http://www.espn.co.uk/ufc/sport/story/270215.html

wow

His out for around 9 months
Bus Rutten thinks it's actually a good thing http://mmajunkie.com/2014/01/bas-rut...ring-recovery/

1. Jones
2. Aldo
3. Cain
4. Mighty Mouse
5. Weidman
6. Barao
7. JDS
8. Hendricks
9. Pettis
10. Ronda, because I have doubts about how to judge her level of competition so I'm just token-ing her into the 10 spot.

Mine differs from yours for the following reasons - Jones and Aldo are the only two champions who have clearly and without a shred of doubt proved they are the kings of their division. Every other division has at least some question involved except for Jones and Aldo being nigh-unbeatable.

Cain is a clear #3 for me. There are questions (his loss to JDS, the presence of Cormier who he won't be fighting) but they are extremely minor ones. He's the best HW in the world and mostly he just doesn't have the lengthy run of championship defenses quite like the first two guys do.

5 of the next 6 guys fall into a 'new champions' group. MM, Pettis, Weidman, Barao and Hendricks are all 'new champions' to me (i'm considering Hendricks to have won the GSP fight). They're young and relatively untested as champions. They don't deserve to be above any of the top 3 who have established themselves as dominant in their divisions. Each has some level of questions, imo.

MM - Is his style really that dominant? Benavidez nearly beat him the first time. Of course, with the knockout recently that's a much smaller question now, which is why he's at #4.

Weidman - two great wins over the GOAT, but both a little bit 'fluky'. He performed well in both fights and deserved the wins, and we can't deny that. At the same time, we still have to be suspicious - there were strange circumstances in both. We still don't definitively know if he's the best MW in a spiderless world. vitor or chael or machida could potentially beat him tomorrow. Who knows?

Barao - Only a few title defenses, but he's not lost in 32 fights.

Hendricks - has a habit of going into very close decisions. He should have won the GSP fight, but against GSP, Story, Pierce and Koscheck he's had very close fights.

Pettis - Young and great, but not a huge resume yet. As with Weidman, we don't conclusively know that he's the best LW in the world yet.

I also threw JDS into the #7 spot because I feel he's the best second banana in the world right now. He's very, very clearly the second best HW in the world and I don't think that will change any time soon.

Ronda comes in at #10 for the reason listed above.

yo danny where is Silva??

I have:
1. Jones
2. Cain
3. Aldo
4. Silva
5. Pettis
6. Barao
7. Mighty
8. Weidman
9. Hendricks
10. And Fiiiiine Rhonda

Honestly I think if Pettis wins his next fight i'm putting him at #2 the dude's take down defense is now stellar and can't see anyone beating him now for a loooong time

I have Silva nowhere the top ten anymore as I consider his career over.

weidman is so overated he will lose in his next 2 fights he beat anderson twice imo both really flukey on the right side of variance wins and anderson is the only guy hes beat in the top 10 good for him overated as ****

brilliant analysis

Yeah, this thread is chock a block full of expert analysis.

dang people it's just an opinion ha

ya thats def why i come to this thread

keep it coming people

My analysis is so expert I back it with my own hard earned. Its not easy picking all underdogs and trusting yourself enough to back them. Everyone else seems to just talk about it...


I find it rather entertaining the amount of butthurt Silva & GSP fanbois ITT. You have to question the moral integrity of people who support known greasing cheaters. Would these people want known poker cheats sitting at their table too?

Now we have to watch Weidman fight another know cheater. Cant wait to hear from all the supporters of Vitor the religious nut job.

I don't put 38 year olds on two fight losing streaks with hilariously absurd injuries in my pound for pound lists.

you're right, the real world has no grey areas. Everything is black or white. GSP and Silva are both evil, satanic cheaters and should be tossed out of the sport and probably executed. I never have cheered for anyone who has done anything morally questionable, ever in my life. Or said anything morally questionable. I know you wouldn't do that either, it's just me and you against the rest of these hypocritical butthurt fanboys. Glad to see there's another sane person on the forums.

btw i wasnt laughing at p4p rankings or whatever ITT just the "weidman is overrated and will lose next 2". I know I know I'm feeding the troll .

Think Ben Henderson needs to be added to some of those p4p lists. As much as he annoys me, he is still probably better than most of the champions that are in the UFC.

Its a slippery slope my friend. If they can get away with greasing the next thing you know they will be pumping themselves full of testosterone and the sport will be a joke.

Let the executions begin!

Fight of The Year!

What was your FOTY? Sanchez and Melendez UFC 166 is still on my DVR, what a War. Travis Browne slowly standing up from the those Overeem kicks and then KO'ing Overeem was a classic. Jones/Gustafsson decision should have went to Gustafsson? What about the Pettis armbar finish of Henderson for the LW Strap in UFC 164? Name your FOTY...

Melendez vs Sanchez was exciting, but with the exception of a 3rd round knockdown, it was to one sided to be FOTY imo. Would give it to Bigfoot/Hunt or Jones/Gus... probz Jones/Gus due to how big of a blowout it was supposed to be, and that it was for a title. (agree with the dec though)

Cruz tears groin and will not meet Barao at UFC 169. Cruz vacates belt and Faber steps in for the shot at the strap with one months notice.

Cruz will have been out a long time, wonder if he'll come back, or stick with commentating on UFC Tonight... Barao deserved the strap before this matchup imho.

Jesus, Cruz hasn't fought since October 2011. 2.5 years basically, and now it's almost certainly going to be 3 years in between fights for him.

I mean, that's unheard of for a championship fighter. Frank Mir had to vacate the belt but he only had 1.5 years between his title win and his comeback fight. I can't think of any elite fighter ever having a stretch like that.

Faber gets another title shot, lol. He's lost his last 5 title fights. The problem is that he's never lost a non-title fight in his career. Ever. Yeah he lost to Cruz and then Barao, but he's VERY clearly the best BW in the world beyond them. 7-2 at BW with the losses in the title fights to Cruz and Barao. I guess if he keeps winning, you have to keep giving him a shot.

Faber sells seats and PPV's. I'd believe the gate would sell heavily and increased had they scheduled it for SoCal and Faber stepped in there. My $$$ is on Barao to retain the strap though. Feel bad for Cruz though, wrong side of variance?

Agree with all of this. Doing the "come at me" type taunts works if you are one of the Diaz brothers because they often counter with a nasty combo that knocks the snot out of their opponents. In this case Sanchez did the whole "come at me" type thing and Melendez just came at him and punched his face in. Entertaining but way too one sided for fight of the year.

I usually hate heavyweight punch fests but the Bigfoot / Hunt fight was freakin' amazing and off the top of my head FOTY.

I agree it was fight of the year and it wasn't just two big guys punching the **** out of each other. The first three rounds were very strategic in many ways with the most obvious of those being Bigfoots leg kicks and Hunts change in strategy to deal with them.

Hunt vs Sefo, now that's a punch fest but Hunt vs Bigfoot was much much more.

Man that sux 1mo notice for faber **** i really hope he pulls through

he just fought hes in shape already id imagine