UFC on Fuel 3: Power Ranking the Main Card Fighters

The UFC returns to the lesser-known airwaves of Fuel TV for tonight's fight card from Fairfax, Virginia.

Previous outings on the network have not been successful in the ratings department, but that is because the vast majority of American homes still do not have access to Fuel. Fans who were actually able to tune in, however, were treated to fight cards chock-full of exciting bouts and coming-out parties for potential superstars like Alexander Gustafsson and Brian Stann.

Tonight's event promises more of the same, with the potential crowning of a new featherweight title-contender in the main event between Dustin Poirier and Chan Sung Jung.

With this slideshow, we are taking a different look at the Fuel card. You can think of these rankings as a sort of pound-for-pound ranking, featuring only the guys on the Fuel main card. Make sense? The goal is to get a sense of the best and worst fighters on the show, regardless of the weight class they are fighting in.

With six main-card fights, we have got a lot to get through. Let's get started.

12. Jorge Lopez

Lopez is the protege of the beloved Wanderlei Silva. He's a guy who was once talked about in Las Vegas circles as being a future superstar, but those whispers were nearly silenced after Lopez lost to Justin Edwards in his UFC debut. The road does not get any easier for Lopez here as he faces the unspectacular but solid Amir Sadollah.

11. Jeff Hougland

Hougland is pretty good with submissions, as witnessed by his seven submissions out of 10 career wins. The majority of Yves Jabouin's losses have come by submission—three, to be exact—which would seem to leave Hougland with a clear way to win this fight.

But the only time Hougland has faced good competition in the past was during a fight with Gilbert Melendez, way back in the 2003 version of the now-defunct WEC. Hougland lost that fight, and he's never faced elite competition since. Jabouin isn't exactly elite competition, but he's certainly better than the lineup of scrubs Hougland has faced over the past seven years.

10. Jason MacDonald

MacDonald's UFC career is drawing to a close. He'd like nothing more than to score a quick, injury-free win here and find a way onto the UFC 149 card in his hometown of Calgary next month, where he says he'd fight for the final time in his career. He'll have a tough time getting an easy win here, as Tom Lawlor is not a pushover opponent. 

9. Yves Jabouin

Jabouin stumbled in his UFC debut last April, but he's rebounded with two extremely close wins in split-decision victories over Ian Loveland and Walel Watson. With Jeff Hougland, he's got a beatable opponent, but will he live up to his potential? That's always been the issue with Jabouin.

8. Tom Lawlor

Lawlor is the master of awesome weigh-in and fight entrances. Just yesterday, in fact, Lawlor came out as the legendary Genki Sudo—a reference probably only understood by my colleague Jonathan Snowden and roughly 45 other people on the Internet. Well, I got it, but it's my job.

Lawlor is a pedestrian 3-3 in his UFC career and lost his last bout to Chris Weidman in just over two minutes. He's lost three of his last four, which means he'll be looking at the unemployment line if he loses to MacDonald.

7. Fabio Maldonado

Maldonado, a Team Nogueira/X-Gym product, is 1-1 during his UFC tenure. He beat not-so-lovable jobber James McSweeney in his debut, but then dropped a close one to Kyle Kingsbury. Prior to joining the UFC, Maldonado toured the Brazilian indie circuit, with his most notable wins being a pair of victories over Maiquel Falcao. 

6. Jeremy Stephens

The story of Jeremy Stephens' career is that he excels against lower competition, but struggles against guys with bigger names. He can convincingly beat guys like Rafael dos Anjos or Danny Downes, but always loses when faced with guys like Anthony Pettis, Melvin Guillard or Joe Lauzon.

Going by history, we can rightly assume that Stephens will have a tough time with Donald Cerrone. And he will.

5. Amir Sadollah

It's hard to believe that Amir Sadollah has been in the UFC since 2008. It's even harder to believe that he's only had eight fights in that time, but it's true. He's settled into a pattern of winning two fights, then losing the third. If we go by that structure, Sadollah should be well on his way to a win over Jorge Lopez.

Who are we kidding? Sadollah will beat Lopez. He's far too technical and disciplined.

4. Chan Sung Jung

A combination of a cool nickname, an epic and memorable fight with Leonard Garcia and an insane Twister submission keeps Chan Sung Jung near the top of the UFC's featherweight division. Well, he's also undefeated since coming over from the WEC, and his last win was a quick knockout of a former title contender in Mark Hominick.

I just don't think he's as good as his billing on this card suggests. He's certainly entertaining, but there's a difference between entertaining and good. 

3. Igor Pokrajac

Pokrajac is just 3-3 in his UFC career thus far, but he's ranked here because he's been able to raise his profile through a steady stream of exciting fights. Pokrajac is a brawler of the highest order. Which is not to say he's particularly adept at brawling, only that he prefers to make fights as ugly as he possibly can. 

His last outing, a 35-second knockout win over Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 140, proved that Pokrajac can pack a whallop when he wants to. Fabio Maldonado is a tough and game opponent, but I fully expect Pokrajac to have his way here.

2. Donald Cerrone

Cerrone came oh-so-close to securing a title shot late last year, but was utterly unprepared for Nate Diaz's game at UFC 141. Prior to that loss, Cerrone had rattled off an impressive series of wins, and I expect him to start a new streak on tonight's card. He's one of the best overall fighters in the lightweight division, even if he's back to square one. 

Cerrone should be able to overwhelm Jeremy Stephens. I'm not going to call this a mismatch, because I'm hesitant to call anything a mismatch if it's happening in the UFC, but Cerrone clearly outclasses Stephens in nearly every area of the fight.

1. Dustin Poirier

The Fightville star is on the verge of becoming a major player in the featherweight division and will earn a title shot if he's able to beat Jung in his first main event outing. 

Poirier may say he doesn't think he's ready for a shot, but I think he is. And I think he's been ready for at least six months. He's got some of the most powerful hands in the featherweight division and a steady submission game to go along with it. In short, he's a superstar in the making, and I'm not sure Jung has the capabilities of even lasting the full 15 minutes with him.

This will be Poirier's shining moment, establishing him as a fighter to be feared at featherweight.