slovakia) 25-4 Cage Warriors
8- Piotr Hallmann (Poland) 14-2 UFC
9- Mansour Barnaoui (France) 11-2 BAMMA
10- Marcin Held (Poland) 17-3 Bellator NR

Ramazan Esenbaev drops out to accommodate the rejuvenated Marcin Held but has a fight on 5th April to possibly sneak back in. Khabib Nurmagomediv has a big match on 19th April and Held has another Bellator tournament bout on the 18th. Elsewhere, Ivan Buchinger, David Khachatryan and Colin Fletcher are all in action throughout the month.

Featherweight

1- Dennis Siver (Germany) 22-9, UFC
2- Conor McGregor (Ireland) 14-2, 10-1 UFC
3- Tom Niinimaki (Finland) 21-5-1 UFC
4- Magomedrasul Khasbulaev (Russia) 21-5, Bellator
5- Shabulat Shamhalaev (Russia) 12-2-1, Bellator
6- Daniel Weichel (Germany) 33-8, Bellator NR defeated Matt Bessette 28/3
7- Joni Salovaara (Finland) 14-7 IND DOWN 1
8- Sergei Greicho (Lithuania) 15-5-1 OC
9- Niklas Backstrom (Sweden) 7-0 IND NR defeated Max Coga 22/3
10- Robert Whiteford (Scotland) 11-2 UFC NR defeated Daniel Pineda 15/3

Chris Fishgold, Akira Corassani and Marat Gafurov drop out due to big wins for Weichel, Whiteford and Backstrom while victories for Alexey Butorin, Martin Svensson and teddy Vilet push them into contention.

May sees big fights for Magmomedrasul Khasbulaev, Corassani, Gafurov and Tom Duquesnoy

Bantamweight

1- Vaughan Lee (England) 14-9-1 UFC NR def. Nam Phan 1/3
2- Brett Johns (Wales) 8-0, Cage Warriors ©
3- James Brum (England) 14-2, Cage Warriors
4- Ronnie Mann (England) 23-6-1 Cage Warriors
5- Cory Tait (England) 8-2 Cage Warriors
6- Timo-Juhan Hirvikangas (Finland) 8-2 Cage FC
7- Martin McDonough (Wales) 11-4, Cage Warriors
8- Sirwan Kakai (sweden) 9-2, IND
9- David Haggstrom (Sweden) 7-2-1 IND
10- Toni Tauru (Finland) 9-1-1 NR Cage Warriors

Brad Pickett’s drop to Flyweight opens a whole at the top which is swiftly filled by Vaughan Lee after a stunning win over Nam Phan. Toni Tauru enters the rankings after his dominant performance on Cage Warriors.

April promises movement at the top with Brett Johns vs. James Brum and a fight for Timo Hirvikangas.

Flyweight

1- Ali Bagautinov (Russia) 13-2 UFC
2- Brad Pickett (England) 24-8 UFC NR defeated Neil Seery 8/3
3- Pietro Menga (England) 11-0 FCC © UP 1 defeated Sotir Kichukov 22/3
4- Marcin Lasota (Poland) 8-0 NR Cage Warriors defeated Paul Marin 28/3
5- Neil Seery (Ireland) 13-10 UFC DOWN 3 lost to Brad Pickett 8/3
6- Mikael Silander (Finaland) 8-3 IND DOWN 1
7- Shaj Haque (England) 4-1 Cage Warriors
8- Phil Harris (England) 22-12 UFC DOWN 5 lost to Louis Gaudinot 8/3
9- Paul Marin (Romania) 7-4, Cage Warriors DOWN 2 lost to Marcin Lasota 28/3
10- Paul McVeigh (Northern Ireland) 19-8 Cage Warriors DOWN 2

Very intense month for the division, with Brad Pickett and Marcin Lasota earning big wins and with Silander, Saadeh, Haque and Martin McDonough all in action

Women’s P4P

(Due to the less developed state of Women’s MMA we’re ranking our top ten female fighters from across the weight classes – we hope to expand this section in future.)

1- Joanne Calderwood (Scotland) 8-0 Invicta FC
2 – Marloes Coenen (Netherlands) 21-6 Invicta FC
3 – Katja Kankaanpaa (Finland) 8-1-1 Invicta FC
4- Rosi Sexton (England) 13-4 IND
5- Aisling Daly (Ireland) 12-5 Cage Warriors
6- Milana Dudieva (Russia) 8-3 ProFC
7- Maria Hoegaard Djursa (Denmark) 5-4 IND
8- Shiela Gaff (Germany) 10-6-1 UFC
9- Pannie Kianzad (Sweden) 4-0 IND
10- Joanna Jedrzejczyk (Poland) 4-0 IND

It’s been a quiet month for the girls, with Lena Tkhorevska and Kamila Porczyk earning wins but not yet being enough to crack the rankings. Expect things to speed up once Invicta comes back into action.

European National Rankings
(Each ranked fighter scores points for their nation, with a no.1 ranking earning 10 points, down to a 10 ranking earning 1 point. This is just for fun.)

