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[smoogy]

Ok, so I took a month off from the rankings in part because of the scheduling of events, but also because I needed some more time to research the featherweight division. I'm glad to finally reveal the expanded top 20 for that division with this edition.

If you think I got something wrong, posting a suggestion is more appreciated than just posing an open ended question.

Current Update: November 21st 07 Last Update: September 23rd 07

-Fighters who are retired (e.g. Genki Sudo) or on disciplinary suspension (e.g. Hermes Franca, Sean Sherk) are not eligible.

-Kazuo Misaki is known to be moving to welterweight but its unclear when he will fight next. He will be ranked more appropriately once a match materializes for him.

-Fighters are ranked according to what division they last fought at, unless they are officially scheduled to fight in a different class.

-One asterisk (*) indicates a major title holder and two (**) indicate a PRIDE GP champion.

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Heavyweight (265lbs)

1. Fedor Emelianenko M-1 Global * **
2. Randy Couture UFC *
3. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira UFC
4. Josh Barnett Pancrase/Free Agent
5. Gabriel Gonzaga UFC
6. Aleksander Emelianenko HCF/M-1 Global
7. Tim Sylvia UFC
8. Andrei Arlovski UFC
9. Fabricio Werdum UFC
10. Sergei Kharitonov K-1 HERO'S
11. Chieck Kongo UFC
12. Mirko Cro Cop UFC **
13. Mark Hunt UFC
14. Brandon Vera UFC
15. Pedro Rizzo AoW
16. Alistair Overeem K-1 HERO'S/Strike Force
17. Jeff Monson AoW
18. Kazuyuki Fujita Free Agent
19. Brad Imes KOTC/PFC
20. Paul Buentello Stike Force


Honorable Mention:

Heath Herring UFC
Frank Mir UFC
Jake O'Brien UFC
Ben Rothwell Free Agent
Hidehiko Yoshida Free Agent

=======================================

Light Heavyweight (205lbs)

1. Quinton Jackson UFC *
2. Wanderlei Silva UFC **
3. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou UFC
4. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira HCF
5. Lyoto Machida UFC
6. Keith Jardine UFC
7. Forrest Griffin UFC
8. Mauricio Rua UFC **
9. Chuck Liddell UFC
10. Thiago Silva UFC
11. Ricardo Arona Free Agent
12. Rashad Evans UFC
13. Jason Lambert UFC
14. Renato "Babalu" Sobral HCF/Strike Force/XFC
15. Vitor Belfort Cage Rage
16. Tito Ortiz UFC
17. Kazuhiro Nakamura UFC
18. Houston Alexander UFC
19. Vladimir Matyushenko IFL
20. James Lee KOTC/UFC


Honorable Mention:

Wilson Gouveia UFC
James Irvin UFC
Lew Polley ECC/UWC
James Zikic Cage Rage
Stephan Bonnar UFC

=======================================

Middleweight (185lbs)

1. Anderson Silva UFC *
2. Dan Henderson UFC * **
3. Paulo Filho WEC
4. Robbie Lawler EliteXC/ICON Sport
5. Rich Franklin UFC
6. Yushin Okami UFC
7. Yoshihiro Akiyama K-1 HERO'S
8. Denis Kang K-1 HERO'S/Spirit MC
9. Dong Sik Yoon K-1 HERO'S
10. Matt Lindland Bodog/IFL
11. Nathan Marquardt UFC
12. Melvin Manhoef K-1 HERO'S/Cage Rage
13. Jason "Mayhem" Miller ICON Sport/HDNet Fights
14. Frank Trigg HDNet Fights
15. Frank Shamrock EliteXC/Strike Force
16. Dong Hyun Kim DEEP
17. Cung Le Strike Force
18. Murilo Rua EliteXC/Cage Rage
19. Jorge Santiago Strike Force/Bodog
20. Thales Leites UFC


Honorable Mention:

Makoto Takimoto Free Agent
Travis Lutter UFC
Jeremy Horn IFL/AoW
Alan Belcher UFC
Patrick Cote UFC/TKO


=======================================

Welterweight (170lbs)

1. Matt Serra UFC *
2. George St. Pierre UFC
3. Jake Shields EliteXC
4. Matt Hughes UFC
5. Jon Fitch UFC
6. Hayato Sakurai K-1
7. Karo Pariysan UFC
8. Thiago Alves UFC
9. Josh Koscheck UFC
10. Diego Sanchez UFC
11. Carlos Condit WEC
12. Yoshiyuki Yoshida GCM Cage Force
13. Marcus Davis UFC
14. Akira Kikuchi Shooto/GCM Cage Force
15. Satoru Kitoaka Pancrase/DEEP
16. Paul Daley Cage Rage/Strike Force
17. Ryo Chonan Cage Rage/DEEP
18. Josh Burkman UFC
19. Drew Fickett UFC
20. Chris Lytle UFC


Honorable Mention:

Kazuo Misaki Free Agent
Abdul Mohamed Cage Rage/UF
Kuniyoshi Hironaka UFC
Brock Larson WEC
Jason Day MFC/ECC



=======================================

Lightweight (160lbs)

1. Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti K-1 HERO'S *
2. B.J. Penn UFC
3. Takanori Gomi K-1 HERO'S * **
4. Gilbert Melendez Strike Force
5. Shinya Aoki Free Agent
6. Tatsuya Kawajiri Shooto
7. Vitor Ribeiro K-1 HERO'S/Cage Rage
8. Joe Stevenson UFC
9. Koutetsu Boku GCM Cage Force/Shooto
10. Frank Edgar UFC
11. Mitsuhiro Ishida Cage Wars
12. Tyson Griffin UFC
13. Joachim Hansen Shooto
14. Clay Guida UFC
15. Andre Dida K-1 HERO'S
16. Thiago Tavares UFC
17. Marcus Aurelio UFC
18. Josh Thomson Strikeforce
19. Kenny Florian UFC
20. K.J. Noons EliteXC


