Monday, August 24, 2009

Fedor Meet & Greet In NYC On Wednesday

Fedor is coming to New York City for a meet & greet on Wednesday. The venue is the Fighthouse, which is in Midtown Manhattan, and it's anticipated that he'll do a little grappling then answer questions pertaining to his upcoming book "Why I Like Soups Made With Beets: The Fedor Emelianenko Story". MMA Journalist will likely be there to snap some pics.

VFL's Cage Combat at the Capitol Review

MMA Journalist's ace photog Jake Blanton attended the Valley Fight League's "Cage Combat at the Capitol" in Washington, DC this weekend, and according to Blanton the event kicked ass. "The fans could never look away," says Blanton, who puts attendance for the 15-bout show at around 800 (an almost sell-out crowd). "There were dominating victories (congratulations Jaren Williams, Matt Dean, Adrian Belcarris, and Chris Stanton) and come-from-behind shockers (great heart displayed by Danial Merritt, Josh Haskins, and Nicole Hess). The decisions were both unanimous and split, the submissions were varied (four armbars, two guillotines and a rear naked choke), belts were won and lost, and there was never down time between fights." Blanton credits Robert Conner's unanimous decision win over Brad Wright as "fight of the night". Some pics:


August 2009 Independent World MMA Rankings

August 21, 2009: The August 2009 Independent World MMA Rankings have been released. These rankings are independent of any single MMA media outlet or sanctioning body, and are published on multiple web sites.

Some of the best and most knowledgeable MMA writers from across the MMA media landscape have come together to form one independent voting panel.

These voting panel members are, in alphabetical order: Zach Arnold (Fight Opinion); Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jared Barnes (Houston Chronicle); Jordan Breen (Sherdog); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter, MMA Memories, and MMA Journalist Blog); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (Freelance); Todd Martin (CBS Sportsline); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA); Leland Roling (Bloody Elbow); Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Jonathan Snowden (Author of "Total MMA: Inside Ultimate Fighting"); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion), Ivan Trembow (Freelance); and Dave Walsh (Total MMA).

Joachim Hansen is not currently eligible to be ranked due to the fact that he has been inactive for 12 months; and Josh Barnett is not currently eligible to be ranked due to his recent positive drug test.

August 2009 Independent World MMA Rankings Ballots collected on August 18, 2009

Heavyweight Rankings (206 to 265 lbs.)

1. Fedor Emelianenko (30-1, 1 No Contest)

2. Brock Lesnar (4-1)

3. Frank Mir (12-4)

4. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1, 1 No Contest)

5. Randy Couture (16-9)

6. Alistair Overeem (29-11, 1 No Contest)

7. Shane Carwin (11-0)

8. Brett Rogers (10-0)

9. Andrei Arlovski (15-7)

10. Fabricio Werdum (12-4-1)

Light Heavyweight Rankings (186 to 205 lbs.)

1. Lyoto Machida (15-0)

2. Quinton Jackson (30-7)

3. Rashad Evans (13-1-1)

4. Anderson Silva (25-4)

5. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (18-3)

6. Forrest Griffin (16-6)

7. Gegard Mousasi (26-2-1)

8. Rich Franklin (25-4, 1 No Contest)

9. Keith Jardine (14-5-1)

10. Dan Henderson (25-7)

Middleweight Rankings (171 to 185 lbs.)

1. Anderson Silva (25-4)

2. Yushin Okami (23-4)

3. Dan Henderson (25-7)

4. Nathan Marquardt (28-8-2)

5. Demian Maia (10-0)

6. Jorge Santiago (21-7)

7. Robbie Lawler (16-5, 1 No Contest)

8. Vitor Belfort (18-8)

9. Chael Sonnen (23-10-1)

10. Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-1, 2 No Contests)

Welterweight Rankings (156 to 170 lbs.)

1. Georges St. Pierre (19-2)

2. Jon Fitch (19-3, 1 No Contest)

3. Thiago Alves (16-4)

4. Jake Shields (23-4-1)

5. Matt Hughes (43-7)

6. Josh Koscheck (12-4)

7. Martin Kampmann (15-2)

8. Mike Swick (14-2)

9. Carlos Condit (22-5)

10. Paulo Thiago (11-1)

Lightweight Rankings (146 to 155 lbs.)

1. B.J. Penn (14-5-1)

2. Shinya Aoki (21-4, 1 No Contest)

3. Eddie Alvarez (17-2)

4. Kenny Florian (11-4)

5. Tatsuya Kawajiri (24-5-2)

6. Diego Sanchez (21-2)

7. Gray Maynard (7-0, 1 No Contest)

8. Frankie Edgar (10-1)

9. Josh Thomson (16-2)

10. Mizuto Hirota (12-3-1)

Featherweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.)

1. Mike Brown (22-4)

2. Urijah Faber (22-3)

3. Wagnney Fabiano (12-1)

4. Jose Aldo (15-1)

5. Hatsu Hioki (20-3-2)

6. Leonard Garcia (13-4)

7. "Lion" Takeshi Inoue (16-3)

8. Raphael Assuncao (13-1)

9. Dokonjonosuke Mishima (19-6-2)

10. Josh Grispi (13-1)

Bantamweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)

1. Brian Bowles (8-0)

2. Miguel Torres (37-2)

3. Takeya Mizugaki (12-3-2)

4. Masakatsu Ueda (9-0-2)

5. Dominick Cruz (14-1)

6. Akitoshi Tamura (14-7-2)

7. Joseph Benavidez (10-1)

8. Will Ribeiro (10-2)

9. Rani Yahya (14-4)

10. Damacio Page (11-4)

The Independent World MMA Rankings are tabulated on a monthly basis in each of the top seven weight classes of MMA, from heavyweight to bantamweight, with fighters receiving ten points for a first-place vote, nine points for a second-place vote, and so on.

The rankings are based purely on the votes of the members of the voting panel, with nobody's vote counting more than anybody else's vote, and no computerized voting.

The voters are instructed to vote primarily based on fighters' actual accomplishments in the cage/ring (the quality of opposition that they've actually beaten), not based on a broad, subjective perception of which fighters would theoretically win fantasy match-ups.

Inactivity: Fighters who have not fought in the past 12 months are not eligible to be ranked, and will regain their eligibility the next time they fight.

Disciplinary Suspensions: Fighters who are currently serving disciplinary suspensions, or who have been denied a license for drug test or disciplinary reasons, are not eligible to be ranked.

Changing Weight Classes: When a fighter announces that he is leaving one weight class in order to fight in another weight class, the fighter is not eligible to be ranked in the new weight class until he has his first fight in the new weight class.

Catch Weight Fights: When fights are contested at weights that are in between the limits of the various weight classes, they are considered to be in the higher weight class. The weight limits for each weight class are listed at the top of the rankings for each weight class.

Special thanks to Eric Kamander, Zach Arnold, and Joshua Stein for their invaluable help with this project, and special thanks to Garrett Bailey for designing our logo.