1- England – 113pts UP 1
2- Russia – 110pts DOWN 1
3- Poland – 34pts UP 3
4- Sweden – 32pts UP 3
5- Finland – 31pts DOWN 2
6- Ireland – 29pts DOWN 3
7- Netherlands – 26pts DOWN 2
8- France – 23pts –
9- Germany – 21pts –
10- Wales – 13pts DOWN 1

 

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KUMITE European MMA Rankings, February 2014

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A few significant cards on show with the UFC and Cage Warriors back in action and offerings from M-1 and Cage meaning theres quite a lot of movement this month…

Heavyweight

1- Alistair Overeem (Holland) 37-13 UFC def. Frank Mir 1st February ^5
2- Vitaly Minakov (Russia) 13-0, Bellator v1
3- Andrei Arlovski (Belarus) 21-10, WSOF v1
4- Stefan Struve (Netherlands) 25-6, UFC v1
5- Cheick Kongo (France) 20-8-2, Bellator v1
6- Damian Grabowski (Poland) 19-1, IND
7- Alexander Volkov (Russia) 19-4, Bellator
8- Sergei Kharitonov (Russia) 21-6, IND
9- Alexey Oleinik (Ukraine) 53-9-1, IND
10- Magomed Malikov (Russia) 7-2, M-1

Ubereem returns to the top tanked position following his impressive win over Frank Mir. March promises a few significant fights with Alexander Volkov looking to climb back towards the top against Mark Holata, while Konstantin Erokin, Michal Kita and Blagoi Ivanov all have chances to move towards the top ten.

Light Heavyweight

1- Alexander Gustafsson (Sweden) 15-2, UFC
2- Jimi Manuwa (England) 14-0, UFC
3- Attila Vegh (Slovakia) 29-4-2, Bellator
4- Mikhail Zayats (Russia) 22-7, Bellator
5- Jan Blachowicz (Poland) 17-3, KSW ^1
6- Victor Nemkov (Russia) 19-4, M-1 ^1
7- Linton Vassell (England) 12-3, Bellator ^1
8- Jason Jones (Netherlands) 20-10, BAMMA ^1
9- Cyrille Diabate (France) 19-9, UFC ^1
10- Ilir Latifi (Sweden) 7-3 UFC NR

The only movement this month sees Gegard Mousasi move to Middleweight, allowing Ilir Latifi into the top ten. March will be a huge month for this division with four ranked fighters competing at UFC London and Attila Vegh defending his Bellator title against Emanuele Newton while Mikhail Zayats faces King Mo on Friday.

Middleweight

1- Michael Bisping (England) 24-5, UFC
2- Mamed Khalidov (Poland) 28-4-2, KSW
3- Alexander Shlemenko (Russia) 49-7 IND ^1
4- Gegard Mousasi (Armenia) 34-4-2 UFC NR – comes down from Middleweight – lost to Lyoto Machida 15th February
5- Frances Carmont (France) 22-8, UFC v2 lost to Ronaldo Souza on 15th February
6 – Luke Barnatt (England) 7-0 UFC v1
7 – Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (Russia) 23-2 M-1 v1
8 – Michal Materla (Poland) 19-4 KSW v1
9 – Tom Watson (England) 16-6 UFC v1
10 – Ramazan Emeev (Azerbaijan) 11-2 M-1 v1

All the movement comes from Carmont’s loss to Jacare and Mousasi being back in the division. Faycal Hucin drops out due to Mousasi’s arrival and March sees Shlemenko, Barnatt, Materla and contenders Tomas Drwal and Mats Nilsson in action so a lot can change.

Welterweight

1- Tarec Saffiedine (Belgium) 15-3, UFC
2- Gunnar Nelson (Iceland) 11-0-1, UFC ^1
3- Cathal Pendred (Ireland) 13-2-1, Cage Warriors ^1
4- Nicholas Musoke (Sweden) 12-2 UFC NR – def. Viscardi Andrade on 15th February
5- Adlan Amagov (Russia) 13-2-1, UFC
6- Gael Grimaud (France) 19-6, Cage Warriors
7- Nicolas Dalby (Denmark) 11-0 Cage Warriors
8 – Paul Daley (England) 34-12-2 BAMMA
9 – Jim Wallhead (England) 25-8, BAMMA
10 – Aslambek Saidov (Poland) 15-3 KSW

I’ve unranked Martin Kampmann due to his self imposed hiatus, with his place taken by Niko Musoke after his impressive away victory on the recent UFC card in Brasil.

Lightweight

1- Khabib Nurmagomedov (Russia) 21-0, UFC
2- Rustam Khabilov (Russia) 17-1, UFC
3- Alexander Sarnavskiy (Russia) 26-2 IND
4- Ross Pearson (England) 15-6, UFC
5- Musa Khamanaev (Russia) 13-3, M-1
6- Norman Parke (Northern Ireland) 19-2 UFC
7- Ivan Buchinger (Slovakia) 25-4 Cage Warriors
8- Piotr Hallmann (Poland) 14-2 UFC
9- Mansour Barnaoui (France) 11-2 BAMMA
10- Ramazan Esenbaev (Russia) 6-1 IND

Slow month for the division, but March sees Mairbek Taisumov, Marcin Held and Daniel Weichel with opportunities to climb the ladder.

