ESPN Posts Their Middleweight Rankings; Things Getting Interesting | MMA NEWS
ESPN has released their mixed martial arts middlewight rankings once again and it reflects the traffic jam that is the 185 pound weight class.
No surprise that Anderson Silva is the king at 185, but there are a few surprises. Brian Stann has disappeared after his loss to Michael Bisping. Speaking of The Count, Bisping is still on the cusp of breaking the top 3, but it still eludes him because of a tie between Chris Weidman and Chael Sonnen. Chael is moving to 205 pounds, but until he does I am guessing that he will continue to be ranked at this weight.
Jacare is back! After an impressive last outing it is no surprise that the former Strikeforce champion is back in the mix. With Strikeforce almost certainly going away it is going to get interesting real fast when current Strikeforce champion Luke Rockhold steps in to the Octagon. Rockhold sits at number 6 on the list. After a win over highly touted prospect Hector Lombard, Tim Boetsch is sitting at number 8 above UFC standout Alan Belcher. If Tim Boetsch beats Chris Weidman at UFC 155 – he very well could be in line for a title shot.
Once thought of as the true number one contender, Mark Munoz is now at a distant 10th place rounding out the list. Mark lost via brutal KO to Chris Weidman in his last outing so it is not exactly shock he dropped so far. The full results are listed below.
1 Anderson Silva 33-4-0
2 Chris Weidman 9-0-0
2 Chael Sonnen 27-12-1 1
4 Michael Bisping 23-4-0
5 Vitor Belfort 21-10-0
6 Luke Rockhold 10-1-0
7 Alan Belcher 18-6-0
8 Tim Boetsch 16-4-0
9 Ronaldo Souza 16-3-0
10 Mark Munoz 12-3-0
Do you agree with ESPN?
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These guys need to start fighting each other already to come up with some real rankings.the only guys that fought each other on here is bisbing vs sonnen,Munoz vs Weidman,Silva vs sonnen.weidman beating Munoz puts him #2,HA!Finally they have some matches coming up,vitor vs bisbing,and Weidman vs boetsch,so well see.if belcher beats okami where the hell does that put him??okami isn’t even ranked!belcher needs to be at least #6
ESPN is obviously trying to hype up Wiedman, look at everybody elses record up there. Wied has only had 9 fights, sure he is undefeated but he still hasnt proven himself enough to be number 2. I think number 5 or 6 would be appropriate. If Silva wasnt the GOAT then Belfort would be champ
how many fights until Silva got his shot?? stfu.
bisping gets counted out all the time! just look at his record it beats everyones but andersons and chris weidman hasnt got the expirience to last a round with anderson
Hell yeah!!
Hahaha I think some chick from ESPN’s post room made that list. Sure Whineman is 9-0, but 9-0 against cans, one controversial split decision against Maia and one fight against Munoz who was badly out of shape.
i would literally bet against you for Weidman. you are dead wrong.
COMPLETELY agree with you about Weidman. Bisping is my pick for #2, Weidman still needs another fight.
It still astounds me that Weidman is ahead of Bisping. I think that insane. If he is then why isnt Bisping v Weidman happening instead of Belfort who just had a title shot. I just dont understand the thinking here and honestly if I was Michael Bisping I would be getting pretty pissed. I think its time for him to go Chael Sonnen on the situation and just start talking all he can so he cant help but get that shot.
100% bisping should be ranked number 3!hes the only guy in the middelweight division not counting silva to give the number 2 guy chael sonnen a good fight and alot of people think he won,and that win over stann puts him up there he has won 5 of his last 6 fights and realy we all know hes on a 6 fight win streak that sonnen fight was a pay day for silva rematch
1.Silva
2.Vitor
3.Bisping
4.weidman
5.Luke Rockhold
6.Tim Boetsch
7.Stann
8.Belcher
9.Munoz
10.Okami
Belcher has been beat by guys like jason day akiyamma etc, and he beat a 1 style brazilian fighter nothing crazy there that why hes at 8, stann got beat in his last fight but the only 2 guys to beat him were bisping and sonnen he kod all the rest before that!
dude yess. 100% agree. belfort is number 2. just faced jon jones for god sake. anderson is too afraid of losing to jon jones. vitor vs anderson 2. that fight will be different this time
1 – Silva
2 – Rockhold
3 – Bisping
4 – Vitor
5 – Sonnen
AND THEN maybe Weidman. Any list that does not have these 5 guys at the top of it in some order is just ridiculous.
**** boetsch. I still cant figure out how he won the lombard figjt. He got outstruck and outwrestled. Basically i think vitor, lombard, bisping and chael would all beat weidman. He won a snoozefest against maia and beats a overrated munoz. Like even maia had munoz doing the chicken dance. weidman fight didnt shock me. Ive seen munoz outwrestled and dropped so many times that askn for a title shot after beatn him is stupid.
I can’t believe they have Weidman at 2 and Munoz still in the top ten. He barely put on a performance against Weidman. And Munoz is the only person Weidman has beat from that list. ESPN is on some good stuff to think this is a credible ranking.
I think weidman and bisping need to happen before weidman gets a title shot, i dont care he isnt so experienced.. look at jon and cains records before they got title shots, he just needs another fight to prove he deserves a shot
Belcher is the most underated fighter on that list. I wish UFC would put him in against a top 3 or at least 5!
That is bullshit, guys, I’m undefeated too… I should be top 3 right? How can he be top 2 when he hasn’t even fought a top 5 fighter? Makes ZERO sense.
ESPN got #1 100% correct. Now 2 thru 10 is always up to debate. Weidman maybe 4 or 5. Where is Okami and Stann?
I love watching ESPN and sportscenter and stuff. But they dont know jack shit about MMA.. These rankings are always ****ed up.. Im pretty sure Weidman wasnt ranked 2nd right after his fight with Munoz.. So he’s moving up the latter from bitching and crying about not getting a fight while Vitor challenges him, he turns it down, then he mans up and fights the 205lb champion, and WHineman is ranked ahead of him.. I CALL BULLSHIT!!!!
Weidman at number two? F uck espn, they obviously have no clue and should not be making rankings, its embarassing
ESPN needs to get their heads out of their asses if they truly believe Weidman is #2, above Belfort, Bisping, and Souza. And why is Sonnen in the list, he’s moved up to Light Heavyweight.
I dont agree with espn Mark munoz should be in top 5.
Anderson doesnt want to fight Jon Jones because Jon Jones is coming in as Anderson is getting ready to leave, he wants to fight GSP cause they’ve both been in the game a long time and dominant a long time
Michael Bisping doesn’t belong on this list. He is almost as non-finishing as like frankie edgar or grey maynard. He just talks shit and plays pitty pat like he is Tae Kwan Do America or a girl scout or something. Vanderlai Silva showed how much of a pushover he was in the 10 seconds he went rage mode. Footwork and positioning dont finish figts, they just rack up points. (for the judges and in his ‘*****’ score.)