Wins over Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson put Rampage in the top spot. Things looked pretty bad for Rampage in the latter days of his PRIDE career, but a new training camp with Juanito Ibarra has done him a world of good. Ibarra was one of the acting cutmen at the IFL show in Chicago. He seems like a really good guy. I wonder if when he's fixing up Vladimir Matyushenko he imagines Rampage beating him up, and he gets really excited and starts rubbing Matyushenko's cut really hard with the q-tip. And when Matyushenko says "Ow, what the hell, man? What are you imagining while you are fixing my cuts?" Ibarra has to say "Nothing at all," even though we all know the real deal with what he was imagining.
2. Dan Henderson
Despite a spare 205 lb record, Henderson squeaks into second place for a few reasons: he recently knocked out Wanderlei Silva, and Liddell and Shogun Rua just lost to formerly unranked fighters. Sherdog.com still has his nickname as "Hollywood." I think that name is much better than "Dangerous," which I believe is the name that the UFC has been using for him. "Hollywood" is a funny nickname because Dan Henderson is very un-Hollywood, being that he is missing his two front teeth and has dark skin. For a brief moment, he was called "America's Best," which is also the name of an eyeglasses franchise.
3. Wanderlei Silva
Much like Henderson, Wanderlei finds himself in the top three in part because of Liddell and Shogun's recent losses. The last two years have been tough on Wanderlei at light-heavyweight, but his older victories still recommend him highly.
Sometimes you want to go dancing with Wanderlei Silva:
But other times you are afraid his face is going to fall off:
4. Keith Jardine
Keith Jardine earns his spot for a really strong decision win over Liddell, and, prior to that, a knockout over fellow spoiler Forrest Griffin. He also earns this spot for having the courage, despite being a senior citizen with the shakes, to step into the cage and compete. Wait, oh my god, he's only 32. Sometimes we call him "Blast Off."
5. Forrest Griffin
Griffin's surprising win over Shogun puts him at 5. Had Griffin won by something like a close decision, Shogun's previous accomplishments might have still put him ahead. However, Griffin more or less trounced him before forcing a tap out in the third round, which counts for a lot.
6. Mauricio Shogun Rua
Wanderlei Silva's heir to the Chute Boxe alpha male status, Shogun tore through the last PRIDE middleweight grand prix, but fizzled out in his UFC debut to Forrest Griffin. I'm looking forward to a return to form. I saw him in a copy of Vogue, in some article about Brazil, carrying a beautiful woman on his shoulders. I don't see why they didn't go with Wanderlei. Wait, wait...
Yes I do.
7. Chuck Liddell
Having lost two consecutive fights puts Liddell at number seven. I can't tell if he is charismatic or not. Some people say he isn't, but then everyone loves him, and they put him on TV, so he must have something. You can't deny his credentials, but for some reason he was never one of my personal favorites. It might be because Randy Couture was my first, favorite fighter and, unfortunately, the first pay-per-view my family ever watched was of Liddell knocking Couture out (and into retirement). Maybe Liddell is actually really awesome and this traumatic experience just prevents me from totally letting him into my heart. Like if you saw Santa Claus kicking the shit out of your grandfather. Both are good to you, but seeing Santa Claus wail on your own flesh and blood sort of leaves a bad taste in your mouth no matter what.
8. Sokoudjou
Sokoudjou made a huge splash earlier this year, taking out Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona in under three minutes total. There is still some speculation that he is a fluke-ish powerhouse--not many have seen how he performs once he's been roughed up, or how he fights in the long run. It looks like he won't be competing again this year, but another solid performance early in 2008 will keep him cozy on the list. In magazines they always show him posing with gazelle and lions and other African animals, I guess because he's from Africa. But so is Charlize Theron, and it's not like they ever show her about to wrestle a giraffe. I just don't understand why they won't release the pictures of her about to wrestle a giraffe.
9. Ricardo Arona
Nogueira getting knocked out by Sokoudjou is one thing, because it was a surprise. But you'd think that Brazilian Top Team would have developed some game plan for Arona. I guess it's like that famous saying from Mike Tyson: "Damn it, Arona, stop going into fights with your chin sticking out." Wins over Alistair Overeem and Wanderlei Silva keep Arona just ahead of his fellow team mate.
10. Rogerio Nogueira
Once thought to be indestructible, Nogueira suffered the first stoppage of his career to Sokoudjou. Two wins over Overeem and one over Dan Henderson keeps him afloat despite the aforementioned loss, and dropping a decision to Shogun. It seemed like he was going on hiatus from MMA to pursue boxing, but then it turns out he signed with HCF in Canada (along with Aleksander Emelianenko). He looks just like his twin brother, which doesn't seem strange until you figure that they must have each gotten beat up exactly the same way to continue looking like each other.
11. Tito Ortiz
I went back and forth on whether Ortiz should go ahead or behind of Evans, but I decided that his overall record is a little better, so he eeks by. A lot of people put Evans ahead of Ortiz after they fought to a draw. However, before grabbing the fence which led to a point deduction for Ortiz and the draw (yet another mistake in a long line of bad life choices, which includes taking a melting porn witch as your significant other) Ortiz was on his way to taking a solid decision over Evans. And wins over Shamrock, Griffin, and Vitor Belfort aren't as shabby as people make them out to be. He stays here for now, but depending on if and how badly Evans beats Michael Bisping, the two could be trading spots.
12. Rashad Evans/Jason Lambert
This was a close one to call, so I just copped out and made it a draw. Evans knocked out Lambert, but went on to give a pretty weak effort against Tito Ortiz. Lambert, meanwile, lost to Evans, but went on to knock out former Top 10 mainstay Renato Sobral. I figure this makes them just about even. But again, a more active career on Evans' part will probably afford him a rise in the ranks. If there was a ranking for most off-putting physiques, I think Lambert would probably be on it. He moved down from heavyweight, and brought a lot of what can only be called Errant Torso Skin Flaps with him.
14. Renato Babalu Sobral
Two consecutive losses (before infamously choking David Heath into unconsciousness) keep Babalu low on the list. It looks like he could climb back up the ranks whenever he wants, though. Despite the KO losses to Liddell and Lambert, Babalu handily wins over lesser competition (which seems redundant until you consider the case of BJ Penn). A move to Strikeforce will likely see him string some wins together and step back into the limelight.
15. Ryoto Machida
I had a choice between Machida or Overeem for the number fifteen spot, and went with Machida because, though he hasn't been facing as tough of competition as Overeem, he's been winning. I really like Overeem, and feel bad that he has been doing so poorly. There was some talk of him moving to heavyweight, which seems kind of ridiculous considering he hadn't exactly cleaned up the light-heavyweight division. Anyway, I think a knockout loss to Kharitonov might have stymied any such ambitions. Regarding Machida, I'd like to see the UFC intensify his level of opposition.
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