Featherweight

1- Dennis Siver (Germany) 22-9, UFC
2- Conor McGregor (Ireland) 14-2, 10-1 UFC
3 – Tom Niinimaki (Finland) 21-5-1 UFC
4- Magomedrasul Khasbulaev (Russia) 21-5, Bellator
5- Shabulat Shamhalaev (Russia) 12-2-1, Bellator
6- Joni Salovaara (Finland) 14-7 IND
7- Sergei Greicho (Lithuania) 15-5-1 OC
8- Chris Fishgold (England) 10-0 Cage Warriors
9- Akira Corassani (Sweden) 12-3, UFC
10– Marat Gafurov (Ukraine) 8-0 IND

Quiet month for the top ten with no fighters active. Wins for Max Coga and Zubaira Tukhugov push them closer to the top ten, while March sees Robert Whiteford and Artem Lobov with great opportunities to code the distance as well.

Bantamweight

1- Brad Pickett (England) 23-8, UFC
2- Brett Johns (Wales) 8-0, Cage Warriors ©
3- James Brum (England) 14-2, Cage Warriors
4- Ronnie Mann (England) 23-6-1 Cage Warriors
5- Cory Tait (England) 8-2 Cage Warriors NR def. James Pennington, 15th February
6- Timo-Juhan Hirbokangas (Finland) 8-2 Cage FC V1
7- Martin McDonough (Wales) 11-4, Cage Warriors
8- Sirwan Kakai (sweden) 9-2, IND
9- David Haggstrom (Sweden) 7-2-1 IND
10 Ruslan Abiltarov (Ukraine) 16-4-1 IND

Cory Tait’s win over James Pennington jumps him to fifth in the rankings, while Pennington drops out. March sees Vaughan Lee, Davey Grant and Damien Rooney all in big matches with prospects of being ranked next time round.

Flyweight

1- Ali Bagautinov (Russia) 13-2 UFC def. John Lineker on 1st February
2- Neil Seery (Ireland) 13-9 Cage Warriors ©
3- Phil Harris (England) 22-11 UFC
4- Pietro Menga (England) 10-0 FCC ©
5- Mikael Silander (Finaland) 8-3 IND def. Tony Caizedo 15th February ^2
6- Paul Marin (Romania) 7-3, Cage Warriors v1
7- Shaj Haque (England) 4-1 Cage Warriors v1
8- Paul McVeigh (Northern Ireland) 19-8 Cage Warriors
9- Chris Miah (England) 5-0 IND
10- Kairat Akhmetov (Kazakhstan) 7-0 IND NR

Baguatinov extends his lead as Europe’s #1 Flyweight with his win over John Lineker while Mikael Silander gets back in the win column at Cage.

Phil Harris has a huge match next month against Louis Gaudinot and we live in hope that Neil Seery will get the call to face Ian McCall.

I realised I completed neglected Kairat Akhmetov last month, so he’s been elevated into the top ten at the expense of Rany Saadeh.

Women’s P4P

(Due to the less developed state of Women’s MMA we’re ranking our top ten female fighters from across the weight classes – we hope to expand this section in future.)

1- Joanne Calderwood (Scotland) 8-0 Invicta FC
2 – Marloes Coenen (Netherlands) 21-6 Invicta FC
3 – Katja Kankaanpaa (Finland) 8-1-1 Invicta FC
4- Rosi Sexton (England) 13-4 IND
5- Aisling Daly (Ireland) 12-5 Cage Warriors
6- Milana Dudieva (Russia) 8-3 ProFC
7- Maria Hoegaard Djursa (Denmark) 5-4 IND
8- Shiela Gaff (Germany) 10-6-1 UFC
9- Pannie Kianzad (Sweden) 4-0 IND
10- Joanna Jedrzejczyk (Poland) 4-0 IND
No action from ranked fighters means no movement but I have to give a nod to Laura Howarth who definitely stepped closer to contention with her gritty win over Amanda Kelly at Cage Warriors 64.

European National Rankings

(Each ranked fighter scores points for their nation, with a no.1 ranking earning 10 points, down to a 10 ranking earning 1 point. This is just for fun.)

1 – Russia – 109 pts
2 – England – 104 pts
3= Finland – 32 pts
3= Ireland – 32 pts
5 – Netherlands – 29 pts ^2
6 – Poland – 28 pts V1
7 – Sweden – 27 pts ^1
8 – France – 21 pts V1
9= Germany – 13 pts ^1
9= Wales – 13 pts NR

 

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European MMA Rankings, November 2013

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Following an offhand Twitter comment from Cage Warriors’ Paul Dollery, we thought that European rankings might be a fun thing to have a crack at, being definitely more interesting (and more work) than UFC or world rankings (which are in some divisions almost the same thing.)

We’ve assembled these rankings based on a ‘what have you done for me lately’ premise, rewarding good form over reputation, largely concentrating on a fighter’s record over the last three years.

Wins by stoppage, over name opposition in bouts of consequence are weighted most heavily, with a narrow, competitive loss to a quality fighter often being worth more than three wins over horridly outclassed opposition.

