Global-MMA Rankings - May 2016

Heavyweight
1. Fedor Emelianenko (RIZIN)   
2. Vitaly Minakov (Bellator )
3. Sergei Kharitonov (Bellator)
4. Tony Johnson Jr. (Bellator)
5. Blagoi Ivanov (WSOF )
6. Karol Bedorf (KSW ) 
7. Cheick Kongo (Bellator) 
8. Denis Goltsov (Tech-Krep )   
9. Alexander Volkov (M-1 Global ) 
10. Evgeny Erokhin (WSOF-GC )

Other Contenders: Bobby Lashley (Bellator), Smealinho Rama (WSOF), Brandon Vera (ONE ), Oli Thompson (IGF ), Matt Mitrione (Bellator)

Light Heavyweight
1. Liam McGeary (Bellator )
2. Phil Davis (Bellator)
3. Muhammed Lawal (Bellator) 
4. Dave Branch (WSOF ) 
5. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (Bellator) 
6. Tomasz  Narkun (KSW ) 
7. Viktor Nemkov (M-1 Global )   
8. Linton Vassell (Bellator) 
9. Emanuel Newton (Bellator) 
10. Jiří Procházka (RIZIN) *NR    

Other Contenders: Stephan Puetz (M-1 Global),  Vinny Magalhães (WSOF), Attila Vegh (KSW), Tito Ortiz (Bellator), Shamil Gamzatov (WSOF)

Middleweight
1. Mamed Khalidov (KSW )  
2. Dave Branch (WSOF ) 3
3. Ramazan Emeev (M-1 Global ) 1
4. Rafael Carvalho (Bellator ) 1 
5. Brandon Halsey (Bellator) 1
6. Alexander Shlemenko (M-1 Global)   
7. Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (M-1 Global) 
8. Vitaly Bigdash (ONE )
9. Michał Materla (KSW)
10. Aziz Karaoglu (KSW) 

Other Contenders: Ken Hasegawa (DEEP), Anatoly Tokov (RIZIN), Jung Hwan Cha (Road FC ), Clifford Starks (WSOF), Alessio Sakara (Bellator)

Welterweight
1. Ben Askren (ONE )
2. Andrey Koreshkov (Bellator ) 1
3. Rousimar Palhares (Venator) 1
4. Douglas Lima (Bellator)
5. Jake Shields (WSOF) 1
6. Paul Daley (Bellator) 1
7. Benson Henderson (Bellator) 2
8. Michael Page (Bellator) 1 
9. Borys Mańkowski (KSW ) 1
10. Jon Fitch (WSOF ) *NR 

Other Contenders: Luis Santos (ONE) , Alexey Kunchenko (M-1 Global ), Yushin Okami (DEEP), Hisaki Kato (RIZIN), Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos (Bellator)

Lightweight
1. Justin Gaethje (WSOF )
2. Will Brooks (Bellator ) 
3. Shinya Aoki (ONE ) 
4. Michael Chandler (Bellator)
5. Marcin Held (Bellator)
6. Ramazan Esenbaev (M-1 Global)
7. Lowen Tynanes (ONE) 1
8. Dave Jansen (Bellator) 1
9. Derek Anderson (Bellator) 
10. Patricky "Pitbull" Freire (Bellator) 

Other Contenders: Josh Thomson (Bellator), David Rickels (Bellator),  Daron Cruickshank (RIZIN),Murad Machaev (Fight Nights), Saad Awad (Bellator)

Featherweight
1. Daniel Straus (Bellator )
2. Patricio "Pitbull" Freire (Bellator)
3. Daniel Weichel (Bellator)
4. Pat Curran (Bellator)
5. Rick Glenn (WSOF) 
6. Kazunori Yokota (DEEP ) 
7. Marat Gafurov (ONE ) 
8. Alexandre de Almeida (WSOF ) 
9. Ivan Buchinger (M-1 Global ) 
10. Bubba Jenkins (Bellator) *NR

Other Contenders: Lance Palmer (WSOF), Goiti Yamauchi (Bellator), Georgi Karakhanyan (Bellator), Jadamba Narantungalag (ONE), Isao Kobayashi (Bellator)

Bantamweight
1. Bibiano Fernandes (ONE )
2. Marlon Moraes (WSOF )
3. Marcos Galvão (Bellator )
4. Masakatsu Ueda (Pancrase) 
5. Darrion Caldwell (Bellator)    
6. Soo Chul Kim (ROAD FC)    
7. Joe Warren (Bellator) 
8. Eduardo Dantas (Bellator) 
9. Dae Hwan Kim (ONE) 
10. Chris Gutierrez (WSOF) 

