MMA Middleweight Rankings: September Edition

Another division that has had a long reigning champion is the middleweight division. Anderson Silva is the king but let us check out the whole division.

Alan Belcher (Photo my MMAjunkie.com)

10. Alan Belcher – Belcher has had an up and down career that seemed to be over when he suffered detached retinas. But he overcame that and since that has been on a roll; most recently TKO’ing Rousimar Palhares in the 1^st round. His next fight is against Yushin Okami. A win over Okami will catapult him up the rankings and bring him closer to that title shot.

Brian Stann (Photo by MMAjunkie.com)

9. Brian Stann – The war hero with a ton of power in his punches is coming off a big KO win of Alessio Sakara. That win earned him a #1 contender match against Michael Bisping; which takes place this Saturday (September 22^nd) and we get to see this one live. If Stann wins he will most likely fight Anderson due to how well that fight would sell in America.

Mark Munoz (Photo by MMAjunkie.com)

8. Mark Munoz – Munoz is one of my favorite fighters. However, he is coming off of a humiliating loss to #2 Chris Weidman. Munoz was utterly destroyed (thanks to a late stoppage by the ref) and it was so bad I looked away. However, Munoz is an OSU man and they have the hearts of lions and will come back strong. Munoz can beat almost anyone at 185 and I can’t wait to see him back in there.

Luke Rockhold (Photo by Fight! Magaxine)

7. Luke Rockhold – Rockhold has not lost since 2007 and has looked unbeatable since joining Strikeforce. He is coming off of a huge win over Tim Kennedy and is going to defend his title again in November against Lorenz Larkin. Rockhold should be able to submit him without a hitch.

Time Boetsch (Photo by MMAjunkie.com)

6. Tim Boetsch – What is going on? “The Barbarian” is not only back in the UFC, not only dropped down to 185 but is beating the best of the best at 185. So, weird but so awesome. Boetsch is a blast to watch (except his last fight). I am very happy to see him doing so well. He is coming off of two huge wins over top #15 middleweights Hector Lombard and Yushin Okami. He now has a date against #2 Chris Weidman; which will certainly be the hardest fight of his life. However if he wins he will certainly fight for the title setting up a true Hollywood style career comeback.

Michael Bisping (Photo by mmaweekly.com)

5. Michael Bisping – “The Count” is the most underrated fighter in the UFC. The guy has a very technical and advanced boxing game and an exceptionally underrated ground game. He has an amazing 12-4 UFC record and is coming off an extremely close decision loss to Chael Sonnen that many people thought he won (including us here at CR). He has a #1 contender match this Saturday against #9 Brian Stann. If he wins that he will meet Anderson Silva.

Vitor Belfort (Photo by mmaweekly.com)

4. Vitor Belfort – The legend has stepped up to the plate and will be facing #1 light heavyweight Champion Jon Jones this Saturday in Toronto. I cannot wait to see this fight live and in person. What a whirlwind of craziness to have this fight happen. But if Vitor wins it will be one of the biggest upsets of all time. But Vitor will have the fan support and he feeds off of that. If he wins he will be light heavyweight champ again, reclaiming the belt for the first time since 2004.

Chael Sonnen (Photo by MMAjunkie.com)

3. Chael Sonnen – The loud mouth is now 2-2 in his last 4 fights with one of them being a highly controversial win over #5 Michael Bisping. Granted both those losses are to the best fighter alive in any sport. But with the way he talks you would think he was 45-0 in MMA. But Sonnen decided to move up to light heavyweight and will be fighting Forrest Griffin in December which will not help his career at all.

Chris Weidman (Photo by MMAjunkie.com)

2. Chris Weidman – possibly the most exciting prospect in the UFC, Weidman has been straight up destroying everyone in his path. He is 9-0 with 3 wins by (T)KO, 3 by submission and 3 by decision; which shows you he is versatile and can fight smart. He is coming off a humongous win over #8 Mark Munoz and has earned himself a #1 contender’s match against #6 Tim Boetsch  in December.

Anderson Silva (Photo by MMAjunkie.com)

1. Anderson Silva – What can you say about this guy? He is the best fighter who ever lived in any combat sport. No one can touch him but it will be interesting to see #2 Chris Weidman fight him. But until he is dethroned he will be #1 for yet another 6 years.

185 is at a very interesting time! So what do you guys think? Let us know in the comments on what you either agreed on or disagreed on.

UFC on Fuel TV 4 Main Card Recap

Chris Weidman finishing the fight.
Photo by The Fight Nation

Overall, this was a very good night of fights.  We got to see a potential dethroner of Anderson Silva’s long reign show why he is being considered the next big thing in MMA with his win. We also got to see a potential Fight of the Year and several other rising prospects show that they are ready for a step up in competition. Only two fights were not entertaining, that’s a rarity that there were only two. Anyway, into the recap!

Rafael dos Anjos vs. Anthony Njokuani: Dos Anjos continues to show why he should be such a feared fighter. He beat a kick boxer at his own game and dominated the ground game with wrestling and BJJ. Dos Anjos ended up dominating every round, even though one of the judges gave one to Njokuani.