For us, is who you fight and how that matters most, not the cold win/loss record…

Let’s get into it…

Legend –

The information at each fighter record is
#Ranking- Fighter Name (Nation) overall record, record in last three years, promotion (biggest/most recent wins)

Heavyweight

1- Vitaly Minakov (Russia) 13-0, 10-0 Bellator (Alexander Volkov, Ryan Martinez)
2- Stefan Struve (Netherlands) 25-6, 5-2 UFC (Stipe Miocic, Pat Barry)
3- Cheick Kongo (France) 20-8-2, 5-2 Bellator (Matt Mitrione, Pat Barry, Shan Jordan)
4- Alistair Overeem (netherlands) 36-13, 3-2 UFC (Brock Lesnar)
5- Andrei Arlovski (Belarus) 20-10, 5-2 WSOF (Mike Kyle, Mike Hayes)
6- Alexander Volkov (Russia) 19-4, 10-2 Bellator (Rich Hale, Vinicious Spartan, Brett Rogers)
7- Alexey Oleinik (Ukraine) 53-9-1, 10-2 IND (Mirko Filipovic, Jeff Monson, Dion Staring)
8- Damian Grabowski (Poland) 18-1, 5-0 IND (Stave Economou, Dave Huckaba)
9- Magomed Malikov (Russia) 7-2, 5-2 M-1 (Jeff Monson, Aleksandr Emelianenko, Alexey Oleinik)
10- Sergei Kharitonov (Russia) 21-6, 4-1, IND (Andrei Arlovski)

Light Heavyweight

1- Alexander Gustafsson (Sweden) 15-2, 5-1 UFC (Shogun Rua, Thiago Silva)
2- Jimi Manuwa (England) 14-0, 5-0 UFC (Ryan Jimmo, Cyrille Diabate)
3- Attila Vegh (Slovakia) 29-4-2, 9-0-1 Bellator (Christian M’Pumbu, Emanuel Newton, Zelg Galesic, Travis Wiuff)
4- Mikhail Zayats (Russia) 22-7 , 10-2 Bellator (Renato Sobral)
5- Gegard Mousasi (Armenia) 34-3-2, 4-0-1 UFC (Mike Kyle, Ovince St-Preux) *returning to Middleweight in February,
6- Jan Blachowicz (Poland) 17-3, 5-1 KSW (Goran Reljic, Houston Alexander, Rameu Thierry Sokoudjou)
7- Victor Nemkov (Russia) 19-4, 10-1 M-1 (Vasily Babich)
8- Linton Vassell (England) 12-3, 7-0 Bellator (Zelg Galesic)
9- Jason Jones (Netherlands) 20-10, 5-1 BAMMA (Max Nunes, Tatsuya Mizuno, Przemyslaw Mysiala)
10- Cyrille Diabate (France) 19-9, 3-2 UFC (Chad Griggs)

Middleweight

1- Michael Bisping (England) 24-5, 4-2 UFC (Alan Belcher, Brian Stann)
2- Frances Carmont (France) 22-7, 9-0 UFC (Costa Phillipou, Lorenz Larkin, Tom Lawlor)
3- Alexander Shlemenko (Russia) 49-7, 11-0 Bellator (Doug Marshall, Brett Cooper)
4- Mamed Khalidov (Poland) 27-4-2, 7-0 KSW (Melvin Manhoef, Kendall Grove, Jesse Taylor)
5 – Luke Barnatt (England) 7-0, 7-0 UFC (Andrew Craig)
6 – Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (Russia) 23-2, 13-1 M-1 (Trevpr Prangley)
7- Michal Materla (Poland) 19-4, 6-1 KSW (Kendall Grove, Matt Horwich)
8- Tom Watson (England) 16-6, 3-2 UFC (Stanislav Nedkov, Jack Marshman)
9- Ramazan Emeev (Azerbaijan) 11-2, 8-0 M-1 (Mario Miranda)
10- Nicolas Musoke (Sweden) 11-2, 7-1 UFC (Alessio Sakara) *returning to Welterweight 

Welterweight

1- Tarec Saffiedine (Belgium) 14-3, 4-1 UFC (Nate Marquardt)
2- Martin Kampmann (Denmark) 20-7, 3-3 UFC (Jake Ellenberger, Thiago Alves, Rick Story)
3- Gunnar Nelson (Iceland) 11-0-1, 3-0 UFC (Jorge Santiago, Damarques Johnson)
4- Cathal Pendred (Ireland) 13-2-1, 8-1-1 Cage Warriors (Che Mills, Gael Grimaud)
5- Adlan Amagov (Russia) 13-2-1, 6-1 UFC (TJ Waldburger)
6- Andrey Koreshokov (Russia) 13-1, 12-1 Bellator (Lyman Good, Marius Zaromskis)
7- John Hathaway (England) 17-1, 3-0 UFC (John Maguire, Pascal Krauss)
8- Rashid Magomedov (Russia) 12-1, 6-0 IND (Alexander Yakovlev)
9- Gael Grimaud (France) 19-6, 10-2 Cage Warriors (Jesse Taylor, Bruno Carvalho)
10- Nicolas Dalby (Denmark) 11-0 7-0 Cage Warriors (Morten Djursaa)

Lightweight

1- Khabib Nurmagomedov (Russia) 21-0, 12-0 UFC (Pat Healy, Gleison Tibau)
2- Rustam Khabilov (Russia) 17-1, 6-1 UFC (Jorge Masvidal)
3- Alexander Sarnavskiy (Russia) 25-2 Bellator (Ricardo Tirloni, Marcus Davis)
4- Ross Pearson (England) 15-6, 4-2 UFC (George Sotiropolos)
5- Musa Khamanaev (Russia) 13-3, 8-1 M-1 (Daniel Weichel)
6- Norman Parke (Norther Ireland) 19-2, 5-0 UFC (Jon Tuck, Colin Fletcher)
7- Steven Ray (Scotland) 14-4, 10-3 Cage Warriors © (Jason Ball, Sean Carter)
8- Piotr Hallmann (Poland) 14-2, 10-1 UFC (Francisco Trinaldo)
9- Marcin Held (Poland) 16-3, 6-2 Bellator (Rich Clementi)
10- Ivan Buchinger (Slovakia) 24-4, 8-2 Cage Warriors (Jason Ball, Diego Gonzalez)

Featherweight

1- Conor McGregor (Ireland) 14-2, 10-1 UFC (Ivan Buchinger, Max Holloway)
2- Dennis Siver (Germany) 21-9, 4-2 UFC (Diego Nunes, Nam Phan)
3- Magomedrasul Khasbulaev (Russia) 21-5, 11-1 Bellator (Mike Richman, Marlon Sandro)
4- Tom Niinimaki (Finland) 20-5-1, 6-0 Cage FC (Walel Watson, Chase Beebe)
5- Shabulat Shamhalaev (Russia) 12-2-1, 6-1-1 Bellator (Mike Richman)
6- Joni Salovaara (Finland) 14-7 7-2 IND (Olivier Pastor, Chase Beebe)
7- Graham Turner (Scotland) 23-7, 7-1 Cage Warriors (Nad Narimani, Fouad Mesdari, Nathan Beer)
8- Sergei Greicho (Lithuania) 15-5-1, 8-2 OC (Joni Salovaara, Olivier Pastor)
9 – Niklas Backstrom (Sweden) 6-0, 4-0 IND (Sergeio Greicho)
10 – Akira Corassani (Sweden) 11-3, 2-1 UFC (Robbie Peralta)

Bantamweight

1- Brad Pickett (England) 23-8, 4-3 UFC (Mike Easton, Yves Jabouin)
2- Brett Johns (Wales) 8-0, 8-0 Cage Warriors © (David Haggstrom)
3- James Brum (England) 13-2, 9-2 Cage Warriors (Olivier Pastor, Moktar Benkaci)
4- Timo-Juhan Hirbokangas (Finland) 8-2, 7-1 Cage FC (Niko Gjoka, Artemij Sitenkov)
5- David Aranda Santacana (Spain) 9-0, 3-0 IND (Olivier Pastor, James Doolan)
6- James Pennington (England) 9-1, 7-1 Cage Warriors (Kris Edwards, James Doolan)
7- Martin McDonough (Wales) 11-4, 6-2 Cage Warriors (Alex Enlund, Stee McCombe)
8- Sirwan Kakai (sweden) 9-2, 5-1 IND (Jose Luis Zapater, James Doolan)
9- David Haggstrom (Sweden) 7-2-1, 3-2 IND (Artemij Sitenkov, James Doolan)
10- Cory Tait (England) 7-2, 5-2 UCMMA (Spencer Hewitt, Nathan Beer)

Flyweight

1- Ali Bagautinov (Russia) 12-2, 10-2 UFC (Tim Elliot)
2- Neil Seery (Ireland) 13-9, 5-1 Cage Warriors © (Mikael Silander)
3- Phil Harris (England) 22-11, 3-2 UFC (Ulysses Gomez, Neil Seery)
4- Pietro Menga (England) 10-0, 10-0 FCC © (Artemij Sitenkov)
5- Mikael Silander (Finaland) 8-3, 7-3 IND (Wade Choate)
6- Paul McVeigh (Northern Ireland) 19-8, 2-2, Cage Warriors (Paul Marin)
7- Paul Marin (Romania) 6-3, 6-3 Cage Warriors (Shaj Haque)
8- Shaj Haque (England) 3-1, 3-1 Cage Warriors (Kris Edwards)
9- Steve McCombe (Northern Ireland) 19-21-1, 6-7 IND (Scott Pooley)
10- Scott Pooley (England) 6-4-1, 3-1 SnA (Kris Edwards, Martin McDonough)

Women’s P4P

(due to the less developed state of Women’s MMA we’re ranking our top ten female fighters from across the weight classes – we hope to expand this section in future)

1- Marloes Coenen (Netherlands) 21-6, 3-2 Invicta FC (Romy Ruyssen, Liz Carmouche)
2- Katja Kankaanpaa (Finland) 8-0-1, 5-0-1 Invicta FC (Aisling Daly)
3- Joanne Calderwood (Scotland) 7-0, 7-0 Invicta FC (Asjley Cummins, Sally Krumdiack)
4- Rosi Sexton (England) 13-4, 3-2 UFC (Aisling Daly, Roxanne Modafferi)
5- Milana Dudieva (Russia) 8-3, 3-2 ProFC (Danielle West, Sheila Gaff)
6- Maria Hoegaard Djursa (Denmark) 5-4, 3-0 IND (Alexandra Buch)
7- Shiela Gaff (Germany) 10-6-1, 3-3 UFC (Jennifer Maia, Aisling Daly)
8- Pannie Kianzad (Sweden) 4-0, 4-0 IND (Milana Dudieva)
9- Aisling Daly (Ireland) 12-5, 4-4 Cage Warriors (Jessica Eye)
10- Joanna Jedrzejczyk (Poland) 4-0, 4-0 (Julia Berezikova)

In the interests of amusement, I decided to tally up the totals per nation, awarding points in reverse order (10pts for a first place ranking, 1pt for a 10th place ranking) just to see which nation in Europe is the most awesome at MMA right now.

