UFC Depth/Rankings

[Chops]

Ok, so I've been sifting through all the Sh*t at sherdog and found a respectable post that raised some good questions and thought I would bring the post over here. Credit goes to InfamousMP

The following is an unofficial ranking of fighters in UFC weight classes. I agree with most of the rankings but I thought it was more useful as a depth chart for the UFC. Looking at this list they really need to recruit some better fighters in each class or things are gonna be looking pretty dry after Ortiz Liddell.

Heavyweight
Champion- Tim Sylvia (W- Jeff Monson UFC 65)
1- Brandon Vera (W- Frank Mir UFC 65)
2- Andrei Arlovski (L- Tim Sylvia UFC 61)
3- Jeff Monson (L- Tim Sylvia UFC 65)
4- Frank Mir (L- Brandon Vera UFC 65)
5- Assuerio Silva (L- Brandon Vera UFC 60)
6- Marcio Cruz (L- Jeff Monson UFC 59)
7- Carmelo Marrero (W- Cheick Kongo UFC 64)
8- Cheick Kong (L- Carmelo Marrero UFC 64)
9- Gabriel Gonzaga (W- Fabiano Scherner UFC 60)
10 - Eddie Sanchez (W- Mario Neto UFC 63)

Light Heavyweight
Champion- Chuck Liddell (W- Renato Sobral UFC 62)
1- Tito Ortiz (W- Ken Shamrock The Final Chapter)
2- Forrest Griffin (W- Stephan Bonnar UFC 62)
3- Rashad Evans (W- Jason Lambert UFC 63)
4- Renato Sobral (L- Chuck Liddell UFC 62)
5- Jason Lambert (L- Rashad Evans UFC 63)
6- Stephan Bonnar (L- Forrest Griffin UFC 62)
7- Keith Jardine (W- Wilson Gouveia TUFF 3)
8- Michael Bisping (W- Josh Haynes TUFF 3)
9- Sam Hoger (L- Rashad Evans UFN 4)
10- Matt Hamill (W- Seth Petruzelli The Final Chapter)

Middleweight
Champion- Anderson Silva (W- Rich Franklin UFC 64)
1- Mike Swick (W- David Loiseau UFC 63)
2- Nate Marquardt (W- Crafton Wallace The Final Chapter)
3- Rich Franklin (L- Anderson Silva UFC 64)
4- Chris Leben (W- Jorge Santiago UFN 6)
5- Travis Lutter (W- Patrick Cote TUFF 4)
6- Evan Tanner (W- Justin Levens UFC 59)
7- David Terrell (W- Scott Smith UFC 59)
8- Dean Lister (W- Yuki Sasaki UFN 6)
9- Martin Kampmann (W- Thales Leites TUFF 4)
10- Scott Smith (W- Pete Sell TUFF 4)

Welterweight
Champion- Georges St. Pierre (W- Matt Hughes UFC 65)
1- Matt Hughes (L- Georges St. Pierre UFC 65)
2- Diego Sanchez (W- Karo Parisyan UFN 6)
3- BJ Penn (L- Matt Hughes UFC 63)
4- Karo Parisyan (L- Diego Sanchez UFN 6)
5- Matt Serra (W- Chris Lytle TUFF 4)
6- Joe Riggs (W- Jason Von Flue UFN 6)
7- Josh Koscheck (W- Jonathan Goulet UFN 6)
8- Jon Fitch (W- Kuniyoshi Hironaka UFC 64)
9- Nick Diaz (W- Gleison Tibau UFC 65)
10- Josh Burkman (W- Josh Neer UFC 61)

Lightweight
Champion- Sean Sherk (W- Kenny Florian UFC 64)
1- Spencer Fisher (W- Dan Lauzon UFC 64)
2- Hermes Franca (W- Jamie Varner UFC 62)
3- Melvin Gulliard (W- Gabe Ruediger UFC 63)
4- Joe Stevenson (W- D. Mishima UFC 65)
5- Kenny Florian (L- Sean Sherk UFC 64)
6- Din Thomas (W- Rich Clementi TUFF 4)
7- Sam Stout (L- Kenny Florian TUFF 3)
8- Mark Hominick (W- Jorge Gurgel UFN 5)
9- Joe Lauzon (W- Jens Pulver UFC 63)
10- Tyson Griffin (W- David Lee UFC 63)

[Chiron]

That's a good list. I think it's pretty accurate. How did they go about making it though? I think Hughes should be lower. You shouldn't be the #1 contender for the WW. They have Rich Franklin at #3 and that's about where you should be when you lost a championship fight.

I agree the UFC is going to have a challenge after New Years. If they're smart they'll get a good match for GSP and have Silva fight Swick.

[dos]

I think it's sad that 8 of the 10 'contenders' for the LHW bet were all TUF reality show dudes. Gee, you think that this is the future of how the UFC finds fighters?

[Waittz]

I think Melvin should be number 2. I owuld love to see him go at it with the muscle shark

[Chops]

What are the pools for fighters though? Aside from the publicity and voluntary entry into the UFC, where can the UFC go to find great fighters without tapping other organizations that are obviously paying more and have a larger international mix?

