MMA Rankings: Heavyweight

MMA Heavyweight Rankings

1. Cain Velasquez (9-0)- Cain is coming off a shoulder injury that has sidelined him for the better part of the past year. Nonetheless, he’ll make his return at UFC 139 against #2 heavyweight Junior dos Santos.

2. Junior dos Santos (13-1)- Shane Carwin vs. Dos Santos was expected to surely end in a knockout, but in his last two fights, Junior has been unable to finish his opponent. Fortunately for him, he has won back to back lopsided decisions. Dos Santos vs. Velazquez is going to be a rivalry for many years to come at heavyweight.

3. Brock Lesnar (5-2)- Yes, he’s 5-2 in his career and has been sidelined with an injury, but he did lose to the current champ and there hasn’t been a ton of activity at the top of the heavyweight division in the past few months, so Lesnar backs into the number three slot. He was scheduled to face Junior dos Santos after season 13 if The Ultimate Fighter wrapped up, but due to his illness returning, he was unable to. It was a fight where many considered him the favorite as well. Lesnar is rumored to be fighting Alistair Overeem at UFC 140.

4. Alistair Overeem (35-11, 1 No Contest)- The only thing keeping Overeem out of the number three spot was his lackluster performance against Werdum. However, it’s hard to deny how dominant Overeem has looked since his transition to heavyweight. What’s keeping him out of the number one slot is the lack of top notch competition he has fought in order to look as dominant as he has. That is all about to change though, as Overeem is apparently deep into negotiations with the UFC after an abrupt end to his career in Strikeforce.

5. Fabricio Werdum (14-5)- His big win against former number one heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko doesn’t seem to hold as much water considering the “Last Emperor” is now coming off his third loss, but Werdum did enough against Overeem in his Strikeforce grand prix fight to still be a top five heavyweight.

6. Antonio Silva (16-2)- After a loss to Werdum back in November of 2009, Silva has managed to run off three wins including a second round stoppage of Fedor. Silva has the potential to move into the top tier of heavyweights and a win in the Strokeforce heavyweight grand prix would be a perfect start.

7. Frank Mir (15-5)- They weren’t pretty, but Mir’s back to back wins against Mirko “Cro Cop” Flipovic and Roy Nelson have kept him afloat in what usually tends to be a shallow heavyweight division. On a side note, I am SO SORRY for that AWFUL pun. I should be shot for that last sentence, and didn’t intend to type it, but after I realized it, I had to leave it. Mir is always lurking around the title picture, so if he can pull off one more win, he might be looking at a number one contender fight some time soon.

8. Shane Carwin (12-2)- It’s hard to just put Mir over Carwin due to the fact that Carwin beat Mir, but Carwin hasn’t looked good in his past two fights and even though they were against the number three and number two ranked heavyweights, he still lost and didn’t look so great in doing so. No one has heard anything about Carwin’s next fight, but he is always dangerous and can end a fight at any time. That’s what happens when you hit like a truck.

9. Sergei Kharitonov (18-4)- Ever since he handed Overeem his only loss as a heavyweight, Kharitonov’s stock has been rising. Yes, he suffered a setback against Jeff Monson back in April of 2009, but he has a good enough hands to put a lot of quality heavyweights down quickly. Kharitonov will now advance to the semi-finals of the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix to fight the #10 best heavyweight; Josh Barnett.

10. Josh Barnett (30-5)- After testing positive for steroids for a third time and singlehandedly bringing down an entire MMA organization, Barnett made his return to MMA after an 11 month hiatus. He defeated Brett Rogers by submission in the quarterfinal round of the heavyweight grand prix and will now face Sergei Kharitonov.