Comments on: Upon further review, the UFC has a deep middleweight division

By: Zantetzuken

Zantetzuken — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:20:45 +0000

By stating Okami’s asian ethnicity i was simply trying to show how everyone under estimates not only him but ANYONE that enters the octagon that is not American. It happens everytime theres an American Vs a non-Amercian. The only person who didn’t hear the “USA” chants durring the Okami fight and the Herring fight AND the GSP Vs Hughes rematch and so many more were sleeping durring the fights because even a blind, deaf, and dumb person heard it. The guy sitting next to me was wondering why i was jumping out of my chair yelling when Okami KOed Tanner. His exact words were “You were going for the asian?”. I guess ill be the only one placing a bet on Okami when he gets his title shot.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:19:50 +0000

you have just insulted fighters #19-#30 …. KGrove “should” be #31, at best !

By: orlando

orlando — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:59:25 +0000

i want to see damien maia against him man…..his brazilian also…but i think he might give him the best run thats the best grappler in mma today barnone…..

By: nate

nate — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:11:00 +0000

Silva is the freaking man. such a consistently entertaining fighter.

By: Andrej

Andrej — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 03:35:59 +0000

I would add Timothy Creduer, CB Dollaway and Dante Rivera as decent prospect’s but we will see In the next TUF season.

I’m not sure about Patrick Cote ranked so high? Maybe A Fight with Ricardo Almeida or Dean Lister. Then I might rank him 10-15. My Top 10 are – (in UFC only) – 1. Anderson Silva, 2. Rich Franklin, 3. Yushin Okami, 4. Dan Henderson (If he stays), 5. Nate Marquardt, 6. Ed Herman, 7. Chris Leben, 8. Martin Kampmann, 9. Jason MacDonald, 10. Thales Leites. not to shabby in my mind.

By: Ross B

Ross B — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:50:59 +0000

Oh and Almeida looked sensational in his return last month, he could quickly become a number one contender after Okami gets his title shot. If there is six to eight months between the Okami fight and the next title shot, is it really a big deal?

By: robnashville

robnashville — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:47:55 +0000

Bisping and Herman? Definite suspects… i have a hard time seeing either of these guys evolve into Top 10 MW’s. Maia? jury is out on him…he’s a great bjj guy but really haven’t seen enuff of him to know if he is a possibly great mma fighter….. Leites i would give a shot at evolving into a possible upper shelf guy.

By: Ross B

Ross B — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:47:15 +0000

Agreed, middleweight is nowhere as near shallow as it has been portrayed. Silva has an excellent challenge ahead of him in Okami, which could come in the next six months. “After that” is a long way away in MMA terms, especially in a flexible division such as 185 lbs where many guys can quickly drop down from 205 lbs, and there is also the possibility of big welterweights moving up. GSP could move up if he lost to Serra. BJ could move back up in two/three fights from now, he has expressed great interest at fighting middleweight before.

There is also a wealth of talent outside the UFC at 185 lbs. Lawler, Lindland, Shamrock, Le, Louiseau, and more are out there. As unlikely as it might seem some of these would/could be contracted by the UFC, this is MMA, unexpected things happen. If the UFC is REALLY in need of a contender for Silva in the future, they can make unexpected things happen. I really don’t see them having trouble keeping their middleweight division well stocked with contenders.

By: Kelvin

Kelvin — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:39:56 +0000

“Okami is a more systematic striker than hendo. hendo swings 4 the fences on his punches and often leaves himself open 4 huge counters. okami has patience and thats something no fighter has shown against silva. he’s strong, quick, and young. and okami is a different type of fighter on the ground where as not only is he gonna try to GNP but also look to pass try some subs. dont get me wrong. i wouldnt be surprised to see silva walk thru him too. i just think that okami has a VERY serious chance to beat him.”

Danny,

Franklin nor Marquardt swung for the fences…both were cautious and showed patience…the end result was the same…a relative easy win for Silva….and Okami will be no different…lol

By: Sam Caplan

Sam Caplan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:36:36 +0000

You don’t think Maia, Leites, and Bisping are legit prospects?