Other Contenders: Luis "Betão" Nogueira (Pancrase), Shintaro Ishiwatari (King of Pancrase ), Victor Henry (Pancrase), Timur Valiev (WSOF), Jonathan Brookins (Pancrase)

Flyweight
1. Tim Elliott (Titan FC )  
2. Magomed Bibulatov (Akhmat) 1   
3. Hiromasa Ogikubo (VTJ ) 1   
4. Alexandre Pantoja (RFA ) 2 
5. Kairat Akhmetov (ONE ) 
6. Adriano Moraes (ONE) 
7. Czar Sklavos(VTJ)      
8. Yusaku Nakamura (VTJ)   
9. Jarred Brooks (Akhmat FC) *NR
10. Yuki Motoya (DEEP ) 

Other Contenders: Bruno Menezes (Jungle Fight), Rany Saadeh (BAMMA ), Felipe Efrain (RIZIN), Tatsumitsu Wada (DEEP),  Chico Camus (RFA)

Strawweight
1. Mitsuhisa Sunabe (King Of Pancrase )
2. Yoshitaka Naito (Shooto )
3. Kent Kambe (Pancrase)
4. Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke (ONE )
5. Raymison Bruno (Pancrase)
6  Yukitaka Musashi (Pancrase)
7. Daichi Kitakata (Pancrase) 
8. Hiroyuki Abe (Pancrase) 
9. Jarred Brooks (WSOF GC) 
10. Ryuto Sawada (Shooto) *NR 

Other Contenders: Marcone Muniz (Free Agent), Tulio Vasconcelos (Free Agent), Shinya Murofushi (Pancrase), Yago Bryan (Shooto Brazil ), Junji Ito (Shooto)

Women's Featherweight
1. Cristiane Justino (Invicta FC )
2. Marloes Coenen (Bellator)
3. Julia Budd (Bellator)
4. Charmaine Tweet (Invicta FC) 2
5. Arlene Blencowe (Bellator)
6. Faith Van Duin (Invicta FC) 1      
7. Megan Anderson (Invicta FC) 2  
8. Daria Ibragimova (Fight Nights)   
9. Latoya Walker (Invicta FC) 5   
10. Cindy Dandois (Invicta FC) 

Other Contenders: Lina Akhtar Lansberg (Free Agent), Anastasia Plisenkova (Fight Nights), Kelly Faszholz (Legacy FC), Fallon Fox (XFO), Roberta Rovel (Bellator)

Women's Flyweight
1. Barb Honchak (Invicta FC )
2. Jennifer Maia (Interim Invicta FC ) 
3. Julia Berezikova (Fight Nights)
4. Katlyn Chookagian (CFFC ) 
5. Vanessa Porto (Invicta FC)    
6. Roxanne Modafferi  (Invicta FC) 
7. Isabelly Varela (CFFC) 
8. Rebecca Ruth (Bellator) 
9. Kate Jackson (Free Agent)     
10. Charlene Watt (Free Agent) 

Other Contenders: Andrea Lee (Invicta FC), Iryna Shaparenko (Fight Nights), Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (Bellator), Poliana Botelho (XFC), Jin Tang(KUNLUN)

Global-MMA Ranking Update Summary

*Ranked Fighters Removed from All Previous Rankings Dating Back to February 2012:

Heavyweight: Tony Lopez, Cole Konrad (Retired), Eric Prindle, Todd Duffee (UFC), Alexei Kudin, Soa Palelei (UFC), Levan Razmadze, Rich Hale, Chaban Ka, Rolles Gracie, Jeff Monson, Peter Graham, Alexey Oleinik (UFC), Aleksander Emelianenko, Ryan Martinez, Lavar Johnson, Mike Russow, Andrei Arlovski (UFC), Dmitriy Sosnovskiy, Guram Gugenishvilli, Derrick Mehmen, Kenny Garner, Brett Rogers, Magomed Malikov, Konstantin Erokhin (UFC), Shamil Abdurahimov (UFC), Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (UFC), Konstantin Gluhov, Stephan Puetz (Division Change), Damian Grabowski (UFC), Ken Hasegawa (Division Change), Marcin Tybura (UFC), Satoshi Ishii, Fernando Rodrigues Jr., Denis Smoldarev

