MMA Rankings: Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva
2. Jake Shields
3. Chael Sonnen
4. Nate Marquardt
5. Demian Maia
6. Dan Henderson
7. Yushin Okami
8. Alan Belcher
9. Michael Bisping
10. Chris Leben

      Anderson Silva has a choke hold at middleweight that he probably won’t relinquish for some time. Jake Shields is making his last appearance on this list for a while as he is moving back to welterweight for his first UFC fight. His dominant effort over Dan Henderson was a shocking development. I expect him to make noise at 170.
      The bottom of the list has two guys who are on a roll. Alan Belcher has won 4 of 5 with the only loss being a very controversial split decision. Belcher could propel himself into title contention with a victory over Demian Maia on September 15. Chris Leben recently won 2 fights in 2 weeks. I suspect the UFC will be rewarding him with a top tier opponent for his next fight.

MMA Rankings: Light Heavyweight

1. Mauricio Rua
2. Lyoto Machida
3. Rashad Evans
4. Forrest Griffin
5. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
6. Quinton Jackson
7. Jon Jones
8. Muhammed Lawal
9. Rich Franklin
10. Gegard Mousasi

      Mauricio “Shogun” Rua stands alone atop the light heavyweight division. He left no doubt about the outcome in his rematch with Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida. Rashad Evans moves into the three spot with back to back wins over Rampage and Thiago Silva. Forrest Griffin and little Nog round out the top five.
      Rampage comes in at the six spot after losing his return bout. Jon Jones has moved into my top ten after several dominating performances. I think he will wear gold soon in the UFC. Muhammed Lawal comes in at the eight spot. I was not overly impressed with his victory of Mousasi. Hopefully he shows some improved ground and pound in his first title defense.
      Rich Franklin enters my top ten for the first time at light heavyweight. I was very impressed with his victory over Chuck Liddell. “The Iceman” is the type of hard hitter that has usually given “Ace” problems. Even though age has caught up with Chuck he is still a hard hitter. Franklin also broke his arm in the bout. Gegard Mousasi rounds out the top ten. Mousasi is coming off a loss to Muhammed Lawal. Gegard’s weakness to wrestling was exposed. He is young and I’m sure he will work to improve this flaw in his game. I look for him to be moving back up the rankings eventually.

MMA Rankings: Heavyweight

      The heavyweight division has never been as deep and talented as it is now. Big match ups are happening at nearly every UFC and Strikeforce event. Some major upsets recently have altered the heavyweight division tremendously. Here’s the rankings:

1. Brock Lesnar – Lesnar added another weapon to his arsenal in his victory over Shane Carwin: resilience. Brock was pounded by Carwin for nearly the entire first round. Carwin’s heavy hands are well known, so over coming this beat down is very impressive. Winning by submission was just icing on the cake. Brock has solidified himself as the best heavyweight fighter in mixed martial arts. He will have a chance to dig in even more at the number 1 spot when he fights Cain Velasquez this fall.

2. Fedor Emelianenko – Despite losing to Werdum in his latest outing Fedor only drops to the number 2 spot. If “The Last Emperor” had been beaten down for three rounds and utterly dominated he would have fallen farther. Fedor’s body of work is enough to keep him near the top of the rankings for now. His next opponent is unknown at this time. A rematch with Werdum or a title fight with Alistair Overeem is most likely. This next fight will be the last on Emelianenko’s contract with Strikeforce, so it will be interesting to see who they pair him with.

3. Junior dos Santos - “Cigano” has been very impressive in his UFC run. His victory over Fabricio Werdum now looks even more impressive. Cigano’s next opponent will be Ultimate Fighter winner Roy Nelson. While dos Santos is the favorite it would not be wise for him to sleep on “Big Country”. A win likely sets him up for a title shot against the winner of Lesnar-Velasquez.

4. Cain Velasquez - Cain is the last remaining unbeaten fighter in the top of the heavyweight division. That run will be put to the test when he faces UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar this fall. Velasquez has much better cardio than Shane Carwin so expect another great title fight. A win would move Cain to the top of the rankings.

5. Fabricio Werdum - Werdum pulled off one of the biggest upsets of all time when he defeated the supposedly invincible Fedor Emelianenko. This win over shadow’s the fact that Werdum is actually a very talented fighter. He is recognized as having the best BJJ in the heavyweight division. His next opponent remains unknown, but Werdum has a lot less to gain from a rematch with Fedor than the Russian does. His ideal opponent would be Alistair Overeem. A win over the Strikeforce heavyweight champion would vault him even higher in the rankings.

6. Shane Carwin - Shane Carwin was seconds away from becoming the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion and ultimately number 1 ranked heavyweight in the world. He couldn’t quite finish Brock Lesnar off, and ended up gassing out in the second round. Carwin looked fantastic before he ran out of gas, so I believe he will work on his cardio and come back stronger.

7. Alistair Overeem – Overeem looked good against Brett Rogers. The Strikeforce champ simply needs to up his competition to move up higher in the heavyweight division. A rematch against Fabricio Werdum would be ideal for both fighters. A victory for Overeem would avenge an earlier loss and score him a victory over a top ranked opponent. Werdum could be lured into a rematch with Fedor which is not good for Overeem, Werdum, or Strikeforce for that matter, especially if Fedor doesn’t sign a new deal after his final fight.

8. Frank Mir – Mir has alternated fantastic performances with crushing defeats in his past four bouts. He looked great against Nogueira and Cheick Kongo, but was dominated by Carwin and Lesnar. Big powerful wrestlers seem to be his kryptonite. Next he will be fighting Nogueira again. The loser is likely to fall out of the top ten.

9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira – The twilight of his career as a top contender may be upon Nogueira. Rodrigo looked great against Randy Couture, but pedestrian against Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez. The coming rematch with Frank Mir could be his last as a top contender.

10. Josh Barnett - Barnett has fallen far since his bout with Fedor Emelianenko fell apart. He hasn’t been fighting top competition lately, but he still has a good record and hasn’t lost in nearly 4 years. Hopefully the “baby faced assassin” gets a crack at a name fighter soon.

NBA Preview

      Most of the big names have been signed. The landscape is coming into focus. The NBA scene is going to be very different next year. Two teams have been rebuilt from the ground up and shot themselves into title contention. Here are the top five teams I think will have the best chance at winning the title next year.

1. Los Angeles Lakers - The defending champs made some slight improvements to their roster. They signed veteran guard Steve Blake to a 4 year deal to replace backup Jordan Farmar. They also picked up Matt Barnes at the small forward position. He will likely replace Shannon Brown. Brown showed flashes with his explosive athleticism, but he could never channel his talents into sustained basketball success. LA’s title hopes mostly rely on health. Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum are the key concerns in this area. If LA is healthy they will be the favorites to win it all.

2. Miami Heat - Miami made the biggest splash in free agency. The Heat were able to resign superstar guard Dwayne Wade, and lure Lebron James and Chris Bosh down to south beach. Other key signings include guard Mike Miller, and center Žydrūnas Ilgauskas. Despite spending so much money on the big three the Heat were able to fill the roster out nicely. They will be heavy favorites in the east. I will have to see how well the big three play together before I could declare them favorites against the Lakers.

3. Chicago Bulls - The Bulls were runner up to the Heat in the free agency extravaganza. They landed Carlos Booozer, Kyle Korver, and Ronnie Brewer. They are also rumored to be on the verge of signing Tracy McGrady. These new acquisitions paired with point guard Derrick Rose should make for a very solid team. With teams like Boston getting older and Orlando standing pat (for now) the Bulls move up in the pecking order in the east.

4. Orlando Magic - The Magic have yet to make any big moves this off season. They are rumored to be atop Chris Paul’s wish list of teams to be traded to. I don’t think that trade makes the Magic that better of a team. Especially if they have to give up a lot to get CP3. The Magic’s title chances rest on one player: Dwight Howard. The team around him is good enough. His offensive game has to improve for the Magic to win the title. If he can consistently score 25 points a game the Magic will become the team to beat.

5. San Antonio Spurs - With the Jazz and the Suns losing key free agents the Spurs move up in the west. They addressed most of their needs by signing their 2007 first round pick Tiago Splitter. The center was MVP of the regular season and playoffs in the Spanish league he played in last year. How his game translates to the NBA will determine how far the Spurs go next season. They also drafted the Big 12′s leading scorer James Anderson. He is a good shooter and that was what the Spurs lacked against the Phoenix Suns. If the Spurs veterans can stay healthy next year they should be a top 3 team in the west and challenge for the western conference title.

MMA Pound for Pound Rankings

1. GSP - St. Pierre is the most athletic and well rounded of the top 3. These 3 are practically interchangeable. I give GSP the top spot because he has not been put in danger in any of his past 5 fights. Fedor has taken damage in both of his previous fights and looked in trouble in both fights. Silva was not in trouble in his last fight, but 3 rounds of inactivity against Maia were enough to drop from the top spot.

2. Fedor Emelianenko – Competition is Fedor’s main problem. He was entitled to a tune up bout for his first fight in Strikeforce, but he should be fighting Overeem next. He is not and that is highly disappointing. He needs a very impressive showing against Werdum to hold on to the 2 spot.

3. Anderson Silva – “The Spider” looked fantastic in the first 2 rounds again Maia. Then he let off the gas and let Maia off the hook. The fight should have ended in the 2, 3rd at the latest. Silva’s inaction in the final 3 rounds was enough to drop him to 3 in my list.

4. Lyoto Machida – I am one of the few that had Machida winning the Shogun fight. It was very close, and Shogun exposed Machida for the first time in his career. “The Dragon” needs to do more to take the fight to Shogun in the rematch or he will likely lose the belt this time.

5. Jose Aldo – Six straight finishes speak for themselves. Aldo looked fantastic against Mike Thomas Brown. He gets a chance to solidify himself against Faber this Saturday.

6. Jon Fitch – The long awaited rematch with Thiago Alves was once again put off. I was really looking forward to this fight. It will be a great indicator of how far Fitch has come since the GSP fight.

7. B.J. Penn – Penn lost a razor thin decision to Frankie Edgar. “The Prodigy” seems to be suffering from the same problem Rampage Jackson is. They have fallen in love with their boxing. Penn went for no takedowns of the much smaller Edgar. If he got Edgar to the ground the fight would be over quick. Penn’s lifetime of work and the contentious nature of the decision of the Edgar fight keep him about the answer for now.

8. Mauricio Rua – Finally seems to be back to his old self. Fought a masterful fight against Lyoto Machida but didn’t get the judges nod. He will get his chance again next month.

9. Frankie Edgar – Edgar has been very impressive for a guy who should probably drop to featherweight. If he beats Penn again in the rematch he will skyrocket in my rankings.

10. Jake Shields – Shields was spectacular against Henderson. He took Hendo’s best shot in the first round, recovered, and proceeded to dominante the only fighter to hold two belts at one time in MMA. Hopefully Jake will get to test himself against even better competition in the UFC soon.