SportsRatings: Boxing/MMA

Jon Jones beats Daniel Cormier, takes over #1 pound-for-pound rank (also #3 all-time)

Jon Jones has had a stellar MMA career but he hadn't reached the #1 spot in our MMA pound-for-pound Top 100. But with his win over previously undefeated Daniel Cormier, Jones has attained that, too.

SportsRatings pound-for-pound MMA top 100, for fights through January 3, 2015

Jan Rank	Feb Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	January Results
2	1	Jon Jones	LH	100.42	15-1-0	Beat #7 Daniel Cormier
1	2	Georges St. Pierre	WW	100.04	23-2-0	last win -14 months.
3	3	Chris Weidman	MW	87.70	8-0-0
4	4	Cain Velasquez	HW	78.78	10-1-0	last win -15 months.
5	5	Fabricio Werdum	HW	64.43	18-5-1
6	6	Anthony Pettis	LW	62.56	11-2-0
8	7	Jose Aldo	FW	55.79	17-1-0
9	8	Rafael dos Anjos	LW	45.03	14-5-0
10	9	Anthony Johnson	LH	43.45	15-4-0
14	10	Donald Cerrone	LW	42.80	19-6-0	Beat #71 Myles Jury

Jones is only the third person to hold the #1 spot in the last decade. Fedor Emeliankenko took over the top spot in March, 2003 by beating Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Fedor was #1 until he lost to Fabricio Werdum in June of 2010; at that time, previous #2 Georges St. Pierre slipped into the top spot.

Jon Jones first cracked the top 10 in March of 2011 when he beat Shogun Rua. He jumped to #3 after his win over Quinton Jackson, and was #2 after he beat Rashad Evans.

Around this time, St. Pierre was inactive due to injury and was losing rating points, but still had enough points to keep the top spot; at #2, Jones was the "interim" pound for pound champ at this time. St. Pierre returned to action with wins over Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz, and Anderson Silva reclaimed the #2 spot by beating Chael Sonnen and Stephan Bonner.

Jones continued to win, beating Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, and Alex Gustafsson, returning to the #2 spot when Anderson Silva lost to Chris Weidman.

Then, following his controversial win over Johny Hendrix, St. Pierre began another long layoff that reached the one year mark in November. Combined with Jones' win over Cormier, St. Pierre's loss of points will drop him to #2 in the February rankings.

If St. Pierre comes back any time soon there could be a back-and-forth at #1, but for now it looks like it's Jones' title to hold until he loses—or decides to take time off himself. So far it doesn't look like he wants to slow down.

Jones also moves up to #3 on our All-Time MMA Rankings, pushing past Anderson Silva:

ATR last month	All-time rank	Fighter	Rating	Rated Record	Peak month; highest-rated win
1	1	Fedor Emelianenko	93.91	27-4-0	peak rating: 11/2009  top win: 3/2003 #5 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
2	2	Georges St. Pierre	91.58	23-2-0	peak rating: 11/2013  top win: 11/2006 #19 Matt Hughes
4	3	Jon Jones	84.91	15-1-0	peak rating: 1/2015  top win: 3/2011 #21 Mauricio Rua
3	4	Anderson Silva	78.33	30-6-0	peak rating: 10/2012  top win: 8/2001 #32 Hayato Sakurai
5	5	Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira	73.78	32-9-1	peak rating: 12/2002  top win: 9/2001 #37 Mark Coleman

Jones is behind only Emelianenko and St. Pierre on our list. Jones is only 27 years old, so he has a good chance of ending up the #1 all-time if he keeps up his winning ways.

Huge Upset: Chris Weidman shuts down Anderson Silva taunting with KO win

Anderson Silva did a little too much clowning and not enough fighting and defending, and the price he paid was his UFC middleweight belt. Chris Weidman took advantage of Silva's taunting tactics, delivering a knockout blow as Silva pretended to be stunned by a previous punch.

Silva wasn't even really ahead in the fight at the time, having probably lost the first round. But he assumed he had taken Weidman's best shot—on the ground—and began his taunting soon thereafter. The end came just over a minute into the 2nd round.

Weidman's win will cause a big shakeup in next month's SportsRatings MMA Power Ratings, starting with the overall or "pound-for-pound" rankings, where Silva was formerly #2:

Projected August 1st Pound-for-pound MMA Rankings

July Rank	Aug Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	UFC 162 Results
1	1	Georges St. Pierre	WW	95.74	22-2-0
3	2	Jon Jones	LH	86.38	12-1-0
4	3	Cain Velasquez	HW	74.26	9-1-0
5	4	Benson Henderson	LW	72.07	11-1-0
25	5	Chris Weidman	MW	69.06	6-0-0	Beat #2 Anderson Silva
2	6	Anderson Silva	MW	61.91	30-5-0	Lost to #25 Chris Weidman
6	7	Fabricio Werdum	HW	55.66	16-5-1
7	8	Lyoto Machida	LH	53.96	16-3-0
8	9	Daniel Cormier	HW	53.15	9-0-0
9	10	Johny Hendricks	WW	49.29	11-1-0
10	11	Jose Aldo	FW	47.30	14-1-0

Weidman (now 10-0-0 overall, 6-0-0 in rated fights) will take a huge jump from #25 to #5, one spot ahead of Silva, who falls to #6 with his 5th career loss.

And of course, Silva also loses the top Middleweight spot to Weidman, though he only falls to #2. The two fighters are miles ahead of the rest of the field, as Silva was before the bout.

Middleweight - 185 lb. limit - August 1st projection

July Rank	Aug Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	UFC 162 Results
3	1	Chris Weidman	MW	69.06	6-0-0	Beat #1 Anderson Silva
1	2	Anderson Silva	MW	61.91	30-5-0	Lost to #3 Chris Weidman
2	3	Vitor Belfort	MW	30.76	22-10-0
4	4	Ronaldo Souza	MW	25.64	13-2-0
5	5	Costas Philippou	MW	25.02	5-1-0
6	6	Yushin Okami	MW	24.77	19-6-0
7	7	Tarec Saffiedine	MW	24.00	4-1-0
13	8	Mark Munoz	MW	23.72	8-2-0	Beat #11 Tim Boetsch
8	9	Alexander Shlemenko	MW	23.15	14-2-0
9	10	Ronny Markes	MW	21.55	3-0-0

Mark Munoz's impressive win should put him back in the top 10 in the division. If Silva's post-fight vow to not rematch Weidman or fight for the belt again is true (we'll see what Dana White thinks of that), then Vitor Belfort might be Weidman's next opponent (licensing issues withstanding).