European National Rankings

1 – Russia – 119 pts
2 – England – 92 pts
3 – Finland – 34 pts
4 = Ireland – 28pts
4 = Netherlands – 28pts
6 = Poland – 25pts
7 = Sweden – 21 pts
8 = France – 20 pts
9 = Scotland – 16 pts
10 = Denmark – 15 pts

We here at Kumite welcome our new Russian overlords…

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Why Are Rankings So Rubbish?

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The concept of ranking fighters has always been a bit silly. After all, it doesn’t REALLY mean anything other than a snapshot of who is perceived to be the best, next best and so on at a certain point in time, remembering that STYLES MAKE FIGHTS.

Everyone knows that a #10 ranked fighter can be a nightmare of a match for the #2 ranked fighter, depending on their skill set, so what’s the point?

Also, we see so very often that an ‘unheralded’ fighter (such as any fighter making their UFC or Stateside debut) shows themselves to be the equal or better of their better known, widely ranked opponent. How can this be? Do the rankings lie?

In a word, yes.

The other day, I saw a tweet by Shock ‘N Awe Featherweight champion Jay Furness where he marvelled at being ranked above the likes of Leonard Garcia and Caol Uno in the www.fightmatrix.com rankings.

This didn’t really surprise me, because Fight Matrix calculate their rankings based purely on recent results, rather than most rankings which are compiled by the aggregate perspective of a bunch of MMA journalists.

Given that Furness is 4-1 in his last five, with his only loss coming via decision in Brazil, while Uno is 2-3 and Garcia 0-5 over the same number of fights, I’d bloody well expect him to be ranked higher.

The fact that Furness himself as surprised to be ranked above such names (Uno having been a UFC headliner once upon a time and Garcia having only just been released from the UFC) reveals the bias in most rankings, where even the best willed enthusiasts will favour fighters who entertain them, who’s personalities they identify with, who they have fond memories of from the days when this was all so new to them.

This leads to fighters who have been big names holding onto high rankings long after they should have been replaced by fighters who are more active, more winning and in many cases have just beaten the fighter ranked above them.

Rankings should be about who is the most competitive RIGHT NOW, not which fighter you kinda like or should be considered a threat to a top level fighter despite recent results.

Of course, objective stats-based rankings have their flaws, as it is possible to cheat them by being more active, accruing more wins against low level opposition etc. This is shown in tennis, where ranking points are accrued throughout the tour, but big name players often pick and choose their tournaments.

This is why one of the dominant Williams sisters were often not world no.1 in the past few years, as they showed up for big tournaments but didn’t show up for the whole tour, allowing less talented but more hard working competitors to surpass them in the rankings, but largely not in the number of major titles won.

It is worth saying that winning big still rewards you with rankings, as the WTA top three is currently Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, having each played in 16 or 17 tournaments this year, while there are girls well below them who have competed in twice as many events.

The moral of the story is this…

As far as rankings are concerned, winning matters, name value shouldn’t and emotional attachment REALLY shouldn’t.

As entertaining as the UFC rankings, as well Sherdog’s efforts or whichever media outlet pleases you may be, they are nothing more than smoke, the fickle and/or intransigent opinion of a wide variety of (usually) journalists with varying qualifications and prejudices.

For a clear reflection of who is winning the most fights at the highest level in recent times, you need to remove personal preference from the equation and make it all about stats.

Use FightMatrix. Sometimes, the results are surprising but at least you know it’s not based on someone disliking what a fighter said, thinking a fighter’s losses don’t count ’cause their opponent was ‘running away’ or whatever conspiracy theory is popular at the moment.

It’s harsh, but rankings should be about ‘who have you beaten lately?’ and not a whole lot more. It’s the only way to be fair.

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UFC Rankings – 25th February 2013

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The UFC rankings were updated today after UFC 157 at the weekend and you can find them below. It is worth noting that even though the first Women’s Bantamweight division fight took place on Saturday, with Ronday Rousey defeating Liz Carmouche via 1st round armbar, there is still no ranking of that division. The UFC have now announced a number of female signings so hopefully we will see it added in soon.

It is also interesting to note the number of changes in rankings where none of the fighters moving around each other have actually been involved in fights since the last set of ranking were released. For example, Scott Jorgensen moving above Brian Bowles, or Roy Nelson jumping ahead of Big Nog. It is a stark reminder of how much these rankings are solely based on opinion. Anyway, without further ado, the updated rankings are:

Pound-For-Pound

  1. Anderson Silva
  2. Jon Jones
  3. Georges St-Pierre
  4. Jose Aldo
  5. Benson Henderson
  6. Cain Velasquez
  7. Dominick Cruz
  8. Renan Barao
  9. Frankie Edgar

Flyweight

Champion: Demetrious Johnson

  1. Joseph Benavidez
  2. John Dodson
  3. Ian McCall
  4. John Moraga
  5. Jussier Da Silva
  6. Louis Gaudinot
  7. Chris Cariaso
  8. Darren Uyenoyama
  9. John Lineker
  10. Timothy Elliott

