MonaroCountry's top 10 HW fighter

[monaroCountry]

HW RANKING

-Reasoning behind this ranking - most previous ranking have been Zuffa biased. However we dont know how good those guys are when they are unable to compete against other fighters from other promotions.
-This ranking is not ideal. I wanted to make it a mathematical/formula based but im ovbiously not a rocket scientist. This ranking is therefor based more on a fighters record, his achievements as an MMA fighter, the skills he has shown (kickboxing, grappling etc), and his achievements outside of MMA (combat related).


1) Fedor Emelianenko - 32 -1 The most decorated, most experienced, and most proven HW fighter today with the most top 10 and top 5 wins. Fedor has won against the best from multiple promotions and has held his spot for close to ten years. Fedor is the complete fighter with elite level striking and elite level grappling. Probably as good as Overeem in kickboxing and second only to Werdum in grappling.

2) Alistair Overeem - 33-11 (9-1 since becoming a full time HW fighter). Proven fighter with world class grappling and kickboxing. Elite kickboxer with wins against one of the best MMA and kickboxer Igor Vovchanchyn, one of the best kickboxers Badr Hari and Peter Aerts.

*3) Josh Barnett - 26-5 Another proven fighter who has succeded in MMA and in grappling. Has won the UFC belt, Pancrase and runner up in Pride. Won against prime Nog, won against prime Randy, and won against Aleksander Emelianenko. Is as adept at grappling as he is with his standup.

4) Fabricio Werdum - 14-4 Proven fighter with wins against the Emelianenko brothers, Antonio Silva as well against Overeem who all lost through submission. Werdum is the best grappler in HW. He has a limited standup ability with JDS lucky enough to catch this ground fighter with a lucky uppercut, JDS would have been dominated if it went to ground.

5) Antonio Silva - 14-2 Another proven fighter who has competed against the best from different promotions, has championships in elite XC, Cage Rage, and Cage Warriors. Has a win against former UFC champion Andrie Arlowski. Good standup but average grappling.

6) Junior dos Santos - 12-1 A good puncher but nowhere the level of Overeem and Fedor. Only notable win is against Werdum through a lucky punch against a grappler. JDS has shown good standup but is still unproven on the ground, he has been submitted by Joaquim Ferreira.

7) Guram Gugenishvili - 10-0 Unproven fighter. Has won the M-1 Global HW title and a master on the ground but needs to showcase more of his standup game. Has won against the best in Europe and the best in America.

8 ) Shane del Rosario - 10-0 Unproven fighter with lots of potential. Undefeated with wins through submission and strikes, wins come predominantly by strikes. SDR is a top kickboxer and is the WBC Muay Thai Heavyweight Champion.

9) Cain Velasquez - 9-0 Unproven fighter but unbeaten. Cain hasnt fought a proper well rounded elite HW with Nog way past his prime while Brock has shown little in terms of skills. Cain has great standup and the second best if not the best standup within UFC's HW. In saying that Cain's standup is still below that of Fedor and especially Overeem. Cain is a low level wrestler having only competed at a college level which is clearly below that of Daniel Cormier.Cain hasnt show any submission wins and is unproven on the ground.

10) Daniel Cormier - 6-0 Unproven in MMA but has an unbeaten 6 fight winning streak. He has shown the ability to be a mixed martial arts fighter with wins through strikes and through submissions. Daniel possess possibly one of the more impressive wrestling background to date. He is far better and more accomplished in wrestling than Cain, Carwin and Lesnar who are just another college level wrestling athlete.

---------------------------------------------
Notables

11) Brett Rogers - 11-2 Has submission and standup wins, predominantly a standup fighter with a fierce KO percentage. A huge puncher. Rogers is still not very proven on the ground and as a fighter. He has won against a former UFC HW champion but has also lost twice to the two elite MMA fighters.

12) Cole Konrad - 7-0 Unproven but also unbeaten. A mid level wrestling background. Has shown a TKO and submission wins and is the current Bellator HW champion. I also have Cole higher than Carwin because of his ability to fight to the end.


* possible illegal substances issues.

[yaca you]

interesting list....

cant say I agree with the placing of certain fighters like antonio silva, but I think it is a better list than sherdogs rankings for sure.

you put a lot of thought and energy into this list, I definetly respect that.

I think cain velasquez deserves a little more respect for his efforts though, he should be placed higher than jds for instance.

[196osh]

JDS lucky enough to catch this ground fighter with a lucky uppercut, JDS would have been dominated if it went to ground.

At best that is bias. Werdum would always struggle against JDS due to his weak takedown game.

[whuiron1]

Originally Posted by yaca you

interesting list....

cant say I agree with the placing of certain fighters like antonio silva, but I think it is a better list than sherdogs rankings for sure.

you put a lot of thought and energy into this list, I definetly respect that.

