If you like the Light Heavyweight division in MMA then October is the month for you, with six of our top ten fighters active, and no less that four intra-top 25 bouts.
Two fights will determine who the Interim SportsRatings Light Heavyweight title holder is. The actual belt has been vacant for over six months since Jon Jones officially went inactive. Jones has threatened to move up to Heavyweight and recently has had legal problems (to say the least) so who knows when he will fight again. He continues to lose rating points but will rank #1 for at least the rest of 2021.
That leaves #2 Jan Blachowicz with the interim belt, which he will defend on October 30 against #5 Glover Teixeira. If he wins, he holds the belt, that part is simple. If Teixeira wins, then it depends on the results of #3 Vadim Nemkov vs. #13 Julius Anglickas on the 16th at Bellator. If Glover and Nemkov both win, Nemkov will be the interim title holder. Teixeira needs Anglickas to beat Nemkov.
Other big bouts include #4 Ryan Bader against #8 Corey Anderson, also on the 16th as Bellator; this, like Nemkov-Anglickas, is part of Bellator's Light Heavyweight tournament, and the winners will face each other in the Grand Prix final. Note that Anglickas is a replacement for Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson who pulled out of the tournament due to (non-Covid) illness.
And finally for the top ten, #6 Magomed Ankalaev fights #36 Volkan Oezdemir. Oezdemir is a lot better than our ranking suggests; his last win was over current #16 Aleksander Rakic almost two years ago, after which he lost to current #9 Jiri Prochazka. Ankalaev is 15-1, his sole loss to #11 Paul Craig in 2018 followed by a 6-fight win streak.
SportsRatings Light Heavyweight rankings - top 8
| Sept Rank |
Oct Rank |
Fighter | WC | Rating | Rated Record | Org | September results; •October schedule |
| 1 | 1 | Jon Jones | LH | 75.44 | 20-1-0 | UFC | --last rated win -19 months. |
| 2 | 2 | Jan Blachowicz | LH | 62.81 | 22-6-0 | UFC | [interim LH title holder] •10/30 vs. #5 Glover Teixeira [to retain interim LH title] |
| 3 | 3 | Vadim Nemkov | LH | 50.92 | 8-2-0 | Bell | •10/16 vs. #13 Julius Anglickas [for interim LH title]? |
| 4 | 4 | Ryan Bader | LH | 32.71 | 22-6-0 | Bell | •10/16 vs. #8 Corey Anderson |
| 5 | 5 | Glover Teixeira | LH | 26.59 | 25-6-0 | UFC | •10/30 vs. #2 Jan Blachowicz [for interim LH title]? |
| 6 | 6 | Magomed Ankalaev | LH | 26.18 | 8-1-0 | UFC | •10/30 vs. #36 Volkan Oezdemir |
| 9 | 7 | Phil Davis | LH | 22.43 | 19-6-0 | Bell | Beat #25 Yoel Romero |
| 7 | 8 | Corey Anderson | LH | 22.22 | 10-4-0 | Bell | •10/16 vs. #4 Ryan Bader |
And that's not all. Outside the top ten there are several others active:
- #17 Da Un Jung battles #20 Kennedy Nzechukwu on the 16th in the UFC
- #19 Shamil Gamzatov fights #48 Michal Oleksiejczuk on the 30th, also in the UFC
- #24 Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov takes on #39 Karl Albrektsson in Bellator on the 16th
And we've already seen one results, as #62 Thiago Santos defeated #21 Johnny Walker by unanimous decision on October 2nd. Santos got his first win since February of 2019, and that dry spell coupled with three losses sent him to the nether zone in our ratings, but he'll be coming back up, probably just shy of the top 25 however. Santos overcome several injuries suffered during his loss to Jon Jones but looked much better against Walker than he did in losses to Teixeira and Rakic.
Ramifications
We've covered the belt situation: Blachowicz needs to win, Nemkov needs Blachowicz to lose, and Teixeira needs to win and have Nemkov to lose.
What's the best-case for Ryan Bader? He's too far behind at #4 to gain much ground with a win, so he'll only make a major advance if he wins the full tournament. If he beats Anderson and then Nemkov, he would be the interim title holder provided Glover Teixeira beats Blachowicz. Here's a look at the Bellator fighters' best possible ratings.
1) After the next round of fights, assuming a win:
- Nemkov 52.73
- Anglickas 40.88
- Bader 36.29
- Anderson 32.07
2) After the Grand Prix final, depending on their opponent in the final:
- Nemkov 58.64 / 57.40
- Bader 52.03 / 46.40
- Anderson 49.18 / 43.17
- Anglickas 48.27 / 46.75
Compare this to the values for Blachowicz or Teixeira after winning their fight:
- Blachowicz 65.56
- Glover 51.76
So you see, if Nemkov wins the Grand Prix he would overtake Teixeira regardless of opponent, and Bader would hold the interim belt over Teixeira if he beats Anderson and then Nemkov (but not if he faces Anglickas).
In all other cases, or if Blachowicz successfully defends his title, 2nd best (really, 3rd) is the best a Bellator fighter can do.
When will Jones relinquish the top spot?
A long time, sadly. That's what happens when you dominate and go undefeated—you build up a huge point advantage. Jones would either have to lose or finally actually fight in another division to disappear from the top spot in the next year. That's right A YEAR before his points decay enough to fall to #2.
If Jan beats Glover and doesn't fight again, he wouldn't take over the #1 spot until the September 1st, 2022 ratings. Nemkov would have to wait until March of 2023. Bader and Glover's best shots wouldn't get them to #1 until August of 2023. Of course Nemkov, Bader, and Glover would have to fight before then or be considered inactive themselves.
And since Bones won't be fighting anywhere in the near future, it looks like we'll be discussing the Light Heavyweight interim belt well into next year, if not longer.
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