Bantamweight

Champion: Dominick Cruz

  1. Renan Barao (Interim Champion)
  2. Urijah Faber
  3. Michael McDonald
  4. Eddie Wineland
  5. Brad Pickett
  6. Rafael Assuncao
  7. Scott Jorgensen
  8. Brian Bowles
  9. Mike Easton
  10. Ivan Menjivar

Featherweight

Champion: Jose Aldo

  1. Chad Mendes
  2. Ricardo Lamas
  3. Frankie Edgar
  4. Chan Sung Jung
  5. Cub Swanson
  6. Dennis Siver
  7. Dustin Poirier
  8. Nik Lentz
  9. Clay Guida
  10. Erik Koch

Lightweight

Champion: Benson Henderson

  1. Gilbert Melendez
  2. Anthony Pettis
  3. Gray Maynard
  4. Nate Diaz
  5. Jim Miller
  6. Donald Cerrone
  7. TJ Grant
  8. Rafael dos Anjos
  9. Joe Lauzon
  10. Khabib Nurmagomedov

Welterweight

Champion: Georges St.-Pierre

  1. Johny Hendricks
  2. Carlos Condit
  3. Nick Diaz
  4. Rory MacDonald
  5. Demian Maia
  6. Jake Ellenberger
  7. Martin Kampmann
  8. Tarec Saffiedine
  9. Josh Koscheck
  10. Robbie Lawler

Middleweight

Champion: Anderson Silva

  1. Chris Weidman
  2. Vitor Belfort
  3. Michael Bisping
  4. Yushin Okami
  5. Constantinos Philippou
  6. Luke Rockhold
  7. Mark Munoz
  8. Hector Lombard
  9. Chael Sonnen
  10. Ronaldo Souza

Light Heavyweight

Champion: Jon Jones

  1. Lyoto Machida
  2. Alexander Gustafsson
  3. Dan Henderson
  4. Glover Teixeira
  5. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
  6. Mauricio Rua
  7. Rashad Evans
  8. Phil Davis
  9. Ryan Bader
  10. Gegard Mousasi

Heavyweight

Champion: Cain Velasquez

  1. Junior dos Santos
  2. Fabricio Werdum
  3. Daniel Cormier
  4. Antonio Silva
  5. Frank Mir
  6. Alistair Overeem
  7. Roy Nelson
  8. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
  9. Stefan Struve
  10. Shane Carwin
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Rankings? Sounds like…

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In which Chris discusses the folly of opinion based rankings in MMA.

I’ve spent hours of my life compiling MMA rankings, for personal amusement as well as for posting in a variety of sites. Hell, I even worked up an inaugural set of rankings for this page. Then I balled it up, and scored a neat 3 pointer into my waste basket with them.

You see, I’ve realised that opinion based rankings for an individual sport, especially one where everyone has faced different opposition at different times as is the case in MMA and good for nothing but causing arguments.

People talk about the #1 golfer or tennis player in the world, but these rankings are compiled based on pre-established criteria, with points awarded for success at ranking events.

Rory McIlroy is the current #1 golfer in the world, not because a cross section of journalists or fans think he’d totally beat Tiger Woods in match play or he’s objectively a ‘better golfer’ but by a predetermined mechanism that rewards good form, biased for the past three months but taking into account performance over the previous two years (for a fuller explanation of the golf ranking system, please see here. )

MMA rankings are almost always based on Opinion (capitalisation intended) and while those responsible may well try to be objective, it’s undeniable that favouritism, prejudice and personal preference often come into play…

MMA journalists and pundits are invariably fans, invariably opinionated (I’m no exception, you may have noticed) and that emotional investment and passionate opinion skews your rankings. For example, Fedor Emelianenko hung around some heavyweight rankings despite a 0-3 losing streak, Alistair Overeem was broadly ranked as a #2 heavyweight despite a winning streak earned against mostly second tier opposition and a failed drugs test etc.

I have always thought that rankings in MMA should reflect your proximity (based solely on results) to a title shot, biased to recent form with #1 being the one to beat in your division, almost invariably the UFC champion in that weight class, if there is one.

As such, things like coming off a loss should all but preclude your being ranked in the top five, inactivity or failed drugs tests should seriously damage your ranking and things like the calibre of your opposition and the manner of your results should count.

For an exaggerated example – Never mind that Fighter A once beat Fighter B, because Fighter B is now on a three fight win streak, all by stoppage against top guys, while Fighter A’s only win in recent times was that decision win over B.
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The lesson – MMA Math is meaningless. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day, and the only way to rank OBJECTIVELY is with an analysis of form over a set period of time, with a set number of points assigned for victories over opponents of different levels.

Hell, the UFC recently initiated rankings, complete with giving those rankings as part of fighter’s ‘tale of the tape’ graphic – and immediately went and cut their supposed #9 Welterweight, Jon Fitch who has a 14-3-1 record in the promotion.

If that doesn’t render the entire process laughable, I don’t know what does…

I follow rankings as much as the next MMA fan, but for a good view I tend to use the regularly updated and utterly impersonal ones at FightMatrix which are more comprehensive, fairer and altogether more informative than any others I’ve ever seen.

I’ve tried working out a formula for objective rankings in the past, but for personal usage it’s far, far too much work – FightMatrix seem to have it down and I’ll trust their system – which proves very useful for discovering the relative form of fighters I’ve not really heard of, adding a useful perspective on their Sherdog record (because say two fighters have 10-0 streaks over folks I’ve largely not heard of, Sherdog doesn’t tell me much aside from method of victory, but if one has a significantly higher FightMatrix ranking then I’ll know they’ve been facing better fighters.)

