September 2009 Independent World MMA Rankings

September 25, 2009: The September 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 (Freelance), 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 (Heavy.com); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion), Ivan Trembow (Freelance); and Dave Walsh (Total MMA).

Josh Thomson is not currently eligible to be ranked due to the fact that he has been inactive for over 12 months.

September 2009 Independent World MMA Rankings Ballots collected on September 22, 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 (32-5-1, 1 No Contest)
5. Randy Couture (16-10)
6. Brett Rogers (10-0)
7. Shane Carwin (11-0)
8. Alistair Overeem (29-11, 1 No Contest)
9. Junior dos Santos (9-1)
10. Andrei Arlovski (15-7)

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. Dan Henderson (25-7)
9. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (17-3)
10. Thiago Silva (14-1)

Middleweight Rankings (171 to 185 lbs.)
1. Anderson Silva (25-4)
2. Nathan Marquardt (29-8-2)
3. Dan Henderson (25-7)
4. Yushin Okami (23-4)
5. Jorge Santiago (21-7)
6. Vitor Belfort (19-8)
7. Demian Maia (10-1)
8. Robbie Lawler (16-5, 1 No Contest)
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 (13-4)
7. Mike Swick (14-2)
8. Paulo Thiago (11-1)
9. Carlos Condit (23-5)
10. Paul Daley (22-8-2)

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. Gray Maynard (8-0, 1 No Contest)
7. Diego Sanchez (21-2)
8. Frankie Edgar (10-1)
9. Mizuto Hirota (12-3-1)
10. Sean Sherk (33-4-1)

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. Josh Grispi (13-1)
10. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (17-2)

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. Rani Yahya (14-4)
9. Will Ribeiro (10-2)
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.

Things That Won't Happen at Strikeforce Challengers "Kennedy vs. Cummings"

The latest installment of Strikeforce Challengers graces our television screens on Friday night, and the Showtime-broadcast event is chock full of wrestlers. Seriously, the event is named "Kennedy vs. Cummings" because Tim Kennedy and some scrub named Zak Cummings are meeting in the main event, but with all the wrestling pedigrees on the card a more apt name would've been "Wrestlemania Strikeforce". Or something. I dunno. Here are things that won't happen at the event.

• Active-duty US Special Forces operator Kennedy will not line the cage with M18A1 Claymore antipersonnel mines and detonate them should his fight against wrestler Cummings go poorly. No, the mines will be set up in Cummings' locker room.
• Kickboxing great Ray Sefo will not win via omoplata. That's just a hunch, though.
• Zach Light will not win.
• In the battle between two-time Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier and two-time state wrestling champ Gary Frazier, no takedowns will be attempted. Instead, they'll engage in a stand-up war resembling 18th century-style prize fighting.
• After Travis Calonoc and Thomas Longacre fight, fans still won't know who they are.

Mitch the Intern's TUF 10 Recap: Episode 2

*Editor's note: Mitch the Intern is an NYU undergrad whose favorite Wednesday night pastime includes the TV in his dorm room, a green beanbag chair and two hits of acid. Enjoy.*

Last week was all about the Man-Love Dry Hump, but there will be none of that this week. No siree. Instead, we get a bit more Kimbo, some Roy "Big Country-Fried Steak" Nelson, a TUF 9 Team UK leftover and a towering behemoth with no cardio. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. No lungs at all.

Coach Quinton Jackson and his lieutenant Tiki-Tiki-Head (yes, he's a giant wooden Hawaiian statue of a head - weird, huh?) train Kimbo on the art of avoiding getting raped by a dude, instructing him to push on the head and scramble out. If that doesn't work, use pepper spray, blow your rape whistle, and consider getting a good therapist. People are starting to come around about Kimbo, reconsidering their initial opinions of him being a thug and his beard some sort of sinister homage to the Taliban. Brandon Cottonswab even goes so far as to hand the former backyard brawler a valentine with "I Heart Kimbo" scrawled on it.

Meanwhile, Team Rashad trains and everyone loves each other and gives each other back rubs, but being a cut above the other contestants sets Roy "Big Country-Fried Steak" apart from the others, and he lets them know this. Also, he eats a production assistant, and the young P.A.'s cries from within Nelson's belly are disconcerting.

"I can't train you," says one of Coach Rashad Evans' lieutenants. "You know too much, you eat people whole, and all day long we have to listen to them cry from inside you while they're being digested. You're like a bipedal Sarlacc Pit monster, and if you don't stop I'm going to get Andrei Arlovski to knock you out again." At that, Nelson promises to play nicer with the other kids.

Jackson is in charge of picking the match-up for this week, and he chooses Rashad's British TUF 9 Team UK wanna-be James "Mike Bisping Foreva" McSweeney to face his pet mutant Johnny Asthma. Johnny Asthma used to play in the NFL, but he was cut when they realized he had no lungs. Seriously. None. Zip. Zero. Nada. Nothing in there at all. McSweeney and Johnny Asthma do the ceremonial pose down and already the eight-feet tall Johnny Asthma is winded.

Everyone trains a little. Medicine balls go flying. Push-ups. Sweat glistening on Kimbo's beard. Nelson licks his chops at a camera man. Brandon Cottonswab twirling nunchucks. Assistant coach Mike Van Arsdale making everyone shoot takedowns on trees. Someone straps a flamethrower on their back and incinerates a heavy bag.

