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Can We Rank Some Fighters?


ImRachelNicholsESPN

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Heyyyyy

 

So, I'm a fairly new fan. I've been following UFC for about half a year now -- I've ordered a few PPVs, went to 101 in Philly, and have been watching tons of fight videos with Japanese commentary.

 

One thing about the sport -- it can be kind of hard to break into. There are so many names, so many guys who have passed through, guys who have beat guys who lost to other guys.. It can be sort of confusing to keep track of all the fighters.

 

I was hoping to get some insights from some of you guys on the board. I was thinking about tossing a few names out there and having you guys rank them. Maybe we can use a scale system, 1-10 (very basic, but it could be more general and work that way).

 

10 would be a GSP or Machida, 1 would be -- well, 1 would be total sh*t.

 

Would you guys be down for that? I think it would be pretty helpful and I'd like to have a better grasp on who's still relevant and who's over or under appreciated. Would also be cool to explain why you decide on the value, just give a little opinion to support the ranking

 

Here's a name to start with. Thiago Silva. I know he just rocked Jardine (ooo, could we do him too?) and he has a few impressive fights under his belt. Where do you guys think he stands 1-10?

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Thiago is a 7-8.. he has some impressive wins and i like him alot. but after seeing him fight lyoto machida it kinda told me he is still a lil kid compared to the beasts in the UFC.

 

he would be like rashad evans. i think those two are both a bit over rated.. specially rashad

 

Jardine- i would like to say he is underated but DAMN he keeps going hot then Cold.. he needs to stop getting KO'd.. when he beats som1 good he should maybe try WINNING his next fight!

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Well that's quite hard, it somewhat depends on how you look at Machida. Thiago is 14-1 with his only loss to Machida and since I consider Machida to be one of the best fighters in the world right now that loss is not the end of the world. I'd say Thiago is an 8, and can hang with just about anybody at LHW.

 

Why not throw out some more names at a time instead of just one?

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Yeah, I can do more names, I just didn't want it to get too jumbled-

 

BJ Penn -- is he a 10 for you guys? Or just at the moment?

How about Diego Sanchez?

Cain Velasquez?

A guy I really like and I think is a total darkhorse -- Ricardo Almeida?

What would you give a guy like Ortiz right now? I know that one's tough to gauge, but is he like a 5-6?

Kenny Florian -- kinda garbage, right?

I think that's a good start..

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I'll rank the top fighters right now

 

Penn: 8.9 gotta see if he can keep this current pace up

Machida 9.3

A. Silva: 9.4

GSP: 9.2

Fedor: 9.5

Hendo 8.8

Marquardt: 8.6

Lesnar: 7.5 this is my honest opinion don't get all mad everyone. I don't think he has the technique yet he is still a rookier for crying out loud he's just too big

Mir: 8.1

Nog: 8.5

 

This is all based on skills, keep in mind. I know I have some people higher ranked than people who beat them but skill wise this is my honest to God opinion.

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Yeah' date=' I can do more names, I just didn't want it to get too jumbled-

 

BJ Penn -- is he a 10 for you guys? Or just at the moment?

How about Diego Sanchez?

Cain Velasquez?

A guy I really like and I think is a total darkhorse -- Ricardo Almeida?

What would you give a guy like Ortiz right now? I know that one's tough to gauge, but is he like a 5-6?

Kenny Florian -- kinda garbage, right?

I think that's a good start..[/quote']

 

BJ- i dnt think bj ever was a 10. thts a lil too high for him. i think bj at best is a 9. although some could argue he is a 10 but i dnt think his cardio is tht good. (looked good at 101 tho)

 

Diego- i love diego and his aggresive style. but hes still young and has alot to learn. um i say 8 or 7.

 

Cain- idk i dnt watch him too much. i seen him a couple times. educated guess for me is a 7.

 

Ortiz- cant say. he hasnt fought in a while.

 

KenFlo- kenny is a great fighter and i like him alot. but after the dominating loss he took from bj it tells me he isnt rdy to be a top contender.. atleast in my mind.. 7 or 8. (lol i KNO i keep giving 7s and 8s)

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Heyyyyy

 

So' date=' I'm a fairly new fan. I've been following UFC for about half a year now -- I've ordered a few PPVs, went to 101 in Philly, and have been watching tons of fight videos with Japanese commentary.

