Thursday, September 27, 2007

Pound for Pound, the Best of the UFC

It’s been five months since our last Pound for Pound rankings, so we thought we’d update them—and boy have they changed! Unlike the SteelSkins Power Rankings, which is more of a measurement for gauging who deserves the next title shot than it is for determining who the best UFC fighters are, the Pound for Pound guide is SteelSkins’ opinion of who, pound for pound, are the best fighters in the UFC. It’s based on history of dominance. It’s based on ability to control their opponents in their respective divisions. And here they are:




















Honorable Mention








Recently Fallen From the List




SteelSkins UFC Power Rankings

Heavyweights

With four UFC events since our last update (UFC 74, UFC 75, UFC Fight Night 11 and UFC 76), the SteelSkins Power Rankings saw a lot of movement, starting with the Heavyweights.

  • The Champion, Randy Couture, defended his title against former #1 Contender Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 74, knocking him down a peg. With Gonzaga freshly out of the picture, it is SteelSkins’ opinion that Andrei Arlovski deserves the next title shot, barring the signing of Fedor Emelianenko. While Arlovski has not posted the most exciting fights in recent months, we find him more deserving than Minotauro Nogueira, whose near KO loss to Heath Herring—a man he had previously beaten twice—left much to be desired.
  • We also saw Cheick Kongo at UFC 75 upset Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, who was once considered to be the #2 or #3 Heavyweight in the world and now finds his UFC record drop to a dismal 1-2. SteelSkins thinks it’s time Cro Cop drops to 205.
  • Also at UFC 74, Frank Mir defeated #18 Antoni Hardonk, neither of whom have been as promising as we had hoped.
  • Christian Wellisch defeated UFC newcomer #19 Scott Junk at UFC 76, which was enough to launch him for the first time into the Top 15 (knocking off Assuerio Silva).

The only upcoming Heavyweight fight currently rumored to be taking place is Tim Sylvia vs. Brandon Vera (UFC 77), both of whom are making their return after hiatuses (Sylvia’s due to back surgery, Vera’s due to management/contract negotiations). It should be a phenomenal fight, though. Your Top 15 Contenders are:











Light Heavyweights

The Light Heavyweight Division saw an incredible eight fights over the last month, as well as the official signing of former PRIDE MW Champion Wanderlei Silva (PRIDE’s MW Division was equivalent to the UFC’s LHW—205 lbs.), resulting in the most movement in the Top 15 we’ve seen in a long time.

  • LHW Champion Rampage Jackson surprised us at UFC 75, defending his title against PRIDE LHW and MW Champion Dan Henderson, and gaining the PRIDE LHW title at the same time. Even more surprising (to us anyway) is that it has been reported that Hendo wants to stay at 205, despite interest expressed by the UFC to have him drop down to 185 and challenge Anderson Silva for the belt (a bout, we assume, that would unify the UFC and PRIDE MW belts). It seems Hendo wishes to hang on to one of his belts a little bit longer.
  • Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, often touted as the most talented LHW in the world, received a rude Octagon welcome at UFC 76 the hands of Forrest Griffin. This, along with Cro Cop’s 1-2 Octagon record, are perfect examples of why SteelSkins doesn’t usually rank UFC newcomers higher than #4. It doesn’t matter to us how big you once were in Japan. The Octagon is not the ring. Way to go, Forrest. You’ve earned your #2 spot.
  • Keith Jardine upset former LHW Champion Chuck Liddell at UFC 76, which was the second most shocking LHW fight of the month (second to Griffin defeating Rua). Many will scoff at his #1 Contender status, but consider this: Jardine is 5-2 in the UFC with wins over Liddell and Griffin. His loss to Bonnar is widely considered a fluke, making his TKO loss to Houston Alexander the only real blemish on his UFC record. With their recent losses, we cannot rightly put Liddell, Henderson or Rua in the #1 Contender place, and Ortiz and Evans still have unfinished business with one another (although the winner of their upcoming rematch could likely command the top 1 or 2 spot). Wanderlei Silva is also coming off back-to-back losses in PRIDE. One could argue that Alexander himself deserves the spot, but we feel he is still largely untested in the Octagon. Jardine’s win over Liddell makes him the only logical choice to be the #1 Contender. He’s earned it. The question is, can he keep it.
  • Michael Bisping somehow pulled off a victory over Matt Hamill at UFC 75, although the entire MMA community disagrees with the judges. They will likely face each other in a rematch before 2007 is up.
  • Thiago Silva defeated UFC newcomer #23 Thomasz Drwal via TKO (strikes) in the second round at UFC75. Despite this win, he actually moves down in the rankings, due to the introduction of Wanderlei Silva and the mass reshuffling in the division.
  • Houston Alexander continued scaring everybody with the sledge hammers he calls arms, as he knocked #25 Alessio Sakara into the third row at UFC 75.
  • The usually boring (although very talented) Ryoto Machida defeated UFC newcomer #17 Kazuhiro Nakamura via unanimous decision at UFC 76. Now if this guy could only learn to finish, he’d likely find himself in the Top 5.
  • And Renato “Babalu” Sobral choked out former Top 15 Contender (and now #20) David Heath via anaconda choke and refused to let the hold go, despite the referee’s attempts to break it, until Heath went to sleep, earning Babalu a $25,000 fine, but no suspension. While it was a dirty, cheap shot, we won’t hold it against him. We just look forward to his next fight to see if anyone returns the favor.

