Expectations are relative: beating
Ben Rothwell didn’t do so much for
Andrei Arlovski, but it helped propel
Cain Velasquez into the
Sherdog.com list of the sport’s top ten heavyweights. Velasquez makes the move after going to 7-0 last Saturday, delivering a beating to the former IFL contender that made him look like -- a former IFL contender.
What the sudden postponement of the
Brock Lesnar/
Shane Carwin bout does for Velasquez’s immediate future is TBD: the soonest he’d get a title shot would probably be in late spring or summer, assuming Carwin/Lesnar happens in January or February. If he fights before then, he risks that placement. On the other hand, he might want another bout before trying his luck against two guys that could palm a swiss ball.
Los Angeles was also good to
Chael Sonnen, who posted his third underdog victory in a row by defeating the very tough, very bathroom-break-worthy
Yushin Okami, moving him to a #7 slot. He’s already lost to middleweight contender
Demian Maia, though; his best hope is that
Dan Henderson bails for Strikeforce, leaving him and
Nate Marquardt in the immediate title loop.
The only man in immediate danger of losing top placement in any division is
Fedor Emelianenko, who fights
Brett Rogers next Saturday. And if that happens, you can expect one uniform response from any rankings system: Server Unavailable.