Official B/R MMA Rankings May 2011: Top 10 Light Heavyweights in MMA

Here is the first installment of the Bleacher Report MMA Rankings. Each month on the first and 15th of the month we will publish divisional rankings. On the first of each month we will post our pound-for-pound rankings.

The rankings were voted on by numerous writers on Bleacher Report and do not reflect any of their rankings personally. The rankings are an average of each writer’s vote for each weight class.

Special thanks to those who contributed:

Jason Schielke

Nick Caron

Nick Colon

J.P. Smith

Dale De Souza

Blake Dreisbach

Andrew Mahlmann

Michael Evans

Sean Smith

Sal DeRose

Honorable Mentions

Rich Franklin

Record: 28-6 (one no contest)

Promotion: UFC

Age: 36 years old

Matt Hamill

Record: 10-2

Promotion: UFC

Age: 34 years old

Ovince St. Preux

Record: 10-4

Promotion: Strikeforce

Age: 28 years old 

10T. Thiago Silva

Record: 14-2 (one no contest)

Promotion: UFC

Age: 28 years old

Reason

Thiago Silva helps round out a trio of fighters who came in tied for 10th place in our inaugural light heavyweight rankings. 

Despite being on a 1-2-1 streak in the UFC, Silva still has the respect of most of our writers who believe that he can be competitive with just about anyone in the division. His punishing victories over Keith Jardine, Antonio Mendes and Houston Alexander say all that needs to be said about his punching power. 

He absolutely humiliated Brandon Vera in his last fight in January, but the victory was overturned when it was found that Silva had submitted a falsified urine sample. Silva would likely be higher up on the rankings if this situation never happened and he won the fight cleanly. 

10T. Rafael Cavalcante

Record: 10-3

Promotion: Strikeforce

Age: 30 years old

Reason

A three-fight win streak had many fans wondering if Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante was going to be the next member of the Black House team to ascend to the top of the rankings in his division. 

When he made the full move to light heavyweight in 2009, “Feijao” impressed the Strikeforce decision-makers enough that they put him in the cage with light heavyweight champion, “King” Muhammed Lawal.

Cavalcante took advantage of the opportunity and knocked out Lawal in the third round to win his first championship in Strikeforce and place him solidly in the top-10 in the division. 

But a historic loss to Dan Henderson back in March has knocked “Feijao” down a level to the point where he’s barely hanging in the top 10. 

10T. Gegard Mousasi

Record: 30-3-1

Promotion: Strikeforce, Dream

Age: 25 years old

Reason

It’s not often that a fighter who has 10 times as many wins as he does losses is barely hanging on in the top 10, but that’s what we have with Gegard Mousasi in the first official Bleacher Report light heavyweight rankings. 

Mousasi had been on a 14-fight win streak that included victories over Hector Lombard, “Babalu” Sobral and even a title win over “Jacare” Souza. But it was a loss against “King Mo” Lawal in April of 2010 that seemed to expose some of Mousasi’s shortcomings. 

He did bounce back with back-to-back wins over Jake O’Brien and Tatsuya Mizuno in Dream, but fought to a disappointing majority draw against Keith Jardine in a fight that most experts predicted he would win in the first round.

9. Ryan Bader

Record: 12-1

Promotion: UFC

Age: 27 years old

Reason

UFC 126 saw what was supposed to be an epic battle between the UFC’s top two up-and-comers at 205 pounds, Jon Jones and Ryan Bader. 

Though both fighters had dominated their opponents going into that fight, it was Jones who came in as the big favorite, largely due to the way that he was winning his fights and his physical freakish-ness. 

Bader had the chance to prove the critics wrong, but fell short in a discouraging fashion as Jones won the fight fairly easily, submitting him in the second round. 

“Darth” Bader will have a chance to redeem himself and possibly be the final nail in the UFC coffin for a legend, Tito Ortiz at UFC 132. 

8. Phil Davis

Record: 9-0

Promotion: UFC

Age: 26 years old

Reason

Undefeated in his MMA career, Phil Davis has many fans claiming that he may be the fighter who has the best chance of defeating current UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones. 

A former NCAA Division I wrestler, Davis is still coming into his own as a mixed martial artist, but has already accomplished more than most fighters ever will in their careers. His most recent victory over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira was somewhat disappointing in that he didn’t finish the fight. 

Still, Davis will be looking forward to replacing Jones in what is perceived to be the main event for UFC 133, when he will face Rashad Evans. A win in that fight could very well catapult him into title contention. 

7. Forrest Griffin

Record: 18-6

Promotion: UFC

Age: 31 years old

Reason

Forrest Griffin has come a long way since he won the first season of The Ultimate Fighter back in 2005. That legendary bout with Stephan Bonnar is credited by many as the biggest fight in the sport’s history. But it was only the beginning of Griffin’s extremely memorable run in the UFC. 