Honorable Mention:

Nick Diaz EliteXC
Eiji Mitsuoka GCM Cage Force/Shooto
Spencer Fisher UFC
Chris Horodecki IFL
Din Thomas UFC


===================================

Featherweight (145lbs)

1. Norifumi Yamamoto * K-1 Hero's
2. Akitoshi Tamura * Shooto
3. Takeshi Inoue Shooto
4. Urijah Faber * WEC
5. Masakazu Imanari * * DEEP/Cage Rage
6. Hiroyuki Takaya GCM Cage Force/Shooto
7. Antonio Carvalho Shooto
8. Jeff Curran WEC
9. Yoshiro Maeda * Pancrase
10. Jong Man Kim Shooto/DEEP/Cage Force
11. Hideki Kadowaki Shooto
12. Hatsu Hioki TKO/Shooto
13. Bao Quach Shooto/IFO
14 Tenkei Fujimiya Shooto
15. Masakatsu Ueda Shooto
16. Daiki Hata Pancrase
17. Rumina Sato Shooto
18. Ivan Menjivar Free Agent
19. Miki Shida Pancrase/DEEP
20. Hideo Tokoro K-1 Hero's


Honorable Mention:

Alexandre Franca Nogeuira K-1 HERO'S
Emmanuel Fernandez FX 3
Brad Pickett Cage Rage
Koji Yoshimoto Pancrase/Cage Force
Chance Farrar WEC


===================================

[vore9000]

Biggest thing I take issue with again is of course Serra at no.1 >>

Might put Soko and Wandy down a little farther and put Forrest and Shogun a bit higher

In the HW bracket I would put randy 1 behind Nog, and of course Fedor's no. 1 spot is more and more questionable.

[Palma]

God damn Smoogy, thanks for always putting so much effort into your rankings. I always hate it when people start freaking out and bitching about the rankings without even considering how much time it took to put this shit together.

Machida is too high though (jk). I'm stoked on the HW division...

[Dork8503]

I love you man i really do so ill just leave it at that lol.

Kidding you no i can't do that.

Aleks to high

Robbie Extremely to high.

Tito 2 low prob should be about 14 or 13

Matt Hughes is top 3 ww in the world an imo their is no denying him that spot.

Matt Lindland i would give you a hug lol.

When did Melvin drop to 185, i thought he was 205 but if he is at 185 that is scary.

Last i knew Diego was scheduled to fight at lw next which is also scary.

Lil Nog is to high imo. He lost to a unranked fighter in seconds an been really inactive, i know he was doing boxing but that was not mma.

I thought Drew Fickett was suppose to fight in some bodunk show soon.

LHW imo is still to fucked up to rank right. I do agree with Lyoto.

After Chuck, Wandy, Forrest, Jardine, Soko and Machida we will no so much more, Also i think after Bonnars next fight he will be moving on up.


Still no love for Huerta man thats crazy stuff.

Edgar imo is to high, beating a over rated fisher does not put you their. IMO Huerta vs Guida winner should actually take his place, well if Huerta wins he should, and once Tyson wins his next fight he should move up too.

And no Love to Joe Lauzon.

thats it for now lol.

Hey i was nice this time.

[m_babyface_g]

Smoogy I'm stoked to see the Smoogy FC back, and I know rankings are hard to make.

That being said, I gotta tell you I've never disagreed with you're rankings as much as I disagree with these.

LHW is a complete mess, starting with the fact that Wandy was ranked top three... he is now coming off of 2 losses yet he remains #2, while Shogun was formerly ranked #1 and is now #8... all the meanwhile a # 7 - 10 ranked Soko has remained inactive and yet somehow moved up to #3.

I don't want to get into more details like that because I have many, I just have one question, why is it that Jake Shields beats Mike Pyle who isn't even touching the top 20 and that gives him a huge move up in peoples rankings, yet Karo beats a top 20 in Ryo Chonan, and on many lists has moved down in rankings... this boggles my mind. Even if you weren't impressed with his win he still won against a tougher opponent...

EDIT: My bad Smoog I forgot to give you props for expanding your Featherweight division to a top 20. Nice move, that was probably fairly difficult.

[Buggedoutnicy]

FINALLY BJ PENN ISNT RANKED #1

i have a problem with the lhw division but thats not your fault that division is just crazy. I have a problem with thiago alves ranked at 8 but thats disputable i guess and i would definitely but robbie lawler down a notch he is too high on that list... but good stuff

im glad you decided to work on the fetherweight division

[vore9000]

Yeah I must give you credit Smoogy, I wouldn't even try to rank the clusterfuck that is the LHW division

[ocscottie]

Thanks for taking the time once again Smoogy, always look fwd to your rankings.

[Dr. MMA]

this forum is going to be filled with this person is too high this person is too low. I wanted to say a few of those myself but I won't since it's hard to rank 100 fighters from 5 different weight classes.

I just want to ask how do you calculate certain rankings. Two of them for example, Shields being #3? and Machida being #5? I'm asking how do you come up or justify their ranking. It could be easily said that Machida is ranked too high as he hasn't beaten any top 10 quality opponents and the same can be said about Shields

[Mungo]

How is Couture in 2nd and Big Nog makes 3rd?

Have you seen that guys resume? He's smashed way more top guys than Couture and doesn't have nearly as many loses as he does either.

Edit: And how is Jake Shields above Matt Hughes!?