Upcoming fights include #16 Stephan Bonnar vs. #22 Eric Schafer (UFC 77); the rematch of Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans (UFC 78); and Wanderlei Silva making his Octagon return vs. TBD in December (UFC 79)—most likely against Chuck Liddell, as both fighters are coming off rare back-to-back losses. Your Top 15 Contenders are:












Middleweights

The thinnest division in the UFC, the Middleweights saw modest movement, along with the re-introduction of Nate Quarry, who was out for two years with major back surgery, and the departing of Mike Swick, who has dropped down to Welterweight.

  • At UFC 74, TUF3 Winner Kendall Grove was defeated by then-#24 Patrick Cote via a dramatic TKO. Cote, who started his UFC career with a dismal 0-4 record (albeit to some outstanding competition), has put together back-to-back wins and now finds himself at #20. Another victory will likely catapult him into the Top 15.
  • As mentioned, UFC Fight Night 11 saw the return of Nate Quarry in a fantastic three round slugfest rematch with Pete Sell (who, despite being an exciting, capable fighter finds himself at #30 due to a poor 1-4 Octagon record, albeit against good competition). While at any moment, it looked as if the slower Quarry could have been knocked out, he refused to go down and ended the fight with a devastating KO punch of his own, leaving Sell on Queer Street for several minutes after the fight was called.
  • But the big story of the night was Terry Martin vs. Chris Leben at UFC Fight Night 11. With just one fight remaining on his contract and coming off three losses in four fights, Chris Leben’s future in the UFC looked bleak. That’s when the UFC dangled a Fight Night headlining opportunity in front of him—a rematch with Mike Swick, who Leben had previously KO’d earlier in their careers. As expected, Swick was all for it, but Leben, smartly, saw he had little to gain from the rematch and everything to lose. He opted instead to fight Martin—who most believed was an even worse matchup for the Crippler. To most everyone’s surprise, Leben showed up in phenomenal shape, looking almost like a new fighter. His composure also was different, patient. Like Quarry, Leben looked as if he could be knocked out several times throughout the fight, and in the third round, Martin knocked him a bit senseless, and then challenged him to step up. Leben did, charging Martin—and in the process taking three more jabs to the face—before landing a KO punch of his own. SteelSkins hopes the UFC will recognize Leben’s recent transformation as a good opportunity to extend their relationship even further by resigning the Crippler. He’s fought an amazing 10 fights in the Octagon over the last two and a half years as one of the league’s most prolific fighters, and holds a respectable 7-3 Octagon record. He still has a lot of fight left in him and could be a real contender in an otherwise thin division.

Upcoming fights include MW Champion Anderson Silva in a rematch title shot against former Champ Rich Franklin (UFC 77); Yushin Okami vs. Jason MacDonald (UFC 77); #19 Alan Belcher vs. #24 Kalib Starnes (UFC 77); UFC newcomer #17 Demian Maia vs. TBD (UFC 77); and Dean Lister vs. #36 Jason Radev (UFC 79). Your Top 15 Contenders are:











Welterweights

Like the Light Heavyweights, the Welterweights saw some interesting matchups over the last four months, as well as the introduction of American Kickboxing Academy’s (AKA) Mike Swick, who was expected to make his WW debut at UFC Fight Night 11 against Jonathan Goulet, but had to pull out due to injury.

  • Starting us off at UFC 74, #1 Contender and former WW Champion Georges St. Pