At FIGHT! Magazine, we believe there is a need for a completely objective and unbiased ranking system for fighters to replace the myriad of subjective rankings that have become skewed, in many instances, by fighter popularity. In an effort to address this issue FIGHT! Magazine brings you its computerized rankings system which takes into account a fighters strength of opponent, strength of performance, and frequency of activity. UFC 112: Invincible shook up our Fighter Rankings but not as much as you might expect.
Anderson Silva remained in the #2 spot in our Middleweight Rankings, mostly because he spent most of the time fancy-footin’ and toying with Demian Maia, who retained his #8 ranking following the decision loss. Had Silva crushed Maia quickly like he did Forrest Griffin, James Irvin, and Chris Leben, he likely would have leapfrogged Chael Sonnen back into the top spot. Right now he only trails Sonnen by .007 points in the calculation. To put that in perspective, Georges St-Pierre (#1) leads Thiago Alves (#2) in our welterweight rankings by 1.057 points. Silva vs. Sonnen is a fight a lot of people, including myself, would like to see, but Silva seems so disinterested in fighting at 185 pounds that I’m not convinced we’ll see him defend his title there again.
In the night’s other championship bout Frankie Edgar secured the UFC Lightweight Championship and the #1 position in our Lightweight Rankings with his decision victory over BJ Penn. Penn fell to #4.
Matt Hughes climbed from #10 to #7 in our Welterweight Rankings with his TKO finish of Renzo Gracie, while Gracie entered the rankings at #33. Kendall Grove slid from #20 to #44 in our Middleweight Rankings following his TKO loss to Mark Munoz, while Munoz rose from #41 to #17. In the other main card fight Rafael Dos Anjos jumped into the lightweight top twenty, from #45 to #19, with his submission win over Terry Etim. Etim dropped from #18 to #45.
On the undercard, Phil Davis and Alexander Gustafsson are still one qualifying fight away from entering our rankings. DaMarques Johnson entered the Welterweight Rankings at #31 with his defeat of Brad Blackburn, who dropped from $48 to #71. Paul Kelly rose from #58 to #35 with his win over Matt Veach, who was installed at #80. Mostapha Al-Turk entered the Heavyweight Rankings at #49 after his loss to unranked Jon Madsen, and Rick Story moved up ten spots, from #36 to #26 with win over unranked Nick Osipczak.
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