Light Heavyweight: Glover Texeira (UFC), D.J. Linderman, Marcus Vanttinen, Gegard Mousasi (Strikeforce), Jimi Manuwa (UFC), Roger Hollett (UFC), Richard Hale (Division Change), Mark Godbeer, Maxim Grishin, Travis Wiuff (Division Change), Sergey Kornev (Retired), Robert Drysdale (UFC), Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Aleksandar Radosavljevic (Retired), Max Nunes, Jacob Noe, Raphael Davis, Jan Blachowicz (UFC), Anthony Johnson (UFC), Paul Buentello, Vladimir Matyushenko (Retired), Moise Rimbon, Christian M’Pumbu, Joey Beltran, Luiz Cane, Yoshiyuki Nakanishi (Division Change), James McSweeney, Jason Jones, Roger Gracie, Maxim Grishin, Mikhail Zayats, Mike Kyle, Thiago Silva, Teddy Holder, Goran Reljic, Vadim Nemkov

Middleweight: Nate Marquardt (Strikeforce), Giva Santana, Bryan Baker, Hector Lombard (UFC), Andrei Semenov, Jorge Santiago (Strikeforce), Anthony Johnson (Division Change), Ryuta Sakurai, Magomed Sultanakhmedov (Retired), Antonio Neto (UFC), Thales Leites (UFC), Vitor Vianna, Bruno Santos, Roger Gracie (Division Change), Mario Miranda (Division Change), Arthur Guseinov, Dan Cramer, Eun-Su Lee, Elvis Mutapcic, Jesse Taylor, Leandro Ataides, Jay Silva, Brett Cooper, Kazuhiro Nakamura (Retired), Joe Schilling, Tamdan McCrory (UFC), Yoshiyuki Nakanishi, Doug Marshall, Kendall Grove, Young Choi, Tomasz Drwal, Melvin Manhoef, Yushin Okami (Division Change), Maiquel Falcao

Welterweight: Ben Saunders, Gael Grimaud, Bryan Baker, Yuya Shirai, Marius Zaromskis, Lyman Good, Myung Ho Bae, Fabricio Monteiro, Jay Hieron, Karl Amoussou, Rashid Magomedov (UFC), Albert Tumenov (UFC), Alexander Yakovlev (UFC), Takenori Sato (UFC), Shamil Zavurov, Aslambek Saidov, Josh Burkman (UFC), Ryan Ford, Rick Hawn, Steve Carl (UFC), Beslan Isaev, Yasubey Enomoto, Gota Yamashita, Keita “K-Taro” Nakamura (UFC), Nobutatsu Suzuki, Murad Abdulaev, Fernando Gonzalez, Shingo Suzuki, Akihiro Murayama, Yuta Watanabe, Brennan Ward

Lightweight: Francisco Trinaldo (UFC), Ricardo Tirloni, Koji Oishi, Mizuto Hirota (Strikeforce), Mairbek Taisumov, Zorobabel Moreira, Rich Clementi, Katsunori Kikuno, Paul Sass, Lloyd Woodard, Antonio McKee (Retired), Lewis Gonzales, Satoru Kitaoka, Yui Chul Nam (UFC), Kuniyoshi Hironaka, Kotetsu Boku, Naoyuki Kotani (UFC), Nick Newell, Eddie Alvarez (UFC), Leandro Silva (UFC), Luis “Buscape” Firmino, Melvin Guillard, Isao Kobayashi (Division Change), Vuyisile Colossa, Mansour Barnaoui, Koji Ando, Musa Khamanaev, Jason Knight (UFC), Alexander Sarnavskiy, Brian Foster, Brandon Girtz

Featherweight: Ronnie Mann, Mike Corey, Wilson Reis, Joachim Hansen, Mike Richman, Yusuke Kawanago, Takeshi Inoue, Joe Warren (Division Change), Wagnney Fabiano, Shahbulat Shamhalaev, Honorio Banario, Kazuyuki Miyata, Tatsuya Kawajiri (UFC), Doo Ho Choi (UFC), Takumi Nakayama, Marlon Sandro, Matt Bessette, Shinya Aoki (Division Change), Fabricio de Assis Costa da Silva, Daniel Romero, Magomeddrasul Khasbulaev, Koji Oishi (Retired), Caol Uno, Yoshifumi Nakamura, Diego Nunes, John Teixeira da Conceicao, Yutaka Saito, Hiroyuki Takaya

Bantamweight: Hiroshi Nakamura, Masakazu Imanari, Hideo Tokoro, Yusup Saadulaev, Antonio Banuelos, Wagnney Fabiano (Division Change), Alexis Vila, Rodolfo Marques Diniz, Travis Marx, Zach Makovsky (Division Change), Kyoji Horiguchi (UFC), Miguel Torres, Leandro Issa (UFC), Pablo Alfonso, Ed West, Anthony Leone, Yuta Sasaki (UFC), Tyson Nam, Cody Bollinger, Takafumi Otsuka, Rafael Silva, Mike Richman, Kevin Belingon, Josh Hill

Flyweight: Taiyo Nakahara, Kentaro Watanabe, Rey Docyogen, Yuki Yasunaga, Ali Bagautinov (UFC), Jose Maria Tome (UFC), Darrell Montague (UFC), Zach Makovsky, Sergio Pettis (UFC), Alexis Vila (Division Change), Will Campuzano (UFC), Joshua Sampo (UFC), Mamoru Yamaguchi, Yoshiro Maeda, Yosuke Saruta, Kentaro Watanabe, Hideo Tokoro, Yasuhiro Urushitani, Yosuke Saruta

Junior Flyweight: Junji Ikoma, Takehiro Ishii, Mikihito Yamagami (Division Change), Masakazu Utsugi, Takuya Eizumi, Ryosuke Tanuma, Tadaaki Yamamoto, Jun Nakamura, Ryuya Fukuda, Akihito Sasao
____________________________________________________________________________________________

Global-MMA Ranking Rules

*This ranking system includes fighters that are not under exclusive contract to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

*Top level fighters that leave the UFC may be ranked in subsequent rankings.

*Fighters that sign exclusively to the UFC will be removed from the rankings.

*Rankings are based on a fighter's overall career results and recent performance.

*A fighter will be ranked number one if he defeats the number one ranked fighter in the weight division except under certain rare circumstances where the number two ranked fighter clearly deserves to move into the number one ranking position.  

*Victories over highly ranked fighters and losses against non-ranked opponents have a larger effect on the fighters ranking position.

*A fighter will not necessarily take the place of his opponent in the rankings after a victory or a loss.

* A fighter can move up a maximum of three spots with impressive victories over a fighter ranked below him; however, there is no limit if the fighter earned a title or a tournament championship with the victory.

* An unranked newly crowned champion who earned a title in a major league MMA promotion can enter the top ten even with a victory over an unranked fighter.

*A fighter will drop in the rankings if he does not fight regularly against high level competition.

*A top ten ranked fighter can become ranked in another weight division after one or more wins in his new weight class.

*A fighter can be ranked in two different weight divisions.

*Champions and fighters from prominent promotions will have an advantage over champions and fighters from promotions with lesser competition.

*A fighter will be removed from the rankings if he does not fight for two years.

*Fighters that are signed to multiple promotions will have their promotions listed based on the following criteria: 1) championship held in a promotion, 2) predominant promotion the fighter fights in, 3) promotion
last fought in.

*Rankings will be updated every month.

FLW rankings, women's rankings, and format updates to follow.

TeepToTheJunk wrote:Great stuff

King Mo has 4 "HW" wins in his 7 fight streak (including 3 in 72 hours in Rizin). He is a factor at HW IMO.  Said he wants to fight Minakov if he beats Davis.  BabyFedor Kiril is in the mix. Took some years off winning a bunch of combat sambo world championships, now 2 wins including over HuggyBear.  He's on the rise.  

HW and LHW are getting very interesting thanks to Bellator/Rizin/ONE.   The market is recovering from the (artificial) monopoly years.

Thanks. I agree, if Mo continues to fight at HW he will have to be considered for top 10 as you suggest.

Great point on Kirill as well. I just listed him in a separate file I keep on my PC for future potential contenders. That was a big win over Huggy Bear so will definitely have to keep an eye out on him. Another good win like that could get him added to the HW contenders.

CDF47 wrote:

TeepToTheJunk wrote:Great stuff

King Mo has 4 "HW" wins in his 7 fight streak (including 3 in 72 hours in Rizin). He is a factor at HW IMO.  Said he wants to fight Minakov if he beats Davis.  BabyFedor Kiril is in the mix. Took some years off winning a bunch of combat sambo world championships, now 2 wins including over HuggyBear.  He's on the rise.  

HW and LHW are getting very interesting thanks to Bellator/Rizin/ONE.   The market is recovering from the (artificial) monopoly years.

Thanks.  I agree, if Mo continues to fight at HW he will have to be considered for top 10 as you suggest.

Great point on Kirill as well.  I just listed him in a separate file I keep on my PC for future potential contenders.  That was a big win over Huggy Bear so will definitely have to keep an eye out on him.  Another good win like that could get him added to the HW contenders.

I wouldnt mind seeing Rampage vs BabyFedor after Jackson fights Ishii. Kirill needs some bigname fights to build his star.

