MarshallMMA.com’s (highly speculative and non-scientific) Rankings! - Mixed Marshall Arts

THE MIXED MARSHALL ARTS RANKINGS are here (click on the link).

MMA Rankings are a fun speculation. And that’s about all that can be said for them, despite what amount of work and thought one can say they put into them. Even the rankings released by Sherdog and the “consensus” (of whom?) rankings from SB Nation & USA Today have some placements that could be considered ill-advised.

As such, I don’t take any of them seriously. I think they’re a fun conversation starter, but beyond that, don’t think they should be taken seriously. The very nature of MMA is that it’s a multi-dimensional combat sport with so many variables that it’s hard, if not impossible, to measure how certain fighters would fair against others near or at the same level of the pecking order for their division.

For instance, everyone says Nick Diaz is an amazing Welterweight, but against wrestlers in the UFC he fell apart and he hasn’t faced anybody with a comparable ground game since. And yes, Shinya Aoki has some amazing submissions, but can you really rank him above guys who would fight him with a significant size, reach, and grappling advantage?

I tried to keep all of this in mind when doing my rankings. Other disclaimers after the jump…

RANKINGS MEAN AS OF WRITING, NOT ALL TIME. This is why I have Fedor ranked as a #5 Heavyweight. Realistically, the last guy he beat of any merit was Tim Sylvia, and Tim is…well, Tim. God knows where his head was at when they fought. Also,I honestly don’t think that Tim Sylvia would be able to put away the current incarnations of Lesnar, Carwin, or Velasquez. He beat the best of the best of the early ’00s, but that does not speak anything to what he might be able to do to the Top 10 now. Fedor could prove me wrong in his next couple performances, but I’m skeptical.

IT’S JUST FOR FUN. This is not me saying it’s definitive, or that you should take it seriously. I think it’d be fun to discuss it in the comments, but you really shouldn’t take it personally, unless maybe if you’re a fighter. In which case, awesome, you read my blog!

NO BANTAMWEIGHT OR FEATHERWEIGHT RANKINGS, LET ALONE FLYWEIGHT. I love watching these weight classes and am a big proponent of them getting more play on television. That being said, I don’t have nearly the familiarity I would like to have with these fighters, and as such don’t even want to attempt a ranking. I have enough trouble coming up with five contenders at Bantamweight and Featherweight, let alone knowing where to place them.

NO POUND FOR POUND LIST. Hey, who’s a better pound for pound fighter, BJ Penn or Fedor Emelianenko? I don’t know. Who smells prettier, a unicorn or a fairy? How the Hell can you ever know that? It’s ridiculous. Even basing it on what one perceives to be superior technique is misleading, since smaller guys are always going toappear to have better technique because their bodies allow them to move quicker and with more fluidity. I’ll be the first to admit I could be way off the mark with some of my rankings, but I can at least justify them reasonably.

MOST JAPANESE FIGHTERS ARE HIDEOUSLY OVERRATED. That goes for all fighters in Japan and all weight classes. The reason they don’t fare well here? Simple: no wrestling, the training hasn’t evolved with the sport in the last decade, and they don’t cut weight. That last one is the biggie, and why I won’t put Marius Zaromskis anywhere near the Welterweight Top Ten. That guy should be cutting to fight at 155 instead of 170, and the fight with Nick Diaz showed why: he’s not going to reach anyone on his feet and anyone with a ground game is going to overpower him.

http://carlkillswords.wordpress.com Carl

I disagree with you on one point–Nick has been ducking wrestlers, a little bit. He was supposed to fight for the welterweight title against noted wrestle-you-to-death artist Jay Hieron, but smoked himself out of the fight, and thereafter has apparently refused repeatedly to fight him because he’s not a big enough name. (I guess Marius Zaromskis has a huge American fanbase, though.) It’s become enough of a sticking point that I don’t actually know if Hieron ever re-signed with Strikeforce, as a shot at Nick was in his contract demands. It is not coincidence that he’s totally okay with fighting Zaromskis and Mach and Mayhem and Smith, but staunchly refuses to fight Hieron.

Actually, for shits and giggles I’ll note one other disagreement and that’s Vitor. It’s weird to figure out where to place him given that he’s almost certainly getting the first post-Sonnen shot at 185, but that doesn’t change the fact that the only people he’s beaten at middleweight have been Terry Martin and Matt Lindland, who are about as close to the top 10 as I am–you could count the victory over Franklin, but then, it wasn’t at 185, Franklin hasn’t fought at middleweight in more than two years, and it’s telling that he’s nowhere to be found in your rankings, either. I don’t know where I’d put Vitor, but #3 in the world seems kind of extreme.

http://kevinmarshall.wordpress.com Kevin Marshall

I’m on the fence as to whether or not Nick actively ducked Hieron (who I think would have given him a LOT of trouble). I see and agree with a lot of your points, but on the same token, at the time I gave Nick the benefit of the doubt because he really is a big enough screw-up to smoke himself out of a payday. I mean, dude’s legit dumb and crazy and fought Gomi practically (if not literally) stoned out of his gord.

Speaking of grappling (how’s that for a segue), I did a lot of it figuratively with Vitor. Originally I had him at 5 or 6. But, in thinking about it, I think the important thing for me regarding Vitor is that if he can make that weight – and he’s shown that he can with not a ton of difficulty – he can probably beat all those guys I put under him. The Middleweight Division has improved by leaps and bounds in the last four years, but it’s still the weakest division talent-wise in MMA. Now if this were, say, the Welterweight division and someone of Vitor’s comparative skillset were to move down, no way would he be that high or possibly even in the Top 10. At 185? I’m willing to admit he might be too high, but I don’t think it’s too ludicrous.

http://carlkillswords.wordpress.com Carl

Oh, I agree, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying Nick smoked himself out to duck Hieron–rather, he was openly supposed to fight him, then, however unintentionally, unfairly fucked Hieron out of the fight, and at that, the title shot on a televised, publicized card. And since then, he’s just waved off the idea of doing the fight as it was initially intended. It’s somewhat unbecoming–but then, this is Nick Diaz, so that’s not really even the remotest sort of surprise.

I can see the talent-centric logic with Vitor, but again, I dunno that I’d agree. I’d take Shields and Okami over Vitor as matters of relative certainty, and would probably pick Marquardt over him too, albeit less ferociously. Vitor’s got fantastic hands and a great deal of talent, but he’s still got consistency issues, and he’s still got a weakness for people who can muscle him around.

Either way, there are a few fights coming up in the future that’ll make things make more sense.