GSP Carlos Condit Jon Fitch Jake Ellenberger Nick Diaz Josh Koscheck Anthony Johnson Jake Shields Martin Kampmann Ben Askren Tyron Woodley
1. GSP 2. Fitch 3. Diaz 4. Koscheck 5. Condit 6. Ellenberger 7. Kampmann 8. MacDonald 9. Shields 10. Sanchez Thiago, Hathaway, Pyle, Story, Kim bubbling under. I think guys like Askren and Rocha could be there on talent but they need to pick up some wins against top level comp, not including Penn because he's retired as it stands or Rumble because he's moved up.
Penn is retired, no? And Kampmann should be above Anthony Johnson & Jake Shields IMO. Glad to see this boring myth about Fitch being the undisputed #2 in the division is dead though.
I think Fitch is #2 until proven otherwise and I thought he beat Penn, though not as convincingly as Diaz. His problem at the moment is not getting interesting matchups, he won't get another shot and he'd beat most of the guys in the top 10 who are being lined up for shots.
Champion: Georges St-Pierre 1. Jon Fitch 2. Nick Diaz 3. Carlos Condit 4. Jake Ellenberger 5. Josh Koscheck 6. Jake Shields 7. Diego Sanchez 8. Martin Kampmann 9. Rick Story 10. Thiago Alves Shields, Sanchez, B.J. Penn and Rumble Johnson aren't exactly permanent fixtures at 170lbs so it's hard to tell exactly where they fit. Penn has he said he's retiring and Johnson has moved up to 185lbs, so I've left them both off. Shields and Sanchez are both ranked in part from their reputations at middleweight and lightweight, but you can't really adjust for that. And yes, I still think Fitch is No. 2 in the division, probably until he's beaten or someone else beats GSP.
I was drinking when I made these rankings, so don't take them too seriously. I'm drinking now, but I'm not as drunk as I was then. Maybe I am, but I don't entirely agree with my rankings. I'll update them later. Maybe Penn is done. I like to wait a few months before buying into that sort of thing. Shields got the win over Kampmann, but I've never gone back and rewatched the fight to see if it was a bad call. I was watching it in a bar, and remember telling a friend that Shields may have just took that fight away in the last minute or so of the fight. I think I used the word "steal" when suggesting that Shields could get the win, so I may have felt as though Kampmann really won. What I remember most is how tired Shields looked, and maybe I'm giving him a pass for the weight cut.
Why? Because since 2008 when GSP beat the dog**** out of him, the only top 10 guy he has beaten has been Thiago Alves, who has subsequently lost to Rick Story? Sorry, but wins over Gono, Paulo Thiago, Pierce and the now released Ben Saunders do not make someone the undisputed "number 2 until proven otherwise", not at all. Condit's last four wins have been Ellenberger, a TKO of Rory McDonald, a KO of Dan Hardy and a KO of Dong Hyun Kim. Condit is the man beating the better fighters and beating them emphatically, so he is the true #2 at this point in time, Fitch is not a champion so doesn't retain any status "until proven otherwise".
Condit could fight Fitch for the second spot, there's a reason they won't do that and it's because Fitch would most likely win. I don't think wins over Hardy and Kim are better than a win over Thiago anyway