Possible matchups for dos Anjos: The guy deserves a top-10 opponent. I thought that he beat Tibau and he was winning against Clay Guida before his jaw broke and he had to tap out when Guida was putting pressure on it. Donald Cerrone looked fantastic in his last fight with Jeremy Stephens. Dos Anjos and Cerrone would put on one hell of a brawl. Dos Anjos and him are similar but Cerrone has the better technical and fast standup while dos Anjos is wild but powerful with his.

Possible matchups for Njokuani: Paul Taylor and Njokuani were supposed to fight twice before, including on this card. That fight would be spectacular so lets try again, third times the charm.

Vaughan Lee vs. TJ Dillashaw: Lee started off very good in the standup, getting the better of the exchanges and landing some solid kicks to the body. He started to get a little wild and missed a head kick, which was caught and he was instantly taken down. His back was taken and the fight was over. First round submission for Team Alpha Male.

Possible matchups for Dillashaw: TJ still really needs to work on his standup. His ground game is fantastic but his stand up is too wide and can be easily countered. He should face off against the winner of Mizugaki and Hougland. Both of those guys would be a tough test for TJ; Mizugaki in the standup and Hougland on the ground.

Possible matchups for Lee: Lee seems very undersized at 135 to me. I think a move down to 125 would pay off very well. He is very well rounded and very fast on his feet. Another bantamweight that just moved down to 125 is Jared Papazian. These guys would put on an amazing fight and I would hate to see either of them go for the loser would most likely be cut.

Francis Carmont vs. Karlos Vemola: I really like both of these guys. They both have tons of potential and like to finish fights. The first round was close but Carmont most likely won for his takedowns and controlling the standup. Eventually in the second round, he had Vemola in a crucifix and transitioned into a RNC for the finish.

Possible matchups for Carmont: Carmont wants a top-10 guy, I say not yet. Him and Costa Philippou have been doing very well at middleweight lately and they should face off in the near future. The winner of that fight should be able to take big step up in competition, possibly top-10.

Possible matchups for Vemola: The heavyweight turned middleweight has one big problem in his fights: impatience. He thinks he finds a guillotine, so he dives on it without trying to set it up. He sprints forward for the takedown and gets caught doing so. If he can be patient, he could do big things. Clifford Starks could be the perfect opponent to help him with that. Starks is a big and very athletic 185er who is a hard fight for anyone not named Anderson Silva at middleweight. If Vemola could be patient in a fight with Starks, he would win.

Aaron Simpson vs. Kenny Robertson: This fight was the second one mentioned in the first paragraph. The first round was pretty fun but after that, the best shots landed were knees to the butt. Seriously. Eventually, Simpson won the dominant decision win.

Possible matchups for Simpson: I’m still interested to see how well Jon Fitch will recover from his loss to Hendricks. I wouldn’t mind seeing them fight eventually.

Possible matchups for Robertson: I don’t really have much interest in Robertson after this performance and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is cut. But a fight between him and Besam Yousef would be a loser goes home fight.

James Te Huna vs. Joey Beltran: “The Mexicutioner” never fails to put on an awesome fight. This was one of the best fights so far this year and will most likely be running for FOTY later in 2012. Te Huna also landed the most significant strikes in one round and the whole fight; a record for the 205 pound division. It was a dominant win for Te Huna and I believe that he is ready to take on some big names.

Possible matchups for Te Huna: Glover Teixeira is fighting Rampage at UFC 153. Win or lose, Te Huna vs. Glover Teixeira is guaranteed fireworks. They both love to finish and I believe that Te Huna would be a really tough test for Glover.

Possible matchups for Beltran: The newest addition to the UFC light heavyweight division is Jimi Manuwa, who is now the former BAMMA 205 champion. He still doesn’t have his debut fight set up and Beltran is always a good test for new comers.

Chris Weidman vs. Mark Munoz: No one has ever, EVER, dominated Mark Munoz like that. I thought that Weidman would have the slightest wrestling advantage but not as big as it showed in this fight. Weidman took down Mark at will, and held him there. Weidman was continually going for chokes and armbars and kimuras. He was relentless. He did the same again in the beginning of the second round but Munoz got back up. Mark swung a big right hand; Chris ducked under it and elbowed him straight in the face, nearly knocking out Munoz. He drops to the floor and Weidman lands around 15 unanswered punches to the side of the head of Munoz. It was brutal and one of the latest stoppages that I have ever seen.

Possible matchups for Weidman: This 28-year-old kid could very well be the person to dethrone Anderson Silva. It’s only his 9^th fight in his career and he dominated a top-3 middleweight. He has the wrestling that can beat Anderson. He has a submission game so he can defend against Silva’s attacks off his back. His standup is the only question but it looked amazing on Wednesday. Munoz never even landed a single punch. He is basically a better, stronger, more humble version of Chael Sonnen. If he does get this fight with Silva, which I think he deserves, I might just go with him.

Possible matchups for Munoz: This was a devastating loss for Mark. The guy is a class act and I never like to see him lose. But he is still a top-10 middleweight. Hector Lombard and Tim Boetsch are fighting in a week, so the loser of that could come fight Munoz for a rebound fight.

For Prelim Recap Click Here