After Randy Couture beat Mark Coleman at UFC 109, UFC President Dana White said Couture is one of the top five or six light heavyweights in the world.
But while Couture looked good against Coleman, he's going to have to win at least one more fight at light heavyweight before he makes my Top 10. The updated rankings of the Top 10 light heavyweights in MMA are below.
(Editor's note: The individual fighter's ranking the last time we did light heavyweights are in parentheses)
1. Lyoto Machida (1): The champion doesn't have the aura of invincibility that he had before Shogun Rua gave him a tough five rounds, but he's still tops at the weight class.
2. Anderson Silva (2): He's the UFC's middleweight champ, but even at light heavyweight -- where he destroyed Forrest Griffin in his last fight -- no one other than Machida is better.
3. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (3): Most fans thought he beat Machida, but all three judges thought otherwise. He'll have his chance to take things out of the judges' hands in May.
4. Rashad Evans (4): The former champ might get another chance at the title if he beats Rampage Jackson in May.
5. Forrest Griffin (5): May will be the big month for the light heavyweight division, as Griffin has a tough fight with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.
6. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (6): The box-office success (or lack thereof) of the upcoming A-Team movie may determine whether Rampage is completely dedicated to MMA, or whether he's an actor first and a fighter second. If he's anything less than completely focused on fighting, he'll lose to Evans.
7. Dan Henderson (7): For now he'll fight at middleweight, taking on Jake Shields for the Strikeforce belt in April.
8. Gegard Mousasi (8): He should handle King Mo on CBS.
9. Thiago Silva (9): Other than Machida and Evans, he's dominated everyone he's fought.
10. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (10): Could move into title contention if he beats Griffin.
Comments (Page 1 of 2)
They should do Randy against Thiago Silva. If Randy wins that fight then he's in legit title contention. But they can't just rush him into title contention just because he's popular. I wish Rashad hadn't backed out of his fight with Randy. That would've been great.
You're nuts if you can't fit Randy into the top 10!
These ranking are bad.
Rampage has won 4 of his last 5. His only loss being a decision that's really controversial. Wanderlei, Jardine, Hendo Chuck were all top 10 when he fought them.
Shad' just lost to Machida and came up with a win against Thiago Silva. Prior to that his only top wins were from Forrest and a past-his-prime Chuck. I feel like Shad', while good is being overrated.
Hendo should not be in this list due to inactivity. He hasn't fought in a year at 205.
Rogerio is #10 he should be a couple spots higher. I would put Randy over Thiago Silva, because Thiago has one good win over Jardine. He's a good fighter, but Randy deserves it over him.
Don't understand Forrest being ranked that highly. Should Forrest coming off an unimpressive win over Tito be ranked above Rogerio who's beaten Matsyushenko and Luiz Cane recently? I'm honestly not sure and it's tough to call considering Forrest's wins over Shogun and Page a while ago.
Anderson has fought Forrest at 205, and while he may be p4p #1, ranking should be objective. Objectively, he's only finished Forrest.
Shogun has a long list of names he's destroyed at 205, and has an L that should be a W. That's why he should be #2, as opposed to Anderson.
I guess I'm just never a fan of mmafighting's fighter rankings. They are way too political in scope.
I do admire you for not sucking up to all the hype that Dana White always tries to feed us about Randy Couture. Everyone but DW knows that RC is done fighting prized fights.
What makes you think that Mousasi will "handle" King Mo. I surely disagree there. That will be a great even matchup! Perhaps, there's some bias against King Mo there. Oh wait, others will say that King Mo hasn't fought anybody yet. And right there, is a point that I'll never subscribe to.
And why is Spider ahead of Shogun. Doesn't add up, consider that Shogun actually beat Machida but was robbed.
And it's so interesting how a few overrate R. Evans the way that they do. He's really not all that good, especially to be ranked that high; No Way!
The great white hope for the LHW division in Forrest is too high as well, imo. How did he get a decision over Rampage, yet Shogun couldn't get a decision over Machida?!
My Top 10; unsolicited. Hey, just having fun here. :-)
1-Machida....because I can be politically correct as well.
2-Shogun
3-Rampage
3-Spider
4-Mousasi
5-Lil' Nog
6-Evans...I guess
7-T. Silva
9-Jon Jones
10-B. Vera
10-
No need to include Hendo as he said that he's a middleweight now and plans on fighting his next few fights at 185.
technically i would have to agree with you here on the top 5. and those were damb good assessments Dude. i still can't get over wtf happened with rampage/griffin.
Boes Jones? Really? I mean I am with u. Kid is a beast and has the potential but, who has he fought? I gotta see how he handles Vera before I could put him in the top ten.
