Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

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Like all iterations prior, this edition of the Sherdog.com official mixed martial arts rankings features a heavyweight top 10. However, in light of UFC 146, maybe it ought to be 1a), 1b) and everybody else.

At UFC 146 in Las Vegas, heavyweight ruler Junior dos Santos and the man whose throne he took, Cain Velasquez, looked leagues ahead of their heavyweight contemporaries. Dos Santos savaged a fellow former champion in Frank Mir, stopping him in the second round. However, a bloodied hulk like Antonio Silva didn’t get to hear another airhorn against Velasquez, who dispatched him with shocking gore and precision.

Then again, if we did make the list, “Dos Santos, Velasquez and Everybody Else,” one of Velasquez’s trainers might have something to say about it.

Two-time Olympian and American Kickboxing Academy wrestling coach Daniel Cormier wasn’t part of the original Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix lineup, but it didn’t matter in the end, as “D.C.” took game veteran Josh Barnett apart over 25 minutes. So thorough and impressive was Cormier’s wholesale MMA attack that many onlookers are already calling for both his UFC title shot against dos Santos and bemoaning the fact that he and Velasquez might never square off.

The month of May was rich with notable, ranking-related excitement, from Nate Diaz’s statement against Jim Miller to Chan Sung Jung bringing out the dead against Dustin Poirier, or even gritty grinder Daniel Straus upsetting Marlon Sandro. However, there’s just some magic with those heavyweights. Has anyone thought about giving them an entire pay-per-view main card?

Continue Reading » MMA Heavyweight Rankings