After losing the UFC light heavyweight championship to Rashad Evans at UFC 92, Griffin faced Anderson Silva who was going up in weight to face him at UFC 101. That fight would end up being the most humiliating of his career, as Silva toyed with him before knocking him out midway through the first round. 

But as Griffin described himself, he is a “dog” who just loves to fight, and he has won back-to-back decisions over Tito Ortiz and Rich Franklin in his last two fights.

It was recently announced that he will get the chance to prove that his prior victory wasn’t a fluke as he gets a rematch with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 134. 

6. Dan Henderson

Record: 27-8

Promotion: Strikeforce

Age: 40 years old

Reason

It’s a young man’s sport, but the oldest man on this list remains one of the most dangerous, and that is Dan “Hendo” Henderson.

Henderson was dominated against Strikeforce middleweight champion, Jake Shields, in April 2010; but has since won back-to-back fights to become the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion. 

His victory over Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante reminded everyone that he can win a fight at any time with just one of those punishing right hands to the jaw. 

Henderson will prove his placement as one of the sport’s top pound-for-pound fighters later this year as he will fight Fedor Emelianenko in what is expected to be a catchweight bout.

5. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

Record: 31-8

Promotion: UFC

Age: 32 years old

Reason

One of the biggest fan favorites in the sport, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is a former UFC light heavyweight champion who can stay competitive with anyone in the sport. 

His ranking on this list proves that despite a disappointing loss to Rashad Evans just over a year ago, fans still view Jackson as a top contender for Jon Jones’ UFC light heavyweight crown. 

Jackson was originally set to face Thiago Silva at UFC 130, but a suspension has knocked Silva out of the discussion and Jackson will instead fight Matt Hamill at the event. Though Hamill is not ranked in the top 10, he did crack the honorable mentions list and will make for a nice stepping stone back to the title picture if Jackson can get the job done. 

4. Lyoto Machida

Record: 16-2

Promotion: UFC

Age: 32 years old

Reason

A huge, highlight knockout over Randy Couture at UFC 129 shoots Lyoto Machida back up near the top of the light heavyweight rankings as he looks forward to the rest of 2011 after losing for the first and second times in his career in 2010. 

Though he won the first fight he had against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in October of 2009, fans and the UFC decision-makers were not satisfied with the controversial decision the judges made and created an immediate rematch just six months later. 

This situation proved to be costly for Machida who was knocked out for the first time in his career, losing the UFC light heavyweight title in the process. Some doubted Machida after his disappointing fights against Shogun, but it was another confusing decision that actually saw Machida get “robbed” for the first time in his career in a fight against “Rampage” Jackson last November. 

After two straight losses, things were looking rough for the former champion, but he has bounced back by sending Randy Couture into retirement in memorable fashion, using a Karate Kid-like crane kick to knock out the 47-year-old. 

3. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

Record: 19-5

Promotion: UFC

Age: 29 years old

Reason

When Mauricio “Shogun” Rua made his UFC debut at UFC 76, he was widely considered to be one of the top-three light heavyweights in the world. His 16-2 career record included wins over many of the best fighters in the world and he was just 25 years old. But his UFC debut was spoiled by Forrest Griffin, who submitted the Brazilian in the third round of their fight. 

Shogun will have a chance to redeem that loss and prove that he still “has it” after a destructive loss to Jon Jones last month at UFC 129, when he fights Griffin again at UFC 134. 

2. Rashad Evans

Record: 15-1-1

Promotion: UFC

Age: 31 years old

Reason

It will have been well over a year since we last saw Rashad Evans in the cage when he fights Phil Davis at UFC 133. But with the losses that have come to almost all of his fellow top 205-pound fighters, the layoff may have actually done Evans some good when it comes to his placement in the rankings. 

Evans, now a former member of Greg Jackson’s camp, was scheduled to fight his former teammate and current UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, at UFC 133. Unfortunately, Jones recently had to pull out of the fight and Evans is now set to face Phil Davis in a fight that could very well knock him out of the No. 1 contender’s spot with a loss. 

Fans want to see Evans and Jones fight as soon as possible after all of the trash talk they have had back and forth, but we may need to wait until later this year, or even later, before it happens.

1. Jon Jones

Record: 13-1

Promotion: UFC

Age: 23 years old

Reason

What a difference a year makes. 

It was just over a year ago when Jon “Bones” Jones dominated Brandon Vera in the main event of a UFC Live card in Colorado. Three fights later and he is now standing tall as perhaps the most physically imposing UFC light heavyweight champion we have ever seen. 

Jones’ one loss came by disqualification (due to illegal elbows) in a fight he was easily winning against Matt Hamill in December of 2009. In fact, the “loss” was so dominant in Jones’ favor that both the UFC and most experts have actually silently regarded it as a win. 

He had to pull out of his scheduled UFC 133 fight against Rashad Evans, but Jones is scheduled to return later this year. No word yet on who will be his opponent if Rashad Evans loses to Phil Davis, but expect Jones vs. Evans very soon if “Suga” can get the W.