MMA Rankings: Lombard & McDonald Stay Put, Davis #12 at 205
(Guess that high level wrestling experience didn’t include inverted triangle defense.)
At FIGHT! Magazine, we believe there is a need for a completely objective and unbiased ranking system for fighters to replace the myriad 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. Go here for a detailed explanation of how FIGHT!’s rankings work.
All the fights are in the books and the rankings have been updated. M-1 Global crowned two new champions on Showtime, Bobby Lashley and Phil Baroni looked bad even in victory, all the guys we thought would win their Bellator light heavyweight tournament quarterfinal matches didn’t, and MMA pundits rushed to saddle Phil Davis with “the next Jon Jones” expectations before the afterglow of the current Jon Jones’ title win has even worn off. Additionally, Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard retained his CFC Middleweight Championship and UCMMA hosted a heavyweight throwdown in London. Let’s take a quick look ahead what effect the fights had on the rankings.
M-1 Global kicked off its broadcast partnership with Showtime with a Friday night M-1 Challenge card in Norfolk, Va. Jose Figueroa upended the M-1 Global Lightweight Champion, Artiom Damkovsky, vaulting from #103 to #44 in the Lightweight Rankings. Damkovsky fell hard, from #64 to #140. Magomed Sultanakhmedov finished Tyson Jeffries to win the vacant M-1 Global Middleweight Championship. “The White Wolf” moves from #75 to #37 in the Middleweight Rankings, while Jeffries falls from #62 to #108. UFC vet Vinny Magalhaes defeated unheralded Jake Doeer on the card, getting a bump from #66 to #65 in the Light Heavyweight poll. Full results can be viewed here.
Titan Fighting Championship 16
Bobby Lashley was able to take natural middleweight John Ott down but he wasn’t able to do much with him when he got there. Lashley moves from #91 to #74 in the Heavyweight Rankings with the lackluster win. In the night’s other heavyweight bout, Aaron Rosa moved from #51 to #34 after stopping Abe Wagner, who falls from #62 to #86. PRIDE and UFC vet Phil Baroni outlasted regional fighter Nick Nolte on the card. Baroni moves from #132 to #100 in the Middleweight Rankings while Nolte enters the Welterweight Rankings at #183. Eric Marriott stopped Willian De Souza quickly but actually dropped one spot, from #24 to #25 in the Featherweight Rankings (thanks to Mackens Semerzier – see below). WEC and Bellator vet James Krause moved from #182 to #157 in the Lightweight poll with a quick undercard win. Full results can be viewed here.
In Australia, Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard held on to his CFC Middleweight Championship and his #7 Middleweight Ranking with a doctor’s stoppage win over Joe Doerksen. “El Dirte” fell from #41 to #43. In London, UCMMA: Lights Out hosted a heavyweight throwdown between Oli Thompson and Ben Smith. Thompson added a submission win to his resume and comes in at #68 in the Heavyweight Rankings. Smith enters the rankings at #101.
Bellator’s season four light heavyweight tournament got underway on Saturday with four quarterfinal fights and they didn’t go down the way anybody planned. Tim Carpenter took out Daniel Gracie and entered the Light Heavyweight Rankings at #44. Gracie falls from #46 to #61 following the loss. Raphael Davis dropped from #40 to #76 following his TKO loss to unranked DJ Linderman. No other ranked fighters appeared on the card. Full results can can be viewed here.
The UFC visited Seattle for the first time on Saturday night and set Fight Night records for attendance and gate receipts. Phil Davis left Seattle with a signature win over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, moving from #20 to #12 in the Light Heavyweight Rankings in the process. ‘Lil Nog falls from #21 to #39 following the loss.
A welterweight feature bout supported the main event but Dan Hardy vs. Anthony Johnson failed to deliver the fireworks everyone hoped for. Johnson jumps from #34 to #17 in the Welterweight Rankings, while Hardy continues his slide, falling from #19 to #39. In other welterweight action, Amir Sadollah moved from #41 to #26 with his win over DaMarques Johnson, who plummeted from #55 to #99. John Hathaway won his fight but lost out in the rankings, dropping from #33 to #64 with his split decision over Kris McCray. McCray moves from #137 in the Middleweight poll to #103 at Welterweight. Johny Hendricks stopped previously unranked T.J. Waldburger but slipped a spot, from #30 to #31. Waldburger enters the rankings at #125.
In a rematch of an all-time great barnburner, Chan Sung Jung beat Leonard Garcia definitively and bounced back from #91 to #48 in the Featherweight Rankings. Garcia fell hard from #51 to #96 following the loss. In other featherweight action, Mackens Semerzier found his way into the top 25, jumping from #59 to #21, with a win over unranked TUF vet Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres.
Mike Russow keeps spoiling the UFC’s plans, overacheiving in his role of solid opponent to take out up-and-coming heavyweights like Todd Duffee and now Jon Madsen. Russow moves from #19 to #11 in the Heavyweight Rankings, while Madsen slides from #21 to #33. In the night’s other heavyweight fight, unranked Christian Morecraft choked Sean McCorkle unconscious. McCorkle enters the rankings at #89.
At 135 pounds, Michael McDonald kept his #8 Bantamweight Ranking with a win over unranked Edwin Figueroa, Aaron Simpson moved from #45 to #39 in the Middleweight Rankings with a win over Mario Miranda, who fell from #68 to #82, and in the night’s opener, Nik Lentz leapt from #38 to #19 in the Lightweight Rankings with his win over Waylon Lowe, who fell from #49 to #78. Full results can be viewed here.
Comments are closed.