In any case, the middleweight division—probably the weakest and least competitive in the UFC—just got a whole lot more interesting.

Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier - what next for the winner?

When the Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament began, Strikeforce could reasonably claim a heavyweight division that was at least the equal of the UFC in terms of talent and competitiveness. Since the Zuffa buyout, major talents—Overeem, Werdum, Antonio Silva—have been promoted, and Fedor was dropped after his losses, leaving the UFC much stronger in the top weight class. But Strikeforce still has some great fighters, and two of them meet in the tournament final tonight: Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier.

Cormier at #4 and Barnett at #7 are now the only Strikeforce fighters left in our Heavyweight top ten. Logically the winner should advance to the UFC, but can that happen?

Cormier trains with #6 Cain Velasquez, meaning that a matchup between the two might be hard to arrange. And of course Josh Barnett has simply not been welcome at the UFC for some time, and winning this tournament would probably mean he holds the Strikeforce belt and has to defend it. Alistair Overeem's recent testing snafu probably ruined any remaining chance for Barnett, as the last thing Dana White wants to do is welcome a 3-time positive tester back into the fold.

So this fight might really be for the Strikeforce belt and only the Strikeforce belt. After all, the UFC can't take every fighter, since White has said the promotion is going to continue for some time and not be absorbed into the UFC wholly.

The fight won't change our rankings much, either; Cormier is a fairly distant #4 and wouldn't move up any spots by beating Barnett; Barnett would simply replace Cormier at #4 with a win. The loser will fall to near the bottom of the top ten.

May Heavyweight rankings - fights through April 30th

Feb Rank	May Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	Feb-Apr Results
1	1	Alistair Overeem	HW	67.73	29-11-0
2	2	Junior dos Santos	HW	56.29	8-0-0
3	3	Fabricio Werdum	HW	53.07	14-5-1	Def Roy Nelson
4	4	Daniel Cormier	HW	42.79	6-0-0
5	5	Antonio Silva	HW	39.01	13-3-0	last win -14 months.
6	6	Cain Velasquez	HW	36.40	6-1-0	last win -18 months.
7	7	Josh Barnett	HW	35.73	30-5-0

Lightweight: #1 Melendez vs. #24 Thompson; Light heavy: #13 Kyle vs. #18 Cavalcante

The co-headline fight of the evening is Gilbert Melendez vs. Josh Thompson. Melendez is our #1 lightweight, outranking Benson Henderson by a decent margin. But he lacks strong competition in Strikeforce, and is taking on a fighter ranked just 25th in our book.

This lesser competition is why most rankings have Melendez 3rd or 4th behind Henderson and Frankie Edgar. That's where we'll have Melendez if he gets upset; he'd fall to #4, with Thompson moving up to #3, and Henderson at #1.

If Melendez wins as expected, he won't gain much in terms of points but he would avenge (for the 2nd time) one of the only two losses of his career. And the call for him to move to the UFC would increase, as he'd be on a 7-fight win streak.

The only other fight of interest in terms of our weight class rankings is Mike Kyle vs. Rafael Cavalcante in the light heavyweight division. While Strikeforce recently boasted great heavyweights and can still claim one of the very best light heavyweight fighers, the UFC clearly dominates the light heavyweight division. The winner of this fight will approach the top ten but won't quite reach it.

There is no current champ in that division for Strikeforce, which is reasonable since we rank no Strikeforce fighter in the top 7. Gegard Mousasi at #8 and Muhammad Lawal at #10 are the highest ranked for the promotion currently, and will remain so regardless of this fight's outcome.

Jon Jones up to #2 in pound-for-pound top 100; who is left to beat at light heavyweight?

Jon Jones moved on step closer to the #1 overall spot in the SportsRatings Top 100 MMA Rankings. Jones' win over former #5 Rashad Evans moved Jones ahead of middleweight Anderson Silva to the #2 spot, behind the injured welterweight Georges St. Pierre.

With St. Pierre expected to be out through the summer—and losing points due to inactivity—Jones might capture the #1 spot if he beats #5 Dan Henderson, who is slated to be his next opponent. In the meantime, however, Silva will retake the #2 spot from Jones if he beats Chael Sonnen in UFC 148 in July.

Three heavyweights are in the top ten: Alistair Overeem at #4, UFC champ Junior dos Santos at #6, and Fabricio Werdum at #8. All three were scheduled to fight in the all-heavyweight UFC 146 but Overeem tested positive for steroids and was kicked off the competition.

Lightweights Gilbert Melendez (#7) and Benson Henderson (#9) joined by featherweight Jose Aldo at #10. Rashad Evans fell to #11 and Frankie Edgar dropped from #10 to #17 after his loss to Henderson in UFC 144 in late February.

SportsRatings MMA Top 10 (overall/pound-for-pound) for May, 2012

Feb Rank	May Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	February-April results
1	1	Georges St. Pierre	WW	95.06	20-2-0
3	2	Jon Jones	LH	83.33	10-1-0	Def #5 Rashad Evans
2	3	Anderson Silva	MW	82.07	26-3-0
4	4	Alistair Overeem	HW	67.73	29-11-0
6	5	Dan Henderson	LH	59.20	29-8-0
7	6	Junior dos Santos	HW	56.29	8-0-0
8	7	Gilbert Melendez	LW	56.10	19-2-0
9	8	Fabricio Werdum	HW	53.07	14-5-1	Def #344 Roy Nelson
25	9	Benson Henderson	LW	49.86	8-1-0	Def #10 Frankie Edgar
13	10	Jose Aldo	FW	43.06	13-1-0

Big movers in the top 100 include Carlos Condit—St. Pierre's next foe—who lept from #29 to #13 after beating former #12 Nick Diaz, and Eddie Alvarez who topped ex-#11 Shinya Aoki in Bellator 66 on April 20th. Alvarez jumped from #48 to #13.