TeepToTheJunk wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

TeepToTheJunk wrote:Great stuff

King Mo has 4 "HW" wins in his 7 fight streak (including 3 in 72 hours in Rizin). He is a factor at HW IMO.  Said he wants to fight Minakov if he beats Davis.  BabyFedor Kiril is in the mix. Took some years off winning a bunch of combat sambo world championships, now 2 wins including over HuggyBear.  He's on the rise.  

HW and LHW are getting very interesting thanks to Bellator/Rizin/ONE.   The market is recovering from the (artificial) monopoly years.

Thanks.  I agree, if Mo continues to fight at HW he will have to be considered for top 10 as you suggest.

Great point on Kirill as well.  I just listed him in a separate file I keep on my PC for future potential contenders.  That was a big win over Huggy Bear so will definitely have to keep an eye out on him.  Another good win like that could get him added to the HW contenders.

I wouldnt mind seeing Rampage vs BabyFedor after Jackson fights Ishii.  Kirill needs some bigname fights to build his star.  

Rampage/Kirill is a very interesting fight, kind of along the lines of Wand/Baruto type interesting. These would be real solid open round GP fights. I'd like to see Kirill continue to step up in competition as well. Toyota from DEEP was OK and then Huggy Bear was a good step up and a nice win.

CDF47 wrote:

TeepToTheJunk wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

TeepToTheJunk wrote:Great stuff

King Mo has 4 "HW" wins in his 7 fight streak (including 3 in 72 hours in Rizin). He is a factor at HW IMO.  Said he wants to fight Minakov if he beats Davis.  BabyFedor Kiril is in the mix. Took some years off winning a bunch of combat sambo world championships, now 2 wins including over HuggyBear.  He's on the rise.  

HW and LHW are getting very interesting thanks to Bellator/Rizin/ONE.   The market is recovering from the (artificial) monopoly years.

Thanks.  I agree, if Mo continues to fight at HW he will have to be considered for top 10 as you suggest.

Great point on Kirill as well.  I just listed him in a separate file I keep on my PC for future potential contenders.  That was a big win over Huggy Bear so will definitely have to keep an eye out on him.  Another good win like that could get him added to the HW contenders.

I wouldnt mind seeing Rampage vs BabyFedor after Jackson fights Ishii.  Kirill needs some bigname fights to build his star.  

Rampage/Kirill is a very interesting fight, kind of along the lines of Wand/Baruto type interesting.  These would be real solid open round GP fights.  I'd like to see Kirill continue to step up in competition as well.  Toyota from DEEP was OK and then Huggy Bear was a good step up and a nice win.

For sure.

Combat Sambo is such a great primer for mma. Really it is mma, on a mat, in a gi and headgear.

Nurmy has 2 golds, Fedor has 4, Kirill got 5 world golds and a silver in the last six years. Plus 4 Euro and 4 Russian golds. Badass shit. He was a top prospect who didn't pan all the way out and now he's back from his break a changed fighter. Like RussianBabyGandalfFedor.

To me he's the hottest HW prospect in mma.

TeepToTheJunk wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

TeepToTheJunk wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

TeepToTheJunk wrote:Great stuff

King Mo has 4 "HW" wins in his 7 fight streak (including 3 in 72 hours in Rizin). He is a factor at HW IMO.  Said he wants to fight Minakov if he beats Davis.  BabyFedor Kiril is in the mix. Took some years off winning a bunch of combat sambo world championships, now 2 wins including over HuggyBear.  He's on the rise.  

HW and LHW are getting very interesting thanks to Bellator/Rizin/ONE.   The market is recovering from the (artificial) monopoly years.

Thanks.  I agree, if Mo continues to fight at HW he will have to be considered for top 10 as you suggest.

Great point on Kirill as well.  I just listed him in a separate file I keep on my PC for future potential contenders.  That was a big win over Huggy Bear so will definitely have to keep an eye out on him.  Another good win like that could get him added to the HW contenders.

I wouldnt mind seeing Rampage vs BabyFedor after Jackson fights Ishii.  Kirill needs some bigname fights to build his star.  

Rampage/Kirill is a very interesting fight, kind of along the lines of Wand/Baruto type interesting.  These would be real solid open round GP fights.  I'd like to see Kirill continue to step up in competition as well.  Toyota from DEEP was OK and then Huggy Bear was a good step up and a nice win.

For sure.

Combat Sambo is such a great primer for mma.  Really it is mma, on a mat, in a gi and headgear.  

Nurmy has 2 golds, Fedor has 4, Kirill got 5 world golds and a silver in the last six years. Plus 4 Euro and 4 Russian golds.  Badass shit.  He was a top prospect who didn't pan all the way out and now he's back from his break a changed fighter.  Like RussianBabyGandalfFedor.