By: robnashville

robnashville — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:27:41 +0000

“The point in creating a top 30 …..was to illustrate that the UFC has a lot of quality middleweights under contract but that none of them pose a serious challenge to Silva.”

Take Silva out of the equation……leaving 29…. the bottom 25, none of them pose a serious challenge to the top three or four (Hendo, Franklin, Marquardt, Okami?)… the UFC has a lot of quantity, but not much quality…. a lot of these guys you label prospects would be better described as suspects…..imho.

By: Zane

Zane — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:18:57 +0000

D-Train, sorry to say but Pete Sell sucks.

By: d-train

d-train — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:55:47 +0000

War # 28… truthfully i think if pete sell fought mike bisping, sell would win via whatever he wants… that should be the match for bisping’s welcome to the middleweight division

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:59:37 +0000

Sam! I understand perfectly the point of your article. I think it was very good. Besides, I have to agree with “Grape Knee High”, I love watching Silva destroy everybody at their own game. Don’ even bother replying to #3, that’s a bunch of crap.-
I also agree with Danny (#14). If there was one lesson to be learned form UFC 82 is that Silva is right now, without a doubt, the other dominant champion the UFC has seen. As you said Sam, he isn’t an opportunistic fighter. He has fought the best, and has never dodged a fight. Okami is the next natural fight, but I think the outcome is kind of predictable.

By: jaydog

jaydog — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:54:37 +0000

This ranking, regardless of order, show a lot of talented fighters that I’d love to see battling each other for a shot at the champ. Sure, that’s already happening, but I think Sam is right to point out that the MW div has numerous rising stars and entertaining fighters. In the end, I agree with Grape Knee High: let’s just watch Silva prove himself every three months against each of these guys until someone comes up from 170 or down from 205 to give us another champ vs. champ situation. As a fan, I’m not complaining or wasting my breath saying talking about Silva’s lack of competition. If the guy is a riddle, let each fighter try to solve him in the octagon. $50k bonus (from Dana, not me) for the first person to get out of the 2nd round.

By: PooPooPlatter

PooPooPlatter — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:54:10 +0000

How Nathan Marquardt can have an MMA record of 5-1, but have a UFC record of 26-7-2?

I take it that these numbers are reversed?

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:54:00 +0000

Sam, I have two college degrees. I even read at a 5th grade level. I understood the point of your article, and quite frankly I agree. You did say underneath your rankings that you welcomed debate on them, so I did.
As far as your article point, my way of thinking is a little different. I think MMA needs a mythical figure. A “Mike Tyson” so to speak. Liddell was that for a while, hell he may be it again for all we know. Silva has an opportunity to be bigger than life. I say the UFC shoudl fight him as much as possible. Keep feeding him the middleweight contenders. Each comic book finish he has sways a few more casual fans over to the sport. I don’t think the worry is who Silva will fight next. I think the worry is what do they do when he loses.

By: Travis

Travis — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:50:26 +0000

Sam,

Good round up regardless of what people say. I may disagree on the positioning. Would you mind sharing with us some of the other divisions, I lost track of quite a few of these middleweights and I do thought that the MW division lacked depth.

By: Sam Caplan

Sam Caplan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:45:43 +0000

Nick, you completely missed the point of my article. The point in creating a top 30 wasn’t to stir debate about where I perceive certain guys to be. It was to illustrate that the UFC has a lot of quality middleweights under contract but that none of them pose a serious challenge to Silva.

My point is to basically say, after Okami, what is going to be left for Anderson Silva to accomplish in the UFC?

Your comments about my rankings are more than welcome, but I’m not here to debate them today. I’m here to talk about the future of Anderson Silva.

By: Danny

Danny — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:36:52 +0000

Kelvin,

Okami is a more systematic striker than hendo. hendo swings 4 the fences on his punches and often leaves himself open 4 huge counters. okami has patience and thats something no fighter has shown against silva. he’s strong, quick, and young. and okami is a different type of fighter on the ground where as not only is he gonna try to GNP but also look to pass try some subs. dont get me wrong. i wouldnt be surprised to see silva walk thru him too. i just think that okami has a VERY serious chance to beat him.