Then it's fight time. Coach Evans trains with McSweeney back in the real world, so he's expecting great things from his mate. The towering Johnny Asthma enters the cage and already he can't breath. They square off, the referee gives them the signal, and they engage. Well, sort of. Johnny Asthma is huge, and dangerous when there's still oxygen being fed into his bloodstream, so he initially manages to bully McSweeney around by using his gigantic limbs and circus-freak show mass. But McSweeney survives, survives a lame keylock attempt, survives a rear naked choke attempt and being mounted, and once Johnny Asthma has no more gas (really, none. Nada. Nothing. Zippity-do-da.), it's all about the Brit throwing a kick here and there and waiting to catch his breath while the Team Rampage fighter dies a slow, oxygen-less death within the cage.

This goes on for far too long. As he's begun to turn purple from his diminished lung capacity, Johnny Asthma looks horrid. As he cannot seem to finish a near-dead opponent and is gassed himself, McSweeney looks awful. And though McSweeney garners the majority decision when the scorecards are read, the only real winners here are the other fighters in the house, for the bar has now been set lower than ever and everyone else couldn't be as bad, right? Right?

The two teams are gathered together again to announce the next fight. Unorthodox? Yes, but only one match-up could warrant such a thing: Kimbo is going to face Roy "Big Country-Fried Steak" Nelson. Fade to black.

Quinton Jackson: "I'm Done Fighting... Until I Go Crazy Again, Go On a Rampage and Need Money for a Lawyer"

In response to Dana White's disapproving words over his upcoming role in Martin Scorcese's "Othello", former UFC light-heavyweight champ Quinton Jackson has announced on his official website that he's retired from the fight game. "I'm done fighting," Jackson's said, but added, "until I go crazy again, go on a rampage and need money for a lawyer. Then I will need to fight, because I'll need the paycheck. *Howl*" While it's debatable that the popular fighter truly is finished with MMA competition, it's an inevitability that he will again go bonkers and lead police on another wild chase. 'Cause, you know, it's Quinton Jackson we're talking about here.

Strikeforce Signs Olympic Gold Medalist Jim Thorpe

Strikeforce has signed Jim Thorpe, a gold medalist in the 1912 Olympics and accomplished professional player in football, baseball and basketball, to a multi-bout contract, the organization announced in a press release yesterday. Though dead since 1953, Thorpe has long been considered an elite athlete of the highest caliber, and it's anticipated that he will be added to Strikeforce's light-heavyweight ranks. Said Strikeforce Necromancer Scott Coker, "We are excited about having Jim Thorpe compete for us. I flew down to American Kickboxing Academy to watch him train, and while Thorpe has some learning to do, he looked impressive against Bobby Southworth and Paul Buentello. I think he's going to be a great fit." At this time it's unclear when Thorpe will have his first fight, although a match-up against 205-pound champ Gegard Mousasi will likely be in the cards.

Underground Profile: Chris Corr

There a those who train to get into shape, and then there's Chris Corr, a New Generation Karate rep who transformed himself from pudgy 175-pound scrapper to svelte 133-pound grappling machine. At yesterday's UCL, Corr - known affectionately as "Psycho" to his teammates - notched his first MMA win, dominating a game Doug "Lionheart" Ahammer on the ground from the beginning of the first round to the end of the third. But what was most impressive was how far Corr had come and the knowledge that it took one heck of a lot of hard work for him to get there. Throughout the years a number of talented bantam- and featherweights have stepped into the ring at the UCL; it may be time for Psycho to hunt them down one by one.

Observations From My Couch: UFC 103 "Bye-Bye CroCop"

• After the beating suffered at the hands of Vitor Belfort, Rich Franklin must really be hating Brazilians right now.
• After the beating suffered at the hands (and knees) of Junior dos Santos, Mirko CroCop must really be hating that he can't do steroids for his US fights.
• After the beating suffered at the hands of Paul Daley, Martin Kampmann must really be hating that no one at Xtreme Couture taught him how to do takedowns.
• After the beating suffered at the hands of Josh Koscheck, Frank Trigg must really be hating the fact that he's gotten old.
• Holy crap did Hermes Franca look out of shape and untrained.
• After the beating suffered at the hands of Efrain Escudero, Cole Miller must really be hating all that time spent practicing jiu-jitsu instead of boxing.
• After that beating suffered at the hands of Tomasz Drwal, Drew McFedries must really be hating the Polish lack of vowels in their names.
• Jim Miller's jiu-jitsu is so good, he doesn't even have to touch you to dislocate your shoulder with a kimura.

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Liveblog: UCL Part 5

Battleground Martial Arts 155-pounder Jonathan Rodriguez steps out of the audience to take on streetfighter Christian Suarez, and Rodriguez looks dominant and skilled out-striking and out-grappling his foe. The end comes when Rodriguez pounds on Suarez from the mount and sinks the choke when Suarez turns over. Last up is Ultimate Karate 165-pounder Jonathan Valez and New Generation Karate 165-pounder "Irish" Brian McDougal. Valez is all karate-style striking, throwing reverse punches and employing lunging footwork, but Irish isn't so much a student of New Gen as he is a street brawler, and eventually Valez tags him on the chin for the KO. And that's all she wrote for this UCL event, folks.

Liveblog: UCL Part 4

In a rematch of their bout at the last event, Team UCL 210-pound striker Kevin Wall takes on 250-pound freestyle fighter Xavier Morales. These two come out swinging, and as more of Wall's punches start finding their mark, Morales wavers then eventually falls. Wall keeps up the punishment and soon the ref has to step in. Morales is slow to get back to his feet, very visibly rocked. After a brief intermission, Wall gets back in the ring to face Shawn Obasi in a grappling match. Obasi was supposed to fight today, but being a Wing Chun heavyweight has its disadvantages, as three opponents backed out. Anyhoo, Obasi is a pretty capable grappler too and taps Wall in about a minute.

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