To me he's the hottest HW prospect in mma.  

Combat sambo is the best martial art for MMA, I agree. It is similar and the Russian fighters really show how to use that art with the transitioning from striking to grappling.

That is impressive for Kirill. I didn't realize he won all those medals in sambo. I knew he had some. Would be nice to see him do well in RIZIN.

Combat sambo is the best martial art for MMA, I agree.  It is similar and the Russian fighters really show how to use that art with the transitioning from striking to grappling.  

That is impressive for Kirill.  I didn't realize he won all those medals in sambo.  I knew he had some.  Would be nice to see him do well in RIZIN.

TeamFedor has some talent, even though Askren just beat one. Askren is a genius so no shame ghere. Fans that wonder why Fedor didn't sign with the UFC need look no further than Fedor and his team with nonexclusive contracts.

Now even signed, promotions have to compete for their services.  That's boss level shit.  If Fedor wants, he can take the Glorious Retirement Tour of Absolute Victory almost anywhere he wants, and his team comes with.  He is fulfilling his stated goal of furthering Russian martial arts.  Truly the GOAT in temperament, resume, humility, business and structural importance*

*tied with or #2 behind Royce as a structurally pivotal figure IMO

TeepToTheJunk wrote:

Combat sambo is the best martial art for MMA, I agree.  It is similar and the Russian fighters really show how to use that art with the transitioning from striking to grappling.  

That is impressive for Kirill.  I didn't realize he won all those medals in sambo.  I knew he had some.  Would be nice to see him do well in RIZIN.

TeamFedor has some talent, even though Askren just beat one. Askren is a genius so no shame ghere. Fans that wonder why Fedor didn't sign with the UFC need look no further than Fedor and his team with nonexclusive contracts.

Now even signed, promotions have to compete for their services.  That's boss level shit.  If Fedor wants, he can take the Glorious Retirement Tour of Absolute Victory almost anywhere he wants, and his team comes with.  He is fulfilling his stated goal of furthering Russian martial arts.  Truly the GOAT in temperament, resume, humility, business and structural importance*

*tied with or #2 behind Royce as a structurally pivotal figure IMO

They are setting a really good example for other fighters.  You're right, they can compete at RIZIN, Fight Nights, Bellator, ABC, or anywhere else that allows non-exclusive contracts.  They are paving the way nicely for other fighters to follow suit.  

Great points!

CDF47 wrote:

TeepToTheJunk wrote:

Combat sambo is the best martial art for MMA, I agree.  It is similar and the Russian fighters really show how to use that art with the transitioning from striking to grappling.  

That is impressive for Kirill.  I didn't realize he won all those medals in sambo.  I knew he had some.  Would be nice to see him do well in RIZIN.

TeamFedor has some talent, even though Askren just beat one. Askren is a genius so no shame ghere. Fans that wonder why Fedor didn't sign with the UFC need look no further than Fedor and his team with nonexclusive contracts.

Now even signed, promotions have to compete for their services.  That's boss level shit.  If Fedor wants, he can take the Glorious Retirement Tour of Absolute Victory almost anywhere he wants, and his team comes with.  He is fulfilling his stated goal of furthering Russian martial arts.  Truly the GOAT in temperament, resume, humility, business and structural importance*

*tied with or #2 behind Royce as a structurally pivotal figure IMO

They are setting a really good example for other fighters.  You're right, they can compete at RIZIN, Fight Nights, Bellator, ABC, or anywhere else that allows non-exclusive contracts.  They are paving the way nicely for other fighters to follow suit.  

Great points!

Rizin, Bellator are wielding flexibility as a selling point to potential signees. They see the future landscape. Rizin is basically a big co-promo.

Bellator got the hottest prospect in the sport greco/freestyle/folkstyle/boxing monster Aaron Pico being flexible.  Go wrestle, then we're there for you.  They got other hot wrestling prospects too.
Kharitonov, Wandy, both non exclusive.  
Rizin won the Fedor sweepstakes with the whole world bidding
Got Bendo as the world bid.
Bellator kickboxing now lets the roster that is exclusive cross over "in house".
Joe Schilling is coming over from Glory, because he sees what's up.

Fedor always wielded his leverage.  He sat out the monopoly years, and viola returns right as things heat up.  Some fighters opt for long contracts Andy, Werdum, RDA, DC, Conor etc but they're locking themselves into a one sided arrangement, in a growing market. They can be cut, but they can't themselves leave.

If their stock falls, they can't count on future fights, if it rises they're capping their money. Fedor can basically do what he wants.  No other mma superstar can say that.

