[twinksjoe]

I have seen sherdog's choices for top 10 fighters from each weight class and I feel I must challenge some of the number 1's. (minus the baton and feathers. I don't follow a lot of japanese fight promotions).
oh let me clear up a couple of things first before I start. I have been a fan of mma since 93. I am lucky enough to live in colorado and was able to go to the first ufc show ever. I watched ufc through the good years and the bad years. I also was put onto pride in 02 by one of my friends. thou I followed ufc more closely I always considered myself a fan of pride. I think I only missed maybe 10 pride events since 02(one being pride 33 I was out of town at the time. kicking myself for choosing my wife over pride!) I am a white belt only cause recently have I become a "internet" guy. oh and last thing if it bothers you I don't have words caps its because my shift button is broke on my blackberry treo so sorry about that.

heavyweights-
number 1 ranked fedor.
I disagree with this choice. I am well aware saying that will result in a lot of "flamming". I do believe couture should be ranked number 1 and here's why. fedor currently holds 2 victories over top ten ranked fighters. couture holds 2 victories over top 10 ranked fighters(oh current rankings for both fighters). now I know fedor is the most dominate hw ever in pride and I know he has blown thru everyone. but in the last year who has he fought? coleman, and lindland. I am missing someone and I'm kicking myself for who it is either way none of them are or were(in the last year) ranked. now who has couture faced and beat in the last year? tim sylvia and gabe gonzaga. say what you will about sylvia(and trust me I've said it too) he was the ufc champ in a weak ufc hw divison. so he did what he was supposed to do. and he was ranked. as high as number 2(dont agree with it but I don't make the rankings). he beat the pitbull ina exciting fight then beat the pitbull in a non exciting fight. giving tim 2 back to back victories over a top 10 fighter.

[Cymen]

Sylvia lost the 1st and 3rd fight against Arlovski. The 3rd fight was improperly judged, meaning Sylvia would not have been top 10.

Gonzaga's ranking is based on a guy who is barely top 10 himself, lost to other 2 top 2 guys. Therefore he is not a solid top 10.

Taking this in notice, Couture's wins are overrated.

However, Fedor has beaten a true champion and a high ranked contender in his prime. Fedor also beaten Mark Hunt when he was top 10, Nogueira for the 2nd time when he was top 10, Coleman the first time was top 10, Randleman who just like Gonzaga had a victory over Mirko, Herring who still was top 10 back then, Schilt who was arguably top 10 over then, Arona who just defeated Horn, Babalu in his prime etc.

[twinksjoe]

sorry ran out of room.

heayweight cont....

the point I'm trying to get at is sylvia wasn't a push over fighter. he wasn't exciting either but he had a good enough resume to be ranked. and couture owned the whole fight. next couture faced off against a guy that just came off a stunning first round knockout of the number 2 hw in the world. and infact everyone was saying it would be couture's toughest fight ever. oh and gg was ranked I believe as high as number 6 on some rankings. and all randy did was control the whole fight for 3 rounds ending it with a 3rd round tko.

now I could go into fedor's fights over the last year but I'm not here to make a case for fedor. plus you all know how great he really is. I'm just trying to make the point that ranking systems have always been a "what have you done for me lately" ranking. and randy couture has done enough to be the number 1 hw.

look at it this way. the 49ers of the 80's are considered the greatest team ever. would you rate the 49ers of today as the number 1 ranked team in the nfl? I know I am comparing apples to pears here but you can make a connection. fedor is arugably the greatest hw ever hell the greatest mma fighter ever but I just can't rank him number 1 hw with he's recent competition. now get him in the ring with couture and he will prolly beat couture and then I would rank him number 1.

[twinksjoe]

Originally Posted by Cymen

Sylvia lost the 1st and 3rd fight against Arlovski. The 3rd fight was improperly judged, meaning Sylvia would not have been top 10.

Gonzaga's ranking is based on a guy who is barely top 10 himself, lost to other 2 top 2 guys. Therefore he is not a solid top 10.

Taking this in notice, Couture's wins are overrated.

However, Fedor has beaten a true champion and a high ranked contender in his prime. Fedor also beaten Mark Hunt when he was top 10, Nogueira for the 2nd time when he was top 10, Coleman the first time was top 10, Randleman who just like Gonzaga had a victory over Mirko, Herring who still was top 10 back then, Schilt who was arguably top 10 over then, Arona who just defeated Horn, Babalu in his prime etc.

I don't disagree with fedor beating top guys not once have I said that. my point is how many top guys has he beaten in a year? when they do rankings a lot of the time he comes down to their lvl of competition in the last year or so. that's why a lot of rankings don't have hendo in their top ten for 185.
I disagree with you comments about aa winning the 3rd fight. he was backing away and retreating the whole fight. he showed 0 aggression compared to sylvia's 10 percent aggression. he loss the fight cause he didn't want to get hit.

[twinksjoe]

and don't take away from couture's lvl of competition. he has beaten some of the top guys in ufc at 2 different weight classes. he holds a victory over vitor, liddell, ortiz, randleman.

I believe that fedor would beat couture in a fight. I'm not gonna disagree with people on that. I think randy's age is gonna catch up too him. I'm just trying to say right now couture is putting on a great run in a comeback. and until him and fedor fight I think couture should be ranked number one.

[ndwolfwood]

Fedor hasn't fought "anyone good" over the past two years.

Couture has fought 2 heavyweights in the past two years.

Don't really see the logic in how 2 fights make you number 1 when Fedor has run the division for over 2 years prior to 07.

Let Randy fight for 2 years. He won't last like Fedor has.

[BOSFighter]

You only contest the Heavyweight division rankings? I think people pretty much unanimously have Fedor at number one there. What about the LHW? The MW? The WW? The LW?

[twinksjoe]

I was waiting for all the fallout from the fedor one but seemed pretty lax. just people misunderstanding what I was trying to say.

light heavyweight.

shogun is number 1 again.... now I can't be real bias on this one. I'm a huge rampage fan and not really fond of shogun. once again all I'm gonna say is everything he did to make a name for himself was in the 2005 205 gp. not gonna take away from that. he beat page, lil nog, and arona. that's an amazing feat in one gp. but my complaint is it was 2 years ago. while in that time ppage has beat lindland(questionable yes), liddell(at that time the current number 1), and now hendo. in 2 years the only name I can think of nakumura that shogun beat. he did have the injury I understand that.

even if shogun beats forrest I still think he should be ranked number 1. and my biggest arguement to this will come when I talk welterweights.

middleweights
anderson silva
he's the best in the world at 185. I'm really happy not to see lindlands ass there.

[twinksjoe]

welterweights

here it is the base to my whole agrument to why fedor and shogun shouldn't be number 1. current ranked number 1 welterweight matt serra. you beat the number 1 ranked fighter you become the number 1 ranked fighter? even thou before all that you had one fight in 2 years to chris lytle(which if you remember was a close decision that could of went to lytle as much as serra.) if beating the number 1 fighter in the world makes you the number 1 fighter then rampage should be number 1. when he beat liddell, liddell was number 1 ranked on most rankings. yet when rampage won he moved into second behind shogun. and what about matt hughes? you wanna talk about fedor having a impressive resume look at matt hughes. its a who's who at welterweight. but yet he's not even in the top 2?? and yet fedor is number 1? sure matt hughes came off a loss too gsp. ok totally understand that. but he's next match he took lytle to a ud while in a month gsp gets pounded out by matt serra. shoudlnt this have put hughes in the number 1?

hughes in the last year has beat penn, loss to gsp(who became the number 1 ranked), and beat a always game lytle(who arugably beat matt serra). if that wasn't bad enough look at gsp. in the last year he beat the legend hughes, lost to serra, and handle kos. wouldn't you say that should put him in the number 1 ranked?

so if people argue that fedor should be number one cause of he's past achivements argue hughes should be number 1 for he's. you wanna argue that shogun is number 1 then argue gsp is number one.

lightweight
gomi. until bj penn chalks off 2 more wins.

[twinksjoe]

my final point.

with all this ranking system stuff and how everyone has their own rankings with regards of the top 6 the last 4 on any site can be way different. so the steps mma(not just the ufc) need to come up with a proper ranking system. I don't agree with the whole cro cop losing so gg has a title shot cause it was number 1 contender match. you bring in a guy like big nog and he is fighting herring when in reality he should be fighting a arloski or a sylvia. I'm not saying herring is a can or gg is a can I'm just saying neither one of those 2 worked their way up the ranks to face a potiential number 1 contender.

something needs to be done with a ranking system. one thing boxing has that they utilize very well is their ranking system. sure sometimes they can rank people higher then they are so the champ can get a can every now and then. but if done right you do get super fights like de la hoya meaweather.

the solution? the owners and presidents of these orgs need to suck up their pride and get together withsome of the top journalist and hire some professional rankers(it has to exist lol). and sit down and hammer out a accuate ranking system. at first it will be really hard. like for example if frank shamrock takes out another washed up never ranked fighter again and anderson silva destroys franklin again both promotors will want their boy at number 1. which would cause problems. but once its all said and done and they realize with a ranking system they can make more money it will be all good.