MMA Top 10 Fighters and Broadcasters Poll

The new Mixed Martial Arts rankings are out by what I consider to be the most respected poll. I generally agree with these rankings but a few things stand out to me. First check out the rankings:
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HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION(205lbs+)
1. Fedor Emelianenko - 100 Points (10 first place votes)
2. Minotauro Nogueira - 90 Points
3. Mirko Cro Cop - 75 Points
4. Andrei Arlovski - 69 Points
5. Sergei Kharitonov - 56 Points
6. Josh Barnett - 43 Points
7. Tim Sylvia - 47 Points
8. Heath Herring - 20 Points
9. Fabricio Werdum - 17 Points
10.Alexsander Emelinanenko -15 Points
Others receiving votes - (12)Frank Mir,(11)Ron Waterman, (10)- Ricco Rodriguez

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION(205lbs.)
1. Chuck Liddell - 96 Points (6 first place votes)
2. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua - 89 Points (4 first place votes)
3. Wanderlei Silva - 74 Points
4. Randy Couture- 63 Points
5. Ricardo Arona - 52 Points
6. Rogerio Nogueira - 42 Points
7. Tito Ortiz- 23 Points
8. Alistair Overeem - 35 Points
9. Babalu Sobral - 34 Points
10.Quinton Jackson - 21 Points


MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISON(185lbs.)
1. Dan Henderson - 89 Points (5 first place votes)
2. Rich Franklin - 88 Points (5 first place votes)
3. Matt Lindland - 68 Points
4. Anderson Silva - 65 Points
5. Murilo Bustamante - 49 Points
6. Jeremy Horn - 48 Points
7. Nathan Marquardt -45 Points
8. Ivan Salaverry - 43 Points
9. Evan Tanner - 33 Points
10. Joe Doerksen - 15 Points

WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION(170lbs.)
1. BJ Penn - 97 Points (6 first place votes)
2. Matt Hughes - 96 Points (4 first place vote)
3. Georges St. Pierre- 89 Points
4. Karo Parisyan - 60 Points
5. Frank Trigg - 55 Points
6 .Charuto Verissimo - 49 Points
7. Sean Sherk- 31 Points
8. Jake Shields - 26 Points
9. Diego Sanchez - 20 Points
10. Nick Diaz - 19 Points


LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION(160lbs.)
1. Takanori Gomi
2. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai
3. Joaquim Hansen
4. Yves Edwards
5. Tatsuyo Kawijiri
6. Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro
7. Genki Sudo
8. Jens Pulver
9. Luiz Azeredo
10.Hermes Franca
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At first glance it's obvious that the power of the Heavyweight division lies overseas in Japan. 8 of the top 10 fight in Japan, with UFC champ Arlovksi and former champ Sylvia being the only UFC representatives in the top 10. Frank Mir is in the "Others receiving votes" section along with Ron Waterman and Ricco Rodriguez. I believe the UFC should sign both of those fighters. And there are rumblings about the UFC signing the Big Cat, Tom Erikson, which I also think would be a good move. That is assuming Waterman and Erikson can make the 265lbs. UFC weight limit.

The Light Heavyweights are a little more distributed between PRIDE and UFC. Chuck Liddell sits atop the rankings as he continues to ride his current hot streak and prepare for a huge third fight with Randy Couture Superbowl weekend. Shogun Rua, coming off his win in the PRIDE Grand Prix is second and is rumored to be fighting Heavyweight James Thompson on PRIDE's New Year's Eve card. Wanderlei Silva and Ricardo Arona will rematch on that same card, giving the 205 division and big shake up over the next few months. Also still lurking in the top 10 is new UFC signee Tito Ortiz, who looks to make his mark on this division in the coming year.

We have a new #1 at Middleweight coming out of the recent PRIDE 183lbs. Grand Prix. Dan Henderson barely passes up UFC champ Rich Franklin for first. Recent WFA signee Matt Lindland comes in at third. Murillo Bustamante, who is ranked fifth, will fight Henderson at the PRIDE New Year's Eve card. The bottom half of the top 10 is interesting because of Ivan Salaverry and Nathan Marquardt, both of whom are still in limbo about where they will fight next. Salaverry was released after a lackluster performance against Marquardt and his association with Tito Ortiz. Now Ortiz is back. Will Salaverry be far behind? And Marquardt is dealing with the steriod allegations brought against him after the Salaverry fight. And the glaring omission from this list from my perspective is David Loiseau. Loisueau defeated ninth ranked Evan Tanner in his last fight and is fighting Franklin for the UFC title Superbowl weekend.

I addressed the Welterweight division in a previous post. The interesting thing is UFC Champ Matt Hughes, despite his recent win streak, is ranked behind former champ BJ Penn. Penn does hold a victory over Hughes, and I am looking forward to his return to the octagon. Georges St. Pierre and Karo Parisyan are both part of the Matt Hughes sweepstakes. Frank Trigg and Charuto Verrissimo are both entered in the upcoming ROTR 175lbs. tournament, as well as eighth ranked Jake Shields. There are several other good fighters in that tournament such as Ronald Juhn, Dennis Hallman(who holds two wins over Matt Hughes), and former UFC Middleweight champ Dave Menne. The winner of that tournament will move up the rankings ladder. TUF 1 winner Diego Sanchez cracks the top 10 for the first time as he comes in ninth, just ahead of his last opponent, Nick Diaz.

Since the UFC dropped it's Lightweight division, all of the major talent has gone overseas into PRIDE Lightweight division. The finalists of the Lightweight Grand Prix come in at first and second, with the champion to be determined at the New Year's Eve card. With most of the Top 10 in PRIDE, this should be an exciting division in 2006.

This is an exciting time for Mixed Martial Arts with the big PRIDE New Year's Eve card just around the corner and some exciting UFC events coming at the beginning of the year.

Until next time,
Jason