 

One thing about the sport -- it can be kind of hard to break into. There are so many names, so many guys who have passed through, guys who have beat guys who lost to other guys.. It can be sort of confusing to keep track of all the fighters.

 

I was hoping to get some insights from some of you guys on the board. I was thinking about tossing a few names out there and having you guys rank them. Maybe we can use a scale system, 1-10 (very basic, but it could be more general and work that way).

 

10 would be a GSP or Machida, 1 would be -- well, 1 would be total sh*t.

 

Would you guys be down for that? I think it would be pretty helpful and I'd like to have a better grasp on who's still relevant and who's over or under appreciated. Would also be cool to explain why you decide on the value, just give a little opinion to support the ranking

 

Here's a name to start with. Thiago Silva. I know he just rocked Jardine (ooo, could we do him too?) and he has a few impressive fights under his belt. Where do you guys think he stands 1-10?[/quote']

 

 

 

This has been a bone of contention for me for some time - there are no definitive rankings of the UFC that people can follow. It would be nice to see some website or addition to UFC.com that ranks the fighters. Dunno how that gets done professionally, but other sports do it with general acceptance - so I'm sure it can be done here.

 

Here's a rundown of some guys off the top of my head including your Thiago Silva/Jardine request. I'll use a .5 system on 10.

 

Anderson Silva 9.5

GSP 9.5

Lyoto Machida 9

BJ Penn 9

Dan Henderson 8.5

Minotauro Nogeuira 8.5

Rampage Jackson 8

Nate Marquardt 8

Jon Fitch 8

Rich Franklin 8

Shogun Rua 7.5

Brock Lesnar 7.5

Mike Swick 7.5

Thiago Silva 7.5

Rashad Evans 7.5

Wanderlei Silva 7

Randy Couture 7

Shane Carwin 7

Junior Dos Santos 7

Mirko Cro Cop 7

Frank Mir 7

Keith Jardine 7

Jon Bones Jones 7

Kenny Florian 7

Brandon Vera 7

Diego Sanchez 7

Damien Maia 6

Forrest Griffin 6

Krystoff Sozsinski (sp?) 5.5

Clay Guida 5

Mustapha Al Turk 5

 

 

These are just off the top to give a good idea of my opinions of the general talent. This is not an "all-time" ranking either, simply now. It's tough to do, for sure!

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I'll rank the top fighters right now

 

Penn: 8.9 gotta see if he can keep this current pace up

Machida 9.3

A. Silva: 9.4

GSP: 9.2

Fedor: 9.5

Hendo 8.8

Marquardt: 8.6

Lesnar: 7.5 this is my honest opinion don't get all mad everyone. I don't think he has the technique yet he is still a rookier for crying out loud he's just too big

Mir: 8.1

Nog: 8.5

 

This is all based on skills' date=' keep in mind. I know I have some people higher ranked than people who beat them but skill wise this is my honest to God opinion.[/quote']

 

Omega, you're like my brother dude. We argue the same points, and give Lesnar (whom I hate) the same ranking. Nice. You rank Mir way higher than I would though. Boourns.

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^ haha. I just think Mir has a good all around game. He's pretty quick, got pretty decent striking and good BJJ.

 

And for the record, only reason GSP is lower than 3 of the fighters on my list is because his chin is questionable and he seems more tentative on his striking since the Serra fight. Otherwise, he's a beast.

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BJ: I'd say he's a 10 if he continues to be as focused and well trained as he was against Kenny.

 

Diego: Maybe a 7, I don't know.

 

Cain: I'd say a 6.

 

Ricardo: I like Ricardo but he didn't look that good against Kendall, lets say a 7. Might be praising him to much, sure at leased some people will say that.

 

Ortiz: Well that's tough for sure but I don't think he will ever amount to anything again so I'm going with my gut and saying maybe a 4.

 

Kenny: Well Kenny didn't look good against BJ but on the other hand BJ looked more focused and in better condition than ever. So I still consider Kenny to be top 3 LW and give him an 8.

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Heyyyyy

 

So' date=' I'm a fairly new fan. I've been following UFC for about half a year now -- I've ordered a few PPVs, went to 101 in Philly, and have been watching tons of fight videos with Japanese commentary.

 

One thing about the sport -- it can be kind of hard to break into. There are so many names, so many guys who have passed through, guys who have beat guys who lost to other guys.. It can be sort of confusing to keep track of all the fighters.

 

I was hoping to get some insights from some of you guys on the board. I was thinking about tossing a few names out there and having you guys rank them. Maybe we can use a scale system, 1-10 (very basic, but it could be more general and work that way).

 

10 would be a GSP or Machida, 1 would be -- well, 1 would be total sh*t.

 

Would you guys be down for that? I think it would be pretty helpful and I'd like to have a better grasp on who's still relevant and who's over or under appreciated. Would also be cool to explain why you decide on the value, just give a little opinion to support the ranking

 

Here's a name to start with. Thiago Silva. I know he just rocked Jardine (ooo, could we do him too?) and he has a few impressive fights under his belt. Where do you guys think he stands 1-10?[/quote']

 

Are you really Rachel Nichols from ESPN?.I would give Thiago a 7 or 8.

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BJ: I'd say he's a 10 if he continues to be as focused and well trained as he was against Kenny.

 

Diego: Maybe a 7' date=' I don't know.

 

Cain: I'd say a 6.

 

Ricardo: I like Ricardo but he didn't look that good against Kendall, lets say a 7. Might be praising him to much, sure at leased some people will say that.

 

Ortiz: Well that's tough for sure but I don't think he will ever amount to anything again so I'm going with my gut and saying maybe a 4.

 

Kenny: Well Kenny didn't look good against BJ but on the other hand BJ looked more focused and in better condition than ever. So I still consider Kenny to be top 3 LW and give him an 8.[/quote']

 

Solid ratings, and you're right about BJ - another 2 dominant wins against tough competition puts him at a 10. I'd put Almeida at a 6.5 and Kenny at 7-7.5 myself.

 

When you think about it, the only "real" way to rank the fighters is off their record (winning percentage). Obviously caliber of opponent has to account, so take all of their opponents, and calculate the win/loss record of the opponents for a percentile. Combine the winning percentage and opponent win percentage to get numerical rankings.

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Solid ratings' date=' and you're right about BJ - another 2 dominant wins against tough competition puts him at a 10. I'd put Almeida at a 6.5 and Kenny at 7-7.5 myself.

 

When you think about it, the only "real" way to rank the fighters is off their record (winning percentage). Obviously caliber of opponent has to account, so take all of their opponents, and calculate the win/loss record of the opponents for a percentile. Combine the winning percentage and opponent win percentage to get numerical rankings.[/quote']

 

I still see some problems with that, it doesn't consider how decisive the win was and I think also you would have to correct with how many fights an opponent has had. I think it's hard to construct a good ranking system just based on record because they just don't fight enough.

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I still see some problems with that' date=' it doesn't consider how decisive the win was and I think also you would have to correct with how many fights an opponent has had. I think it's hard to construct a good ranking system just based on record because they just don't fight enough.[/quote']

 

I agree - I don't think you can encapsulate all the factors required to make sound rankings - unless you've seen em all. And the average fan doesn't see em all. So a numeric representation for the noobs, but literal rankings would have to be contested in debate, lol.

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Thiago is a 7-8.. he has some impressive wins and i like him alot. but after seeing him fight lyoto machida it kinda told me he is still a lil kid compared to the beasts in the UFC.

 

he would be like rashad evans. i think those two are both a bit over rated.. specially rashad

 

Jardine- i would like to say he is underated but DAMN he keeps going hot then Cold.. he needs to stop getting KO'd.. when he beats som1 good he should maybe try WINNING his next fight!

 

Jardine is waayyy overrated. I don't understand why UFC still has him when he got smashed by so many fighters. They want the fans to like fighters that just sucks, so they give them SOOOO many chances. He shouldn't even be top 15.

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The UFC ranking algorithm, while not officially on paper anywhere, is basically something like

 

at the end of each fight for the winner:

new rank = current ranking + (opponents current ranking * quality of victory)

 

The loser gets roughly the opposite.

 

So if you grind out a hard fought win against a guy similar to your ranking you barely get any jump up in the ranks, and likewise if you lose such a match you don't tumble very far, but if you lose to a guy you should be beating or vice versa it makes a huge difference in your rank. In the UFC it can be bad for your rank to grind out a win when you were expected to dominate the match, but they rarely set up matches where one fighter is a clearly dominant favorite. Although, there are some, like Silva vs Forrest.

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