Re-entry: Ryan Bader's win over Quinton Jackson in UFC 144 allowed him to re-enter the top 100 all the way up at #28, while Tim Boetsch's win over Yusin Okami put him back in at #73. Takanori Gomi made a huge jump from #239 to #83 by beating #70 Eiji Mitsuoka, but the biggest move was Mark Hunt's leap from #477 to #99 which resulted from his KO win over ex-#67 Cheick Kongo

The Weight Class Rankings: Featherweight

Feb Rank	May Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	Feb-Apr Results
1	1	Jose Aldo	FW	43.06	13-1-0
2	2	Dominick Cruz	FW	35.57	11-1-0
3	3	Hatsu Hioki	FW	27.88	17-3-2	Def Bart Palaszewski
4	4	Hiroyuki Takaya	FW	25.73	11-10-1
5	5	Bibiano Fernandes	FW	24.32	8-1-0

Jose Aldo remains #1 and hasn't lost in over 5 years; his next opponent is #19 featherweight Erik Koch in July. #2 Dominick Cruz takes on #8 Urijah Faber in June. Hatsu Hioki's win over Bart Palaszewski solidified his #3 standing but he's still a ways behind the top two; he fights Ricardo Lamas in June. Hiroyuki Takaya and Bibiano Fernades are close at #4 and #5 respectively.

Lightweight: Who is best, Melendez or Henderson?

Feb Rank	May Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	Feb-Apr Results
1	1	Gilbert Melendez	LW	56.10	19-2-0
4	2	Benson Henderson	LW	49.86	8-1-0	Def #2 Frankie Edgar
9	3	Eddie Alvarez	LW	39.71	17-3-0	Def #3 Shinya Aoki
2	4	Frankie Edgar	LW	37.54	9-2-1	Lost to #4 Benson Henderson
3	5	Shinya Aoki	LW	32.37	24-5-0	Lost to #9 Eddie Alvarez
5	6	Michael Chandler	LW	28.51	3-0-0

Gilbert Melendez remains our #1 lightweight, with new UFC champ Benson Henderson making it interesting after his win over Frankie Edgar, who falls from #2 to #4. Also making a big move up is Eddie Alvarez, who leaps from #9 to #3 as victim Shinya Aoki drops to #5.

Melendez next faces #25 Josh Thompson on May 19th, while in August Henderson and Edgar have a rematch. If Henderson wins that, he will be neck-and-neck with Melendez, who is hampered by having lesser quality competition in Strikeforce. In fact Bellator, which boasts Alvarez, Aoki, and undefeated Michael Chandler, has three of our top six lightweights. Chandler's recent win in Bellator 67 is not figured into the ratings yet.

Welterweight: Plenty of foes await injured St. Pierre

Feb Rank	May Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	Feb-Apr Results
1	1	Georges St. Pierre	WW	95.06	20-2-0
5	2	Carlos Condit	WW	42.48	20-5-0	Def #2 Diaz
3	3	Johny Hendricks	WW	33.41	8-1-0
4	4	Jake Ellenberger	WW	33.11	13-5-0	Def #14 Diego Sanchez
2	5	Nick Diaz	WW	31.46	20-8-0	Lost to #5 Carlos Condit
7	6	Ben Askren	WW	29.63	5-0-0	Def #13 Douglas Lima
6	7	Jon Fitch	WW	27.11	18-2-1	last win -14 months.

Georges St. Pierre's last win was on April 30, 2011, so he'll have points deducted starting next month, but he's so far and away #1 here that his inactivity won't even start to close the gap in any meaningful way. At #2, Carlos Condit awaits the matchup with St. Pierre that he earned by beating Nick Diaz. Diaz dropped to #5 as a result of the loss, and with it the long-anticipated Diaz-St. Pierre fight will have to wait even longer.

#3 Johnny Hendricks is another eventual St. Pierre foe. #4 Jake Ellenberger is on a 6-fight winning streak, while #6 Ben Askren is undefeated at 10-0 overall. This leaves a big backlog of opponents for St. Pierre when he returns, and before that there's sure to be some infighting that weeds out the challengers. #7 Jon Fitch was at one time looking like he'd get a quick rematch with "Rush" but his 12-second KO at Hendrick's hands in late December spoiled that idea.

Middleweight: It's Silva and Sonnen. No one else is important right now.

Feb Rank	May Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	Feb-Apr Results
1	1	Anderson Silva	MW	82.07	26-3-0
2	2	Chael Sonnen	MW	38.26	24-11-1
3	3	Mark Munoz	MW	29.15	7-1-0
4	4	Hector Lombard	MW	26.95	20-2-1
5	5	Luke Rockhold	MW	25.71	5-0-0
6	6	Vitor Belfort	MW	23.72	20-9-0
8	7	Siyar Bahadurzada	MW	23.59	8-1-0	Def Paulo Thiago
7	8	Chris Weidman	MW	22.14	4-0-0

When Chael Sonnen thoroughly dominated Anderson Silva in August, 2010 at UFC 117, for four rounds and three minutes before losing to a triangle armbar, it was clear that Sonnen had joined Silva at the top of the middleweight mountain, with no one else close. But in terms of rankings, a loss is a loss and Sonnen had to battle his way back to being #1 contender, defeating Brian Stann and Michael Bisping to get the July rematch in UFC 148.

If Sonnen wins there will be a rubber match for sure; if Anderson prevails, then some of the other fighters in the top ten will move up. #3 Mark Munoz faces #8 Chris Weidman in July, and the winner will have an inside track to Silva. #4 Hector Lombard moves to the UFC from Bellator, taking on the dangerous Brian Stann in August. Strikeforce middleweight champ Luke Rockhold is #5 and at some point should make the jump to the UFC if he keeps winning. #7 Siyar Bahadurzada joined the UFC in April, while #6 Vitor Belfort has been clamoring for a rematch with Silva since the last fight ended so suddenly with a front kick to Belfort's face.

But all of this is on hold until Silva-Sonnen II.

Light Heavyweight: Who is left for Jon Jones to fight?