1 Machida
2 Shogun
3 Mousasi
4 Rampage
5 Silva
6 Jones
7 Noguiera
8 Evans
9 Lawal
10 Hendo
That's my personal opinion based on talent.
i agree with you here too based on talent. 6-10, we'll see this year where they belong.
1) Machida
2) Shogun
3) Rampage
4) Mousasi
5) Evans
6) Griffin
7) Lil Nog
8) T. Silva
9) Hendo
10) Couture
Lawal definitely shouldn't be in top 10 hasn't fought anyone. Jones needs to prove himself just a little more, he's right on the edge of top 10 in my opinion. Vera needs to fight someone like Silva and if he wins hes in. Couture is the smartest fighter out there and is probably the only guys who might be able to devise a gameplan good enough to beat Machida now.
Wow 205 is a mess.
Anderson and Dan are competing in 185 lb title fights and shouldn't be listed IMO.
Forrest has been knocked out twice and won a close decision over Tito in his last 3 fights. If he belongs on the list at all it's at the bottom.
My top 10, and this is being realistic no politics or playing favorites
1. Rua- i think he beat machida so i say he's no. 1
2. Machida- should have lost to rua but still cant rank him lower
3. Rampage- inactivity hurts but he still has beaten the best and lost a very close decision to Forrest
4. Gegard- He's an animal and should be in the UFC to show everyone hes one of the best
5. Nogueira- top submission game very good boxing and has beat some of the best
6. Anderson Silva- cant put him any higher cause hes beaten a below average Irvin and a Griffin who seemed like he didnt want to fight
7. Evans- Beat a out of prime Liddell, was losing before he clipped Forrest and should have lost to Silva if he had any conditioning and turned down a fight against Couture. his wrestling and power keeps him on the list though
8. Forrest- when hes healthy and mentally prepared he is one of the best gameplanners out there.
9. T. Silva- vicious power and good submissions needs to work on takedown defense and he'll be back in contention
10. Couture- the smartest fighter out there and will be able to hang with anyone in MMA no matter the weight class.
Very nice. I agree. I'll put Shogun at #2 until he actually gets a W for beating, though.
Thank god, at least one person has some balls and ranks Shogun #1.
After that, its Machida, Mousasi, A. Silva tied for #2, and then Rampage, Lil Nog, and Hendo tied for #5.
Anyone who thinks Randy Couture is a top 10 fighter at this point in his career is simply a product of the UFC hype machine.
His last relevant clear cut victory at 205lbs. was in 2004.
He was given a gift decision against Vera and beat up a well past his prime relic in Mark Coleman who is nothing more than a heavy bag at this point in his career.
The one little bit of offense that Coleman was able to muster backed Randy off and he had to gather himself.
Couture would get absolutely mauled by top 10 fighters in the division. He's very good still when you consider his age but he's no where near a viable top 10 fighter at this point.
It's one thing to tee off with punches on a shopworn and faded Mark Coleman it's a whole different story when you're talking Machida, Shogun, Rampage, Mousasi, Rashad, Thiago and so on.
lets see if randy can still run with the lions sorta say...i totally agree r/c should fight thiago or throw him anderson after vitor should he lose to belfort not saying it'll happen but i do think that fight should happen because both fighters wanna fight each other.
johnny ur top 10 are dead accurate...
shad vs page #1 contender match
couture vs thiago and if randy wins he should fight anderson {only if the spider loses}
mousasi vs king mo great fight the winner of this fight should be #2 in the world s/f should be reconized as a legit org
shogun vs machida very excited for this again as i feel both fighter are be going for the finish in the rematch and would definetly be the #1 lhw in the world
forrest vs lil nog to me honestly forrest cashed in with his win against page which he shouldn't have...legkicks shouldn't win championships i'm sorry page knocked forrest down 3 times due to strikes i maybe give forrest 2 rds and maybe a 10-8 in rd 3 so there's a draw
action packed division with alot of talent thats gonna kill each other in may should be fun
ooooooooooooooooooh jon jones the homie from rochchester ny gonna kill verra for the matt hamill lose if you call it a lose
Randy is not a top 10 fighter, he has fought twice at 205 now, once to Vera in a bullshit decision, which Randy just held him and pulled out a gay decision. and to a washed up Coleman. Randy is not a top 10 fighter I repeat.
How can Randy be excluded ?? I'd pick Randy anyday over Rashad , Forrest , Rampage , Hendo , and Thiago . When will you people learn to NEVER count that man out .
LOL! (then shakes head in digust, Throws computer across room. Begins to laugh hysterically again.) Why? B/C the things most of you say are R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S! Friggin keyboard/couch mma anal-lysts. Only a couple of people on here spit out anything worth reading. The rest of you please throw your computers against the wall!!
Says the guy with no thoughts of his own ... tool.
Thanks for proving my point.