TeepToTheJunk wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

TeepToTheJunk wrote:

Combat sambo is the best martial art for MMA, I agree.  It is similar and the Russian fighters really show how to use that art with the transitioning from striking to grappling.  

That is impressive for Kirill.  I didn't realize he won all those medals in sambo.  I knew he had some.  Would be nice to see him do well in RIZIN.

TeamFedor has some talent, even though Askren just beat one. Askren is a genius so no shame ghere. Fans that wonder why Fedor didn't sign with the UFC need look no further than Fedor and his team with nonexclusive contracts.

Now even signed, promotions have to compete for their services.  That's boss level shit.  If Fedor wants, he can take the Glorious Retirement Tour of Absolute Victory almost anywhere he wants, and his team comes with.  He is fulfilling his stated goal of furthering Russian martial arts.  Truly the GOAT in temperament, resume, humility, business and structural importance*

*tied with or #2 behind Royce as a structurally pivotal figure IMO

They are setting a really good example for other fighters.  You're right, they can compete at RIZIN, Fight Nights, Bellator, ABC, or anywhere else that allows non-exclusive contracts.  They are paving the way nicely for other fighters to follow suit.  

Great points!

Rizin, Bellator are wielding flexibility as a selling point to potential signees. They see the future landscape. Rizin is basically a big co-promo.

Bellator got the hottest prospect in the sport greco/freestyle/folkstyle/boxing monster Aaron Pico being flexible.  Go wrestle, then we're there for you.  They got other hot wrestling prospects too.
Kharitonov, Wandy, both non exclusive.  
Rizin won the Fedor sweepstakes with the whole world bidding
Got Bendo as the world bid.
Bellator kickboxing now lets the roster that is exclusive cross over "in house".
Joe Schilling is coming over from Glory, because he sees what's up.

Fedor always wielded his leverage.  He sat out the monopoly years, and viola returns right as things heat up.  Some fighters opt for long contracts Andy, Werdum, RDA, DC, Conor etc but they're locking themselves into a one sided arrangement, in a growing market. They can be cut, but they can't themselves leave.

If their stock falls, they can't count on future fights, if it rises they're capping their money. Fedor can basically do what he wants.  No other mma superstar can say that.

It is a great selling point for those orgs. Fighters like the flexibility of having their own sponsors, being able to box, kickbox, fight in Japan or US, fight in big Japan GPs on NYE, and try to get big money fights outside the org.

The Bellator signings recently have been very impressive. They picked up some really good fighters and big names recently.

Shilling cross-over is interesting. I hope we see a lot more kickboxing/MMA cross-overs back and forth. Those are two great combat sports and many solid fighters can adapt well to both.

Fedor always has been a trend setter in this sport. He refuses to sign that UFC contract which locks him down, his likeness, and everything else forever. I don't see him ever signing that contract. I could see him maybe doing a one off fight there as a retirement fight but I don't think he will ever sign the UFC contract the way it is written.

CDF47 wrote:

It is a great selling point for those orgs.  Fighters like the flexibility of having their own sponsors, being able to box, kickbox, fight in Japan or US, fight in big Japan GPs on NYE, and try to get big money fights outside the org.

The Bellator signings recently have been very impressive.  They picked up some really good fighters and big names recently.

Shilling cross-over is interesting.  I hope we see a lot more kickboxing/MMA cross-overs back and forth. Those are two great combat sports and many solid fighters can adapt well to both.

Fedor always has been a trend setter in this sport.  He refuses to sign that UFC contract which locks him down, his likeness, and everything else forever.  I don't see him ever signing that contract.  I could see him maybe doing a one off fight there as a retirement fight but I don't think he will ever sign the UFC contract the way it is written.

If Conor were in Fedor's position, he could go box Mayweather for an enormous pile of cash. He was offered 2mil to fight on the Fedor FightNights card as well.  GSP could go fight Askren in ONE in a superfight, or take bids from Bellator.  These other star fighters wish they had Fedor's pull.

Fighters should plan for the future, haggling more, for shorter deals.

Werdum signed long term, and got a mil+ to fight Stipe, but now he's lost, the biggest $ fight for him is Fedor, but he's more than 5 fights IIRC away from being his own man.

TeepToTheJunk wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

It is a great selling point for those orgs.  Fighters like the flexibility of having their own sponsors, being able to box, kickbox, fight in Japan or US, fight in big Japan GPs on NYE, and try to get big money fights outside the org.

The Bellator signings recently have been very impressive.  They picked up some really good fighters and big names recently.

Shilling cross-over is interesting.  I hope we see a lot more kickboxing/MMA cross-overs back and forth. Those are two great combat sports and many solid fighters can adapt well to both.