As for subjective rankings, even if they be the UFC’s official ones, please don’t put too much store in them, even for the purpose of debate. It’s clear the UFC themselves don’t pay too much attention – in only one of their eight ranked divisions, is the guy ranked at #1 the currently booked number one contend…

In MMA, you are only as good as your last fight, and styles make fights. Rankings are just a number. Don’t obsess about them…

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First Ever Official UFC Rankings Announced

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it was announced last week that the UFC would begin producing their own official rankings and that the first set of these said rankings would be collated and released after the completion of UFC 156 which took place in Las Vegas last Saturday. It was felt that having a ranking system would help the more casual fans follow the sport better. Regarding how the rankings will be put together, ufc.com has this to say:

Rankings were generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC and a fighter can only appear in one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champion are considered to be in the top positions of their respective divisions and therefore are not eligible for voting by weight-class. However, the champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings.

The UFC website also shows a list of who made up the voting panel and invites other members of the media to apply to be included in the future so as time goes by the rankings should encompass an even greater cross section of opinion. Regardless of the number of individuals on the panel however, due to the nature of how the list is compiled, by being entirely based on opinion it will still no doubt produce much debate on the validity of many positions.

It is worth noting however that these rankings will not necessarily decide future title shots, Dana White said at the time of announcement that they will still look to make the fights that they want and that the fans want to see regardless.

The first set of rankings was released today and here are the results:

Pound-For-Pound

  1. Anderson Silva
  2. Jon Jones
  3. Georges St-Pierre
  4. Jose Aldo
  5. Benson Henderson
  6. Cain Velasquez
  7. Dominick Cruz
  8. Demetrious Johnson
  9. Frankie Edgar
  10. Dan Henderson

Flyweight

Champion: Demetrious Johnson

  1. Joseph Benavidez
  2. John Dodson
  3. Ian McCall
  4. John Moraga
  5. Jussier Da Silva
  6. Louis Gaudinot
  7. Chris Cariaso
  8. John Lineker
  9. Darren Uyenoyama
  10. Ulysses Gomez

Bantamweight

Champion: Dominick Cruz

  1. Renan Barao (Interim Champion)
  2. Michael McDonald
  3. Urijah Faber
  4. Eddie Wineland
  5. Brad Pickett
  6. Brian Bowles
  7. Rafael Assuncao
  8. Scott Jorgansen
  9. Mike Easton
  10. Ivan Menjivar

Featherweight

Champion: Jose Aldo

  1. Chad Mendes
  2. Ricardo Lamas
  3. Chan Sung Jung
  4. Frankie Edgar
  5. Dennis Siver
  6. Cub Swanson
  7. Dustin Poirier
  8. Nik Lentz
  9. Erik Koch
  10. Clay Guida

Lightweight

Champion: Benson Henderson

  1. Gilbert Melendez
  2. Anthony Pettis
  3. Gray Maynard
  4. Nate Diaz
  5. Jim Miller
  6. Donald Cerrone
  7. TJ Grant
  8. Rafael dos Anjos
  9. Joe Lauzon
  10. Khabib Nurmagomedov

Welterweight

Champion: Georges St-Pierre

  1. Johny Hendricks
  2. Carlos Condit
  3. Nick Diaz
  4. Rory MacDonald
  5. Demian Maia
  6. Jake Ellenberger
  7. Martin Kampmann
  8. Josh Koscheck
  9. Jon Fitch
  10. Tarec Saffiedine

Middleweight

Champion: Anderson Silva

  1. Chris Weidman
  2. Vitor Belfort
  3. Michael Bisping
  4. Yushin Okami
  5. Mark Munoz
  6. Constantinos Philippou
  7. Luke Rockhold
  8. Hector Lombard
  9. Alan Belcher
  10. Tim Boetsch

Light Heavyweight

Champion: Jon Jones

  1. Dan Henderson
  2. Lyoto Machida
  3. Alexander Gustafsson
  4. Glover Teixeira
  5. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
  6. Rashad Evans
  7. Mauricio Rua
  8. Phil Davis
  9. Ryan Bader
  10. Gegard Mousasi

Heavyweight

Champion: Cain Velasquez

  1. Junior dos Santos
  2. Fabricio Werdum
  3. Daniel Cormier
  4. Antonio Silva
  5. Frank Mir
  6. Alistair Overeem
  7. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
  8. Roy Nelson
  9. Stefan Struve
  10. Shane Carwin

There was no ranking given for the Women’s Bantamweight Division on this occasion, most likely as the division has not actually started yet in the UFC, although some will point to this and the fact that Ronda Rousey is the only current UFC champion not to appear in the Pound-For-Pound list as an indicator that the UFC is still very much hedging their bets with regards to the future of the women.

Either way be sure to let us know what you think of this first batch of UFC Rankings, do you agree wholeheartedly? Would you make a couple of changes? Have they missed the mark completely? Whatever you think don’t be shy and let us know either by commenting here, on Facebook or sending us a tweet.

We at Kumite will be starting our own rankings very soon which will encompass the whole of MMA as opposed to just the UFC so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Ross Stevenson