What are everyones views on El Nino? Personally I love the guy, his fights with Josh Thomson were classics and he's got some other good wins over guys like Guida and Aoki. He is suffering a bit from inactivity in the past year but I still think he is a top calibre fighter. I'd love to see him move to the UFC for fights against Edgar, Maynard, Pettis and possibly Aldo if he steps up in weight.
Yes, he is. He has avenged both his losses and is a strong SF champ with good wins over Aoki, Thompson and Guida. Coker needs to deliver Alvarez quickly as Penn has fallen from grace at 155 and Maynard and Edgar are considered number 1 and 2 in the world.
I'm not sure if he is P4P top 10 yet. He would need to destroy a few more top ranked guys like he did to Aoki to get on my list. He is very good, and is definatley a top 5 LW, but I can't put him the same category with Anderson, Fedor, GSP just yet. My top 10 p4p GSP A. Silva Fedor Aldo Penn Cain V. Jon Jones Henderson Overeem Rua
It must be remembered who Thompson and Aoki were going into those fights. They are both coming off of losses so it hurts Gil but similarly Gil should get credit for having beat Guida who is going on a good run now.
Don't overlook his win over Crusher Kawajiri either lads, a great fight and a very close one. Melendez has been calling out Paul Daley for a 165lbs catchweight bout, but I'd rather see the Alvarez fight, that's just a great match-up.
I don't know, simply because it would require having 3 Lightweights in the top 10, because of what Edgar did to Penn, and then what Maynard did to Edgar.
This is how I saw it a couple months ago. 1. Anderson Silva 2. GSP 3. Shogun 4. Aldo 5. Edgar 6. Shields 7. Penn 8. Fitch 9. Machida 10. Maynard Things have changed since then. Shields may need to be demoted, if not removed. I need to re-watch his fight with Kampmann to see if I think he could be declared the winner. I watched in a restaurant, and didn't give it enough attention to make a call. I gave Edgar the nod against Maynard, but Maynard showed well enough to stay in. Machida threw away the 1st two rounds against Jackson, and is dropped from the top 10. Jackson lost to Evans, and still wouldn't have made it in with a clear victory over Machida. I'll quickly make a list, but I may change it with more thought. 1. Anderson Silva 2. GSP 3. Shogun 4. Aldo 5. Edgar 6. Maynard 7. Penn 8. Fitch 9. Dominick Cruz 10. Cain Valasquez
That's a pretty solid list. I would drop Maynard and Fitch and add John Jones and Nick Diaz. I'd still have to have a spot for Fedor too.
Thanks. I believe Jones will eventually make my list, but I can't put him there with his resume yet. I just recently removed Machida from my list, and Machida would still have accomplished more at 205. Evans recent victories, over Silva and Jackson, keep him higher up the ladder as well. Nick Diaz is a strong candidate. I don't know that I could rank him above Shields, and I just bumped him from my list. Fedor is still my all time number one, but I can't justify Werdum in my current top 10. I would have to rank Werdum higher currently.
Nope, the only top 10 fighter he's beaten in recently was Aoki. 1 top 10 win doesn't justify P4P status.
That is my reservation. When you then think about Aldo, Silva, GSP, Belfort, Rua etc then it becomes tough.