Feb Rank	May Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	Feb-Apr Results
1	1	Jon Jones	LH	83.33	10-1-0	Def #2 Rashad Evans
3	2	Dan Henderson	LH	59.20	29-8-0
2	3	Rashad Evans	LH	42.83	19-2-1	Lost to #1 Jon Jones
5	4	Mauricio Rua	LH	34.04	17-6-0
22	5	Ryan Bader	LH	31.00	6-2-0	Def #4 Quinton Jackson
6	6	Lyoto Machida	LH	29.55	14-3-0
4	7	Quinton Jackson	LH	27.33	24-10-0	Lost to #22 Ryan Bader
7	8	Gegard Mousasi	LH	25.40	21-3-2
10	9	Alexander Gustafsson	LH	23.68	7-1-0	Def Thiago Silva

#1 lightweight Jon Jones' next opponent will be #2 Dan Henderson. That part's easy. If he beats Henderson, who is left to challenge him? He's already beaten #3 Rashad Evans (just a few weeks ago in UFC 145), #4 Mauricio Rua (UFC 128), #5 Ryan Bader (UFC 126), #6 Lyoto Machida (UFC 140), and #7 Quinton Jackson (UFC 135). Unless you are clamoring for #8 Gegard Mousasi to make the jump from Strikeforce, or think #9 Alexander Gustafsson is actually ready to challenge Jones, there is not a foe on the immediate horizon in the lightweight division that Jones hasn't already vanquished.

Of course if Hendo finds a way to beat Jones things get interesting again, but Jones has truly "cleaned out the division" by beating all of the best fighters. If Henderson hadn't made a resurgence lately Jones would be reduced to fighting rematches or low-ranking opponents already. If the UFC is smart, they'll space out Jones' fights for a while until new challengers can emerge.

The other option is for Jones to move up to heavyweight, which Dana White rightly says is not a good idea yet.

Heavyweights: Overeem's steroid test tarnishes dream heavyweight UFC event

Feb Rank	May Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	Feb-Apr Results
1	1	Alistair Overeem	HW	67.73	29-11-0
2	2	Junior dos Santos	HW	56.29	8-0-0
3	3	Fabricio Werdum	HW	53.07	14-5-1	Def Roy Nelson
4	4	Daniel Cormier	HW	42.79	6-0-0
5	5	Antonio Silva	HW	39.01	13-3-0	last win -14 months.
6	6	Cain Velasquez	HW	36.40	6-1-0	last win -18 months.
7	7	Josh Barnett	HW	35.73	30-5-0
8	8	Frank Mir	HW	34.71	15-5-0
9	9	Fedor Emelianenko	HW	34.26	26-4-0
10	10	Brock Lesnar	HW	24.78	4-2-0	last win -21 months.

The Alistair Overeem-Junior dos Santos match originally headlining UFC 146 would have established a true #1 between the former Strikeforce champ and current UFC champ, but it was not to be. Overeem shockingly tested positive for steroids between events—shocking not because Overeem is a PED user, which was laughingly obvious to anyone following the sport, but because he actually failed to beat the test.

So instead of Overeem, dos Santos faces #8 Frank Mir, another fighter whose weight makes rapid upward movements like Overeem's. But he hasn't tested positive so he gets his umpteenth title fight. It's not nearly as interesting, however.

Mir was supposed to fight #6 Cain Velasquez, with Roy Nelson facing #5 Antonio Silva; instead Silva and Velasquez will face off in a very interesting matchup. However, considering that #4 Daniel Cormier (who trains with Velasquez) recently defeated Silva, one can only expect Velasquez to do the same. Left off the card for some reason is #3 Fabricio Werdum, who beat Nelson in February.

Cormier's next fight will be on May 19 for the Strikeforce championship against #7 Josh Barnett—another past steroid user with three positive tests. This creates an interesting dilemma—can the winner jump to the UFC? Barnett has been persona-non-grata there for years, and Cormier might not fight training partner Velasquez.

Now in limbo, i.e. outside of the UFC/Strikeforce world which contains all the top heavies, is #9 Fedor Emelianenko, who will fight #25 Pedro Rizzo in June. #10 Brock Lesnar, Overeem's last opponent, is back in pro wrestling where the drug testing is, to say the least, pretty lax.

After Junior Dos Santos' win, who are the top 10 MMA Heavyweights?

Junior Dos Santos' stunning 1-minute upset TKO of Cain Velasquez threw another curve into the MMA heavyweight rankings. Dos Santos takes over as UFC champion, denying Velasquez the chance to be SportsRatings' #1 ranked heavyweight. Instead, the two switch places for the most part, with Dos Santos rising to #2 and Velasquez falling to #6.

At #1 is Alistair Overeem, the former Strikeforce fighter now signed with the UFC. His transfer to the larger operation makes the top 10 even at 5 UFC fighters and 5 Strikeforce fighters, easily the weight class that is least dominated by the UFC (until you get into the very low weight classes where the Japanese have many more competitors). Fabricio Werdum might fight next for the UFC next, too, making it 6-4.

Overeem is #1 as a result of the Fall of Fedor, as Overeem beat Werdum who was the first to beat Emelianenko. Fedor's fall also pumped up the scores of Antonio Silva and eventually Daniel Cormier, and all four are in the top five currently. The mad shuffling going on in the heavyweight division will continue until a true #1 settles in. It looked like that would be Velasquez, but Dos Santos put an end to that for now. Instead, Overeem will have a chance to prove his #1 rating isn't just a fluke.

SportsRatings MMA Heavyweight rankings post-Dos Santos/Velasquez

Nov. 5 Rank	Nov. 12 Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	UFC on Fox results:
1	1	Alistair Overeem	HW	62.80	28-11-0
5	2	Junior dos Santos	HW	56.81	8-0-0	Def #2 Cain Velasquez
3	3	Fabricio Werdum	HW	54.77	13-5-1	last win -17 months.
4	4	Daniel Cormier	HW	42.98	6-0-0
6	5	Antonio Silva	HW	40.05	13-3-0
2	6	Cain Velasquez	HW	39.15	6-1-0	Lost to #5 Junior dos Santos
7	7	Brock Lesnar	HW	37.75	4-1-0	last win -16 months.
8	8	Josh Barnett	HW	35.74	30-5-0
9	9	Fedor Emelianenko	HW	33.55	24-4-0	last win -24 months.
10	10	Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira	HW	29.43	31-6-1

Here's a rundown of the top ten, how they got there, and where they're going:

1. Alistair Overeem (35-11-0) - The former Strikeforce champ pulled out of the tournament where he would have faced Antonio Silva and turned up in the UFC, where he'll face Brock Lesnar. That will be an interesting bout, and the toughest opponent Overeem has faced in years. With 11 losses, a suspicious all-muscle weight gain, and questionable opposition as a heavyweight, Overeem hasn't been considered among the division's elite even when he held the Strikeforce belt. His win over Werdum was unconvincing but it gave him a lot of Fedor's former rating points. Known as a striker, he'll likely have trouble against Lesnar, as even Werdum outboxed him at times. We doubt Overeem will last long at #1; even if he beats Lesnar, Dos Santos will finish him off.
   Next fight: December 30 vs. #7 Brock Lesnar.
   