I think cain velasquez deserves a little more respect for his efforts though, he should be placed higher than jds for instance.

what this guy said
jds higher than velasquez? maybe after they fight.

[monaroCountry]

Originally Posted by whuiron1

what this guy said
jds higher than velasquez? maybe after they fight.

JDS has more fights, had better opponents, and shown more in terms of submission this is why I had him higher. I would put Cain higher than JDS once he submitts someone (and show more of his ground game) and or wins against JDS.

[196osh]

Originally Posted by monaroCountry

JDS has more fights, had better opponents, and shown more in terms of submission this is why I had him higher. I would put Cain higher than JDS once he submitts someone (and show more of his ground game) and or wins against JDS.

Thats just not a good way of ranking people. Who did Chuck Liddell submit?

[Rob_Floyd]

Originally Posted by monaroCountry

JDS has more fights, had better opponents, and shown more in terms of submission this is why I had him higher. I would put Cain higher than JDS once he submitts someone (and show more of his ground game) and or wins against JDS.

Cain has shown his ground game, it just isn't submission based. He is primarily a wrestler with good GnP, which of course, he implements on the ground.

[jimmie]

Horrible list.

[Beebs]

Originally Posted by monaroCountry

HW RANKING

-Reasoning behind this ranking - most previous ranking have been Zuffa biased. However we dont know how good those guys are when they are unable to compete against other fighters from other promotions.

im ovbiously not a rocket scientist

The inverse is just as true for those fighters who can't compete against Zuffa fighters, plus many of the Zuffa fighters have fought elsewhere.

No, no you are not.

[yaca you]

Originally Posted by monaroCountry

JDS has more fights, had better opponents, and shown more in terms of submission this is why I had him higher. I would put Cain higher than JDS once he submitts someone (and show more of his ground game) and or wins against JDS.

thats the problem with the current heavyweight rankings though many of the fighters are unproven in many areas.

actually you could be right I dont see anything wrong with jds over cain in particular on a deeper examination.

perhaps with the my deep seeded hatred of brock lesnar has allowed my to slightly overrate his conquerer in velasquez.

I hope you can forgive me....

I feel like its a toss up between these two who should be ranked higher regardless of who wears the ufc belt. thats how messed up the hw rankings are!

Junior dos Santos last 6 opponents:

Roy Nelson
Gabriel Gonzaga
Gilbert Yvel
Mirko Cro-Cop
Stefan Struve
Fabricio Werdum

Cain Velasquez last 6 opponents:

Brock Lesnar
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Ben Rothwell
Cheick Kongo
Denis Stojnic
Jake O'Brien


out of their combined opponents I would rank them like this:

1. Fabricio Werdum
2. Brock Lesnar
3. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
4. Ben Rothwell
5. Mirko Cro-Cop
6. Roy Nelson
7. Cheick Kongo
8. Gabriel Gonzaga
9. Stefan Struve
10. Jake O'Brien
11. Gilbert Yvel
12. Denis Stojnic

what have I learned from this list........ nothing! goddamn it what a wast of time

[Rob_Floyd]

Guram Gugenishvili is the #7 HW in the world? And he is above Cain?

This is just absurd, really. Guram has only beaten two guys that have winning records, and he has never faced anybody with more than 8 fights.

[yaca you]

Originally Posted by 196osh

Thats just not a good way of ranking people. Who did Chuck Liddell submit?

yeah... but chuck proved himself time and again against quality opposition. when quality opposition is lacking you have to go to other means to determine the level of skill of said fighter.

I think we should place a hold on all heavieweight ranking for the time being because of malarchy that follows.

[monaroCountry]

Again the problem is that the media puts too much emphasis on which promotion the fighter fights and not on how that fighter fights or how well their opponent fought.

For example, some of the best, most brutal, and most skillful fights I have ever seen were from unranked guys. While some of the worst fights I have ever seen were from two highly ranked fighters.

Guram Gugenishvili is the #7 HW in the world? And he is above Cain?

This is just absurd, really. Guram has only beaten two guys that have winning records, and he has never faced anybody with more than 8 fights.

The same arguement could be put up to Cain's lack of quality wins against quality opposition and have CroCop and Nog leapfrog him......even though Cain would most likely beat these two past-their-prime fighters.

[Beouche]

This list is the antidote to the Zuffa bias

Its extremely bias the other way

[Rob_Floyd]

Originally Posted by monaroCountry

The same arguement could be put up to Cain's lack of quality wins against quality opposition and have CroCop and Nog leapfrog him......even though Cain would most likely beat these two past-their-prime fighters.

Well, he already beat Nog, and it is pretty much unarguable that Cain's level of competition has been higher than Guram. I can't even tell if you are serious right now.