L.A. Times July MMA Rankings
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Heavyweight
1. Brock Lesnar
2. Cain Velasquez
3. Junior Dos Santos
4. Fabricio Werdum
5. Fedor Emelianenko
6. Alistair Overeem
7. Shane Carwin
8. Frank Mir
9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
10. Antonio Silva
It was a chaotic month for heavyweight MMA, highlighted by the surprising submission defeat of the great Fedor Emelianenko and a wild UFC title fight between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin. Lesnar now reigns as the heavyweight division’s best. Velasquez and Dos Santos will be the next challengers for the UFC heavyweight title. Werdum skyrockets up the rankings but Fedor may have the chance to redeem himself and avenge that loss.
Light Heavyweight
1. Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua
2. Lyoto Machida
3. Rashad Evans
4. Quinton Jackson
5. Forrest Griffin
6. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
7. Thiago Silva
8. Jon Jones
9. ‘King Mo’ Lawal
10. Gegard Mousasi
The 205 pound rankings stay the same and will remain unchanged for a while. Few of these fighters have a confirmed next bout.
Middleweight
1. Anderson Silva
2. Jake Shields
3. Chael Sonnen
4. Nate Marquardt
5. Dan Henderson
6. Vitor Belfort
7. Demian Maia
8. Yushin Okami
9. Jacare Souza
10. Cung Le
Strikeforce cut all ties with Jake Shields and Shields is likely to move to the UFC’s welterweight division by the end of the year. The bottom of the top 10 is in flux. Brazilian jiu jitsu master Jacare finally sneaks into the top 10 and will be dangerous in Strikeforce’s upcoming middleweight tournament. Le returns after avenging his only loss to Scott Smith.
Welterweight
1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Thiago Alves
4. Josh Koscheck
5. Nick Diaz
6. Dan Hardy
7. Martin Kampmann
8. Matt Hughes
9. John Hathaway
10. Paulo Thiago
Martin Kampmann’s domination of Paulo Thiago demonstrated not only holes in Thiago’s standup game but also vulnerabilities in his ground game. Kampmann moved himself into position for more high profile fights. Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves are scheduled to meet in Oakland for a compelling early August bout.
Lightweight
1. Frank Edgar
2. B.J. Penn
3. Gilbert Melendez
4. Eddie Alvarez
5. Gray Maynard
6. Kenny Florian
7. Tatsuya Kawajiri
8. Shinya Aoki
9. George Sotiropoulos
10. Evan Dunham
Kawajiri will fight Aoki in an important showdown this weekend for the Dream promotion. Two rising stars enter the bottom of the rankings. Sotiropoulos followed up an impressive win over Joe Stevenson with another quality victory over Kurt Pellegrino. The undefeated Dunham scored the biggest win of his career by upsetting former teammate Tyson Griffin.
Featherweight
1. Jose Aldo
2. Urijah Faber
3. Bibiano Fernandes
4. Manny Gamburyan
5. Hatsu Hioki
6. Mike Brown
7. Marlon Sandro
8. Josh Grispi
9. Rafael Assuncao
10. Takeshi Inoue
Sandro moves up this month with his third consecutive first round knockout win. Assuncao lost his second straight fight in June, albeit via a controversial split decision against Diego Nunes.
Bantamweight
1. Dominick Cruz
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Brian Bowles
4. Miguel Torres
5. Takeya Mizugaki
6. Wagnney Fabiano
7. Scott Jorgensen
8. Masakatsu Ueda
9. Damacio Page
10. Eddie Wineland
There were few pivotal 135 pound bouts in June. WEC 50 in August will do a lot to shape the future direction of the division. Cruz and Benavidez will fight for the WEC bantamweight title, Mizugaki will take on longtime featherweight champ Urijah Faber and Jorgensen will battle British import Brad Pickett.
--Todd Martin