   
2. Junior Dos Santos (14-1-0) - We admit, we were never quite impressed with Dos Santos despite his many UFC wins; it always seemed he was only just good enough to beat the guy in front of him. But as the guys put in front of him got better, so did Junior, culminating in his quick dispatch of Velasquez. A humble UFC champ, he's a welcome relief from Lesnar's bluster. One way or another it looks like he'll ascend to our #1 spot, as he should beat the winner of Lesnar-Overeem. He just beat the man most likely to defeat him, too, so until Velasquez gets a rematch we expect Dos Santos to keep winning. Next fight: 2012 vs. winner of #1 Overeem vs. #7 Lesnar.
   
   
3. Fabricio Werdum (14-5-1) - No one got a bigger boost from beating Fedor than Werdum, who toppled the long-time heavyweight champ at his peak. But Werdum's win was somewhat of a fluke, and his subsequent non-performance against Overeem showed that the only way he's going to beat a top name is to get them in his guard. Avoid that, and you can't lose, especially if he goes down on every punch. 15 knockdowns per round is going to give the other guy an advantage. What he should do is work the standup fighting, which he showed to good effect against Overeem but didn't take seriously as a strategy. By becoming well-rounded Werdum could stay on near the top, but as it looks now he's likely to slide down the rankings.
   Next fight: unknown, possibly #17 Brendan Schaub
   
   
4. Daniel Cormier (9-0-0) - Cormier is now the top undefeated heavyweight fighter. He beat Antonio Silva convincingly, looking like a Fedor/Velasquez clone in doing so. He has the build of Emelianenko and trains with Velasquez, so that's not surprising. His relative inexperience may be an issue but it also keeps him from getting overconfident or taking chances—note how he fought Silva completely differently from Fedor, respecting Silva's size and staying away from his giant fists, then using speed to beat him. In the Strikeforce tournament final Cormier faces Josh Barnett next, a completely different challenge.
   Next fight: vs. #8 Josh Barnett, date unknown.
   
   
5. Antonio Silva (16-3-0) - Right after beating Fedor convincingly, Silva lost to Cormier just as convincingly. Silva has huge, heavy fists, giant size, and a good ground game, but he's slow on his feet and Cormier exploited that. Silva is the kind of guy who can beat anyone or lose to anyone. If you aren't careful, his size and ground skill can kill you, but if good strategy is used then the entire top ten—or lower—can handle him.
   Next fight: ? Unknown
   
   
6. Cain Velasquez (9-1-0) - Cain looked invincible beating Brock Lesnar, and it seemed he could be the new Fedor and rule for the rest of the decade. But the win came at a price, and his subsequent rotator cuff injury kept him out of the Octagon for over a year. When he came back against Dos Santos he was tentative and uncertain, and needed some time to acclimate to being in a real fight. Dos Santos didn't give him that time. He looked like he'd lost muscle and put on some fat in the past year, too, and certainly didn't show the explosiveness—or get a chance to show it—that he did when he won the UFC crown. If he can become totally healthy he'll again be a force to reckon with; his next fight will definitely be critical to his career.
   Next fight: 2012, perhaps vs. loser of #1 Overeem vs. #7 Lesnar.
   
   
7. Brock Lesnar (5-2-0) - Lesnar will get an opportunity to redeem himself against Alistair Overeem, and with his size and wrestling skill he has a good chance to do so. Lesnar's career is only 7 fights long but seems much more significant, and his bouts with illness have extended his time between contests. Lesnar is a puzzling combination of giant size, inexperience, quick learning, wrestling talent, and simultaneous weak and strong chin. Quick to get flustered when hit in the face, Lesnar showed he can survive a tremendous beating (against Carwin) but there are limits to how effectively he can fight back. Overeem is another big striker, though he looked a lot less dominant against Werdum for whatever reason. If healthy Lesnar should beat Overeem as long as he doesn't get caught against the fence getting punched in the face 100 times again.
   Next fight: December 30 vs. #1 Alistair Overeem.
   
   
8. Josh Barnett (31-5-0) - Barnett is the wild card in the heavyweight division. He's the guy least likely to make the jump to the UFC, as he's basically been banned by Dana White. But he might win the Strikeforce Grand Prix heavyweight tournament, and if so he has an argument to being the best in the world. Would he get a chance to prove it? With Overeem in the UFC, Fedor in a slump, and everyone else taking a loss in the tournament, there would be no one else in Strikeforce for Barnett to face. His (relatively) old-school strategy of taking the fight to the ground, smothering and choking his opponents his served him well lately, but he hasn't exactly faced the best opponents. Daniel Cormier is a top challenger, but if he wins people will just say Cormier is inexperienced. Barnett may remain in MMA limbo even if he wins the biggest heavyweight tournament in years.
   Next fight: vs. #4 Daniel Cormier, 2012
   
   
9. Fedor Emelianenko (31-4-0) - Fedor was last seen losing to light heavyweight Dan Henderson, his third straight loss after nearly a decade of invincibility. His past track record shows that he can beat anyone, while his recent performance suggests nearly anyone can beat him now. The difference is the strategy he uses. Always somewhat sloppy, Fedor mitigated this trait by being generally careful to avoid getting hit (see Arlovski fight, or Cro Crop for good examples), while showing uncanny ability (or luck) in getting out of bad ground positions (most of his fights). Lately he abandoned the "don't-get-hit" philosophy in favor of a head-hunting style that worked against Bret Rogers but failed against Werdum (fell into his trap), Silva (got hit a lot, then grounded and pounded), and Henderson (got hit even more, was careless on the ground, and finally got ko'd). Fedor will try to regroup in Russia, essentially taking him out of the mix of top fighters for the time being. If he regains his patience he could make a comeback, but he showed even less of that against Hendo than ever before. When a fighter keep mulling retirement after each fight—which Fedor did even before he started losing—it's pretty clear your heart's not in it.
   Next fight: vs. Jeff Monson on November 20.
   