Fedor always has been a trend setter in this sport.  He refuses to sign that UFC contract which locks him down, his likeness, and everything else forever.  I don't see him ever signing that contract.  I could see him maybe doing a one off fight there as a retirement fight but I don't think he will ever sign the UFC contract the way it is written.

If Conor were in Fedor's position, he could go box Mayweather for an enormous pile of cash. He was offered 2mil to fight on the Fedor FightNights card as well.  GSP could go fight Askren in ONE in a superfight, or take bids from Bellator.  These other star fighters wish they had Fedor's pull.

Fighters should plan for the future, haggling more, for shorter deals.

Werdum signed long term, and got a mil+ to fight Stipe, but now he's lost, the biggest $ fight for him is Fedor, but he's more than 5 fights IIRC away from being his own man.

Yeah, Conor could have made huge money on that Mayweather fight if he had the Fedor type contract and he was able to get this big a name from an org. which allows this in their contracts, which hopefully RIZIN and other orgs. will be able to do in the future.

That's right, GSP is locked into a UFC contract forever, no matter how long he is retired because he retired with the UFC belt.  

MMA at least needs some aspects of the Ali Act to prevent such never ending contracts. Until then, hopefully these other orgs. will be able to financially compete with the UFC, as they have been recently, and add incentive with open sponsors and non-exclusive contracts or non-exclusive contracts with restrictions (champions clauses, approved fights outside the org., matching rights,...).  I like the non-exclusive contract deal which still allows the promoter some control to keep champions with matching rights and possibly approve of some outside fights,...  I think these types of contracts are real good for both the fighter and the promoter, and the sport as a whole.

I saw an article on Bloodyelbow suggesting Conor might be able to fight Mayweather, by applying for and getting a boxing license then challenging his UFC contract under the Ali Act, applying for relief when they inevitably get a temporary injunction (like Rampage did to fight Maldonado).

I'll dig it up.

TeepToTheJunk wrote:I saw an article on Bloodyelbow suggesting Conor might be able to fight Mayweather, by applying for and getting a boxing license then challenging his UFC contract under the Ali Act, applying for relief when they inevitably get a temporary injunction (like Rampage did to fight Maldonado).

I'll dig it up.

I read that article as well. That was interesting one. The lawyer in the article that came up with that plan (even though he said it was risky and no guarantee) seemed really smart to think of all that. It made sense but could be difficult and time consuming. For that much money though, Conor and Mayweather may attempt it.

Was surprised to see Palhares lose to a relatively unknown fighter. That was a huge loss. I guess after trying to injure fighters in the ring a bit of a fall is justified.

CDF47 wrote:Was surprised to see Palhares lose to a relatively unknown fighter.  That was a huge loss.  I guess after trying to injure fighters in the ring a bit of a fall is justified.

Kinda wild. Meek deserves a ranking, considering PaulHarris was hot.

Meek is legit

I dont agree with rousimar dropping behind andrei for that surprise loss

he's beaten way better guys and askren grapple fuck koreshev so bad and exposed his 0 ground game.

stu3ufc wrote:I dont agree with rousimar dropping behind andrei for that surprise loss

he's beaten way better guys and askren grapple fuck koreshev so bad and exposed his 0 ground game.

Koreshkov has evolved. The Lima and Bendo fights were masterpieces. He also has but one loss compared to PaulHarris' 7, & it was to a still undefeated 2 org champion.

TeepToTheJunk wrote:

CDF47 wrote:Was surprised to see Palhares lose to a relatively unknown fighter.  That was a huge loss.  I guess after trying to injure fighters in the ring a bit of a fall is justified.

Kinda wild.  Meek deserves a ranking, considering PaulHarris was hot.  

I agree. I'm thinking top 6 for Meek and top 7 for Palhares.

stu3ufc wrote:Meek is legit

He beat a tough opponent. Was a big win for him.

stu3ufc wrote:I dont agree with rousimar dropping behind andrei for that surprise loss

he's beaten way better guys and askren grapple fuck koreshev so bad and exposed his 0 ground game.

I'm thinking 7 spot for Palhares since he lost to a solid but un-ranked fighter.

TeepToTheJunk wrote:

stu3ufc wrote:I dont agree with rousimar dropping behind andrei for that surprise loss

he's beaten way better guys and askren grapple fuck koreshev so bad and exposed his 0 ground game.

Koreshkov has evolved.  The Lima and Bendo fights were masterpieces.  He also has but one loss compared to PaulHarris' 7, & it was to a still undefeated 2 org champion.

Oh yeah, Koreshkov has been on a tear.