The UFC is growing rapidly and I think as people are educated on the legitimacy of the sport and wider general publication is made that more athletes will want to participate and more audiences that focus on WWE or Boxing will come over to the true grit and reality of MMA. The problem is I just don't see that education and publication effort, except for advertising and hype for events.

[dos]

Originally Posted by Chops

What are the pools for fighters though? Aside from the publicity and voluntary entry into the UFC, where can the UFC go to find great fighters without tapping other organizations that are obviously paying more and have a larger international mix?

The UFC is growing rapidly and I think as people are educated on the legitimacy of the sport and wider general publication is made that more athletes will want to participate and more audiences that focus on WWE or Boxing will come over to the true grit and reality of MMA. The problem is I just don't see that education and publication effort, except for advertising and hype for events.

There are literally tons of MMA fights going on everyday by little poh-dunk organizations that are paying their fighters like $50 to fight for the night. You are just thining of UFC and Pride. I was watching the IFL stuff the other night and you can't tell me that guys like Carlos Newton, Matt Lindland etc. are making all that much $ there. The UFC could easily get them if they wanted to. The watering down with all the TUF losers is silly. Why have the show at all when every single guy who comes through the house (some without ever fighting on the show!) get 2, 3, 5 fights in the UFC anyway? hell, Chris leben is a great example of a guy who lost yet got more exposure, fights, etc. than any of the winners.

This is from Cosgrove's blog on tapping into the MMA conditioing-coach industry...

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The Fastest Growing Participation Sport...

... could it be the fastest growing income opportunity for fitness professionals?

This last weekend saw the Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback Season Finale take place in Las Vegas.

On Sunday there was an MMA event in Porterville, Ca.

This coming weekend sees Ultimate Fighting Championship 65 takes place in Sacramento, CA

There are 6 weeks left in the year. And in the United States alone there are FIFTEEN major MMA events scheduled. And I'm not including the smaller events that I'm sure are going on all over the country too.

To say that Mixed Martial Arts is the fastest growing participation sport in the 18-34 demographic is an understatement. This could be the fastest growing sport of all time. I guarantee there is an MMA school near you. There are two within 10 mins of my house, including Big John McCarthy's training center.

This is big-time stuff and everybody wants to be a UFC fighter. They're out their fighting....it's just that many of them don't have the personalities to make the TUF cast (it is a real world-esque application process I'm sure...).

[kuri]

There are some great fighters out there but the UFC seems intent using their own farm league to fill out the roster. We'll see how long that continues though as the TUF ratings have been going south and Pride starts holding more events here.

IFL seems to be doing pretty good, as does Strikeforce.

Lindland may not be living large off the IFL but there should be a reason why Dana doesn't fork out for he or Rampage. And that reason might be that they can build up TV personalities through TUF then pay most of them peanuts on the PPVs.

[ko67]

Lindland's contract was canceled due to an issue with one of his sponsors (internet gambling site or something).

Even if Dana paid him, I'm not sure that he would come back.

[Chiron]

In California there are a lot of MMA events at Indian Casinos. I'm sure it's like that in many other states as well. There is some talent to draw on there but not much. I dont think Dana White wants to pay some of the established fighters what they make in other organizations, which is a shame. Some of the TUF guys suck. But they're cheaper so Dana White is gonna go with them as long as he can and they'll just play up the personality thing. Hopefully Pride shows gain momentum on US soil. If that happens either the UFC will have to stop using lower quality fighters or they'll go under. Really though, that might be good for MMA because the better fighters would just gravitate over to Pride or the other organizations and they can take more of the market in America.

[Chris D]

In regards to the IFL I think what keeps it going is that the fighters get a regular salary. It's not as much as a big name in the UFC can make in one fight, but it keeps food on the table and allows them to train full time. I think I heard the numbers were like 40K for the fighters and 60K for the coach (probably varies by where they live). Definetly more than many of the fighters in the UFC are making.

[dos]

The UFC pay $'s are absolutely ridiculous. For what these guys do, how hard they train etc. it is downright silly.

[kuri]

I agree their pay for new fighters is insulting but sometimes there are other factors too. I didn't even know it until yesterday but Mac Danzig , the King of the Cage 155 champ does some training at the gym I go to and apparently the UFC has been trying to buy out his contract but the KOTC isn't letting it happen.

[dos]

Great pic!

[kuri]

Looks a a shot from Predator doesn't it? Hmm maybe I'll do a fight so I can get a pic like that for my avatar

[Chiron]

Originally Posted by kuri

I agree their pay for new fighters is insulting but sometimes there are other factors too. I didn't even know it until yesterday but Mac Danzig , the King of the Cage 155 champ does some training at the gym I go to and apparently the UFC has been trying to buy out his contract but the KOTC isn't letting it happen.

That would be cool He's a good fighter. Really, it would be nice if some of the organizations merged so there would be talent under the same umbrella.