   
10. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (33-6-1) - Another seasoned veteran in the top 10, Nogueira got a new lease on his MMA life with his hometown win over Brendan Schaub in UFC 134. How long that lease on life will last, however, is anybody's guess. The Brazilian fighters in that promotion did amazingly well, and "home Octagon advantage" was a big part of that (note a similar effect in the Olympics). Was that win Nogueira's last gasp? We'll find out when he takes on Frank Mir in a rematch. Last time against Mir, Nogueira was tentative like many older fighters seem to become, without the explosiveness that they had when younger. It's likely that Nog's comeback ends soon, but he's one of the all-time greats.
    Next fight: December 10 vs. #11 Frank Mir

Others: #11 Frank Mir; #12 Cheick Kongo; #13 Cole Konrad; #14 Peter Graham; #15 Shane Carwin

The top eight or ten is very strong, but after that there's a big drop-off once you get past Mir and Kongo. Konrad is undefeated but unproven, having fought only in Bellator. Graham has one big win, over Fedor's brother, and a 4-5 overall record. Carwin is underrated at #15 but he really didn't beat many fighters of note before losing two straight to Lesnar and Dos Santos.

Barnett impresses, Overeem sluggish in Strikeforce wins

Josh Barnett looked impressive against Brett Rogers but it's Alistair Overeem who will take over the top spot in the SportsRatings MMA Heavyweight ratings.

Overeem beats Werdum, 29-28, 30-27, 30-27

Overeem defeated current HW #1 Fabricio Werdum in an awkward bout, as Werdum tried desperately to get the action to the ground while Overeem didn't fall for the ploy that fooled Fedor. Werdum was nearly as effective in striking as Overeem, too, which made the Strikeforce champ look less than dominant as he advanced to the second round of the Heavyweight Grand Prix in a unanimous decision.

The stand-up battle was tepid as both fighters refused to commit to an all-out slugfest: Werdum because he was just using strikes as an entry for the takedown, and Overeem because he didn't want to overcommit and get taken down. The result was a comedy as Werdum fell from the slightest punches, hoping Overeem would follow, only to be invited back to his feet.

Werdum eventually had some opportunities on the ground but by then he was too tired to do much, and Overeem wasn't trying any offense as he rested in Werdum's guard. It was somewhat reminiscent of the Sharmrock-Gracie superfight from 1995 during those moments, while the rest was somewhat like Damian Maia vs. Anderson Silva. The crowd wasn't appreciative at all, but that doesn't say much as the crowd booed the ground action in Barnett vs. Rogers.

We scored the bout 29-28 for Overeem, giving Werdum the final round where he actually won the standup. But Overeem will take over Werdum's spot at #1 in the Heavyweight rankings next month, and #3 in the pound for pound. Overeem advances to take on Antonio Silva, another BJJ expert who is much bigger and stronger than Werdum, and who showed good standup skills against Fedor.

Barnett submits Rogers in 2nd round

Josh Barnett didn't look as buff but his skills were unchanged as he wrestled Brett Rogers into submission in the 2nd round. Barnett slammed Rogers to the mat in the first round and kept his weight on him for four minutes, then in the 2nd round a tired Rogers tapped from an arm triangle choke.

Barnett looked very good as he controlled the action against Rogers, a big strong fighter if no real grappler. Rogers just didn't have the ground game to compete, and he was definitely tentative in standup, hoping to avoid the takedown. Which was futile, of course.

Barnett will face Sergei Kharitonov, the #15 heavyweight, in round two. Between Silva and Barnett/Kharitonov, Overeem faces a pretty rough road to winning the tournament, even with Fedor out!

 

Strikeforce HW Round 1.5 preview: Barnett vs. Rogers, Overeem vs. Werdum

Less than an hour away from the main events of the 2nd half (or "Phase 2") of Strikeforce heavyweight tournament bracket first round. In the other half of the bracket a few months ago, of course, Fedor Emelianenko lost to Antono Silva, while Sergei Kharitanov beat Andre Arlovski.

In tonight's half of the bracket, Josh Barnett takes on Brett Rogers while Alistair Overeem tackles Fabricio Werdum, the other man to beat Fedor recently.

One subplot of these fights is the question: just how many of these guys are on steroids? Overeem gained a huge amount of weight over his career; his defenders claim it was nothing unusual. But his body change looks akin to what Barry Bonds went through. Rogers is another physical freak, while Josh Barnett certainly has a checkered past in terms of PED use. Fabricio Werdum is probably the least suspect, but how many Brazilians were going around 250 pounds 20 years ago? Strikeforce has certainly been less concerned with stringent testing than the UFC in the past; now that they're owned by Zuffa, will that change?

The other subplot is: How do these guys line up against the best heavyweights in the UFC? Once a champion is crowned, how would he do against, say, the winner of Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez?

Barnett vs. Rogers

Josh Barnett (29-5) is ranked 7th in the SportsRatings Heavyweight MMA top 25, and 25th in the overall (pound-for-pound) Top 100. Barnett's career has had its ups and downs, largely due to testing positive for steroids twice three times. One of those results cancelled an entire event during which he was to fight Fedor Emelianenko.

Barnett looked a bit less bulky and less "cut" than normal at the weigh in. Is this what he looks like when not on steroids? Or has he just had to cycle down to pass the tests? Either way, it seems that any advantages he had before might be lessened.

Rogers (11-2) has lost twice after a 10-0 start during which he didn't beat many big names. As a result, he's no longer in our Top 25 among heavyweights. But his losses are to Emelianenko and Overeem, which is nothing to be ashamed of. We think Rogers has a great chance to get a win against a possibly beyond-his-peak Barnett, but he has to overcome the spectre of those two losses to do so.

Ultimately, Rogers might be too one-dimensional for the top rung of the MMA heavyweight division. He's similar to Shane Carwin, who stormed to a 10-0 record but has lost twice now when his punching didn't get the job done. And Carwin has a wrestling background, so he's much less 1-dimensional in theory than Rogers. Barnett in his prime might have been equal to a Junior Dos Santos but those days might be gone.

Overeem vs. Werdum

Alistair Overeem (34-11) is another enigma in terms of his recent career. He racked up many losses when he was a smaller fighter, but since "getting big" he's 9 match winning streak in four different promotions. But few of his opponents have been top names. He beat Rogers after Fedor did, but before that lost to Kharitonov and Werdum, two of the other fighters in the brackets.

He has looked impressive in winning, particularly against Rogers, whom he dominated from the start. In this tournament he will face world-class competition, and if he comes out the winner, he can claim as much as Cain Velasquez to be the world heavyweight champion. However, in our ratings he's only #10 right now.

Who is ranked #1? Believe it or not, it's Fabricio Werdum (14-4-1), who earned an outrageous amount of points due to being the first man in a decade to beat Fedor. Facing Overeem, who is the Strikeforce champ, Werdum will have to prove himself in a hurry. Overeem was considerably less bulky and strong when he lost to Werdum, but Werdum is a lot bigger now, too. Werdum is perhaps the opposite of Brett Rogers in that he has a great BJJ ground game but limited punching power despite his Muay Thai credentials.

We'll find out, basically, whether Werdum's win over Fedor was a fluke. Despite that win, and Werdum's preview win over Overeem, Overeem still has to be considered a favorite.

Strikeforce winner vs. UFC heavyweights

The two promotions' heavyweight rosters are pretty evenly matched. Barnett, Rogers, Werdum, Overeem, Silva, Kharitonov, and Emelianenko are all UFC worthy (only Arlovski, of the tournament competitors, is not anymore). A few years ago, it was probably superior, because of the top slot.

A few years ago, Fedor was still unstoppable, and the UFC didn't really have a great champion. Brock Lesnar was just waiting to be exposed; Shane Carwin is one-dimensional; Frank Mir isn't any better than the Strikeforce fighters; and while Junior Dos Santos is good, he wouldn't necessarily have a better than par chance in the Strikeforce tournament.

But since Cain Velasquez dominated Brock Lesnar, and Fedor lost twice, the top spot among heavyweights has to go to Cain. The tie among the equally-matched stables is broken by the top slot: Cain is the new Fedor.

So for now, Velasquez is the new gold standard for MMA heavyweights. But the Strikeforce winner might get a chance to face the UFC champ. But that fighter would go into the fight against Velasquez an underdog.

Fedor's Loss to Antonio Silva Begs Retirement Question

Fedor Emelianenko's loss to Antonio Silva put all his weaknesses on show: sloppiness on the ground, indifference to getting punched in the face, and general overconfidence bred from winning 25+ fights in a row despite the first two weaknesses. Afterwards Fedor made the case for retirement, and indeed he has been thinking about retiring even before losing to Fabricio Werdum.

Twice now Fedor has lost to standard jiu-jitsu techniques, getting caught in the triangle while in the guard, and getting pummelled while on the bottom of mount position. These are things that everyone in the game today tries to avoid as their first priority, but Fedor's carelessness (and overconfidence that he can remove himself from every trap) made him a victim to both as practiced by BJJ black belts.

So should Fedor retire? He's still #4 in our MMA Top 100, and yet #2 among heavyweights, but this is because he amassed such a huge point lead over the decade 2000 to 2009. Losses don't immediately knock a fighter down like they do in our boxing rankings, as MMA fighters don't have 30-0 records normally. But Fedor's decline seems obvious. Here is his fighting history and current rankings among those he's defeated:

Date     Result   Opponent
2/2011:  LOSS  #7 Antonio Silva
6/2010:  LOSS  #3 Fabricio Werdum
11/2009: Def #291 Brett Rogers
1/2009:  Def #355 Andrei Arlovski
7/2008:  Def #247 Tim Sylvia
12/2007: Def  #NR Hong Man Choi
4/2007:  Def #455 Matt Lindland
12/2006: Def #878 Mark Hunt
10/2006: Def #308 Mark Coleman
12/2005: Def  #NR Zuluzinho
8/2005:  Def #304 Mirko Filipovic
4/2005:  Def #4904 Tsuyoshi Kosaka
12/2004: Def  #22 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
8/2004:  NC   #22 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
8/2004:  Def #5094 Naoya Ogawa
6/2004:  Def  #849 Kevin Randleman
4/2004:  Def  #308 Mark Coleman
12/2003: Def   #NR Yuji Nagata
8/2003:  Def  #979 Gary Goodridge
6/2003:  Def #1042 Kazuyuki Fujita
4/2003:  Def  #888 Egidijus Valavicius
3/2003:  Def   #22 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
11/2002: Def  #235 Heath Herring
6/2002:  Def #5845 Semmy Schilt
2/2002:  Def #1274 Chris Haseman
12/2001: Def #5213 Lee Hasdell
10/2001: Def #3576 Ryushi Yanagisawa
8/2001:  Def   #75 Renato Sobral
4/2001:  Def  #971 Kerry Schall
4/2001:  Def   #NR Mihail Apostolov
12/2000: LOSS #4904 Tsuyoshi Kosaka
12/2000: Def  #125 Ricardo Arona

First we see that the fighters that beat him—Werdum and Silva—got a huge boost, in fact most of their points, from beating Fedor. Both are in the top ten overall and top three heavyweights. Could either of them really beat Cain Velasquez? There will be no shortage of competition coming up for the two as they continue through the rounds of the Strikeforce tournament; the four other remaining competitors are Alexander Overeem, Sergei Kharitanov, Brett Rogers, and Josh Barnett.

Also, it's been quite a while since Fedor beat a top opponent who is still highly thought of. This is no secret to those who follow MMA, as everyone makes this argument. His last win over an opponent who is still in the top 100 was in 2004, and that was Nogueira who has lost twice to UFC fighters since then.

It does bring up an interesting point: how many heavyweights Fedor has "ruined." Before losing twice to Fedor, Nogueira was the best in the world, and won 18 straight apart from those losses; since the 2nd loss, he's a more reasonable 8-3. Brett Rogers was 10-0 B.F. (Before Fedor) and is 1-1 since. Andre Arlovski was on a 5-fight winning streak before Fedor; now he's on a 4-fight losing streak and headed for retirement. Even Tim Sylvia didn't lose to any but the best before he took Fedor's beatdown; afterward he lost to aging boxer Ray Mercer and recently to 8-3 Abe Wagner.

One could argue that Fedor has been fighting those past their prime. So is it age or Fedor's knockouts that are hurting these fighters? Certainly Rogers and Arlovski, 28 and 29 when they fought Fedor, weren't over the hill. Sylvia was 32 and Nogueira 27 for their last fight. Really, these are peak ages for MMA fighters; their subsequent declines have a lot to do with Fedor.

It's perhaps more telling to look at where his recent foes were rated when he fought them:

Date     Result   Opponent
2/2011:  LOSS #68 Antonio Silva
6/2010:  LOSS #40 Fabricio Werdum
11/2009: Def  #77 Brett Rogers
1/2009:  Def  #18 Andrei Arlovski
7/2008:  Def  #39 Tim Sylvia

This makes his more recent wins more impressive, while also making his recent losses look worse.

Fedor recently commented that he is a fan of Cain Velasquez and that he thinks Velasquez can remain champion of the UFC for a long time. We've noted that Velasquez fights a lot like a younger Fedor, and perhaps he'll carry the torch if Fedor decides to retire.

Velasquez Dominates Lesnar: Yes, Cain Could Be the New Fedor

Cain Velasquez' domination of Brock Lesnar in UFC 121 suggests that the new heavyweight champ could hold the belt for a long, long time. There hasn't been a heavyweight with a skill set this well-rounded since Fedor Emelianenko.

Opinions differ on what stage Fedor's career is at right now, but it's obvious that he dominated the past decade, racking up 27 straight victories before falling to Fabricio Werdum's triangle choke. Fedor's grappling and striking were equally feared, and more than anyone else he didn't flinch when caught in a bad situation.

Velasquez has showed the same skills and fearlessness. He outgrappled Lesnar as well as outpunched him, and when taken down he quickly got to his feet. He didn't hesitate to trade blows with the UFC champ and Lesnar's size didn't bother him at all.

In other words, he fought a lot like Fedor fights. But he also looked quicker than Emelianenko, and less prone to sloppy fighting than The Last Emperor. Could he be better than Fedor? It's possible.

Over the last few years a Lesnar-Fedor matchup was on everyone's mind, and this fight is pretty much how I imagined it would go. Lesnar has improved a lot over the last few years but he still was no technical master. His vaunted grappling prowess—national wrestling championships and all—is more from just being a freakishly huge monster than having the best ability (he has the best ability of all the monsters, and is the biggest monster to boot). So it was only a matter of time before someone truly exposed Lesnar; the problem was that most of the heavyweights available were one-dimensional.

Velasquez punched as well as Carwin and grappled better than Lesnar, with Fedor's fearlessness and unflappability, and he's faster than all of them. That's a recipe for a long career. Normally when a fighter makes a splash and starts off 10-0 or so, it's just a matter of time before his first loss, after which he becomes the typical fighter—wins a few, lose one or two, win a few more. Velasquez might be among the rare exceptions, of which Fedor is the only one so far at heavyweight.

Just as we may never see Fedor vs. Lesnar, we may never see Fedor vs. Velasquez. If we do, it will probably be at least a few years from now, and with Cain only 28 currently, by the time they square off it could be a passing of the torch, from the Last Emperor to the Next One.

Triangle Wins Again: Silva Beats Sonnen With Last-Minute Choke at UFC 117

The triangle choke: once it was the nemesis of anyone who didn't know jiu-jitsu, then it fell out of favor after everyone knew—due to necessity—how to defend it. But recently—particularly in high-profile fights—the triangle choke has been the decisive move.

Months ago it was Fedor Emelianenko who got caught, by Fabricio Werdum. In UFC 117, it was Chael Sonnen, an elite wrestler who controlled the invincible Anderson Silva for 4 1/2 rounds on the ground, who got careless and didn't respect the triangle's power. And Silva—a jiu-jitsu black belt but by no means known for his ground game—was the one who won the fight from the bottom, like Royce Gracie did against Dan Severn 16 years in UFC #4.

Following four other excellent fights, the Silva-Sonnon battle had all the earmarks of a classic. In the first round, the sentiment went from "Silva is going to kill him" quickly to "wow Sonnen really rocked him!" and over the course of the next several minutes, with Sonnon on top and Silva unable to reverse, the realization came that not only was Sonnen going to win the round, that it could be a 10-8 round and that Silva was in definite danger of losing the fight.

The next few rounds did little to dispel that notion. Silva got off a few decent punches and kicks in the first 30 seconds before Sonnon got it to the ground again, and won both rounds convincingly. In a likely 30-26 hole, Silva battled back early in the 4th, rocking Sonnen worse than he had previously, but once it went to the ground the tide turned and Sonnen, despite his bloodied face that leaked all over his opponent, won the fourth round, too.

Silva came out like gangbusters in the fifth round, catching Sonnen with hard shots. But he had tired a lot. Sonnen was gassed by now as well, but he saw the win in hand and adrenaline kept him going. The one minute mark was telling: Silva floored Sonnen, but hesitated before diving in for the kill. When Sonnen got up, and himself rocked Silva, who stumbled, he immediately secured the takedown.

Sonnen only needed to do what he had done all fight: completely control the ground game. Silva had shown no ability to reverse Sonnen, and had taken all of the punishment save a quick jab here or an elbow there. He'd had a few moments over the rounds where he improved his position, but Sonnen corrected, and many times Silva passed up opportunities for armbar attempts. So, inevitably, several minutes went by with Sonnen staying busy to avoid getting stood up, and keeping control of Silva. With just over two minutes to go—one minute to the biggest win of Sonnen's career and UFC history—Silva managed to slip a triangle choke onto Sonnen.

It didn't look pretty, or effective, at first, and perhaps that's why Sonnen didn't do what he needed to in order to escape. Soon he looked caught, though not severely. But then the referee was stopping the action, as both fighters continued to scramble. They were still tangled up, and neither had leverage to move as the referee continued to try to stop the fight. I'm sure it was the same wherever you saw the fight: the crowd immediately protested as it became clear the fight was stopped with Silva declared the winner.

What the replays showed was clear: Sonnen was not only caught, he was nearly out, and had tapped at least once. Perhaps he didn't realize it afterwards, and when Silva let up on the choke he started fighting again. Whatever the case, there was confusion but no controversy from Sonnen after the contest was over.

With the win Silva retains the UFC Middleweight title, and made the Brazil vs. America score a bit more even at 2-3. Junior Dos Santos defeated Roy Nelson in a one-sided match; Matt Hughes rocked Ricardo Almeida and immediately latched on an Anaconda choke from above, trapping Almeida's arm along with his neck, in the first round; hyperactive Clay Guida won a surprise victory over Rafael dos Anjos, who won the majority of the fight until a jaw injury (broken?) forced him to tap while jammed against the fence; and Jon Fitch was just tougher than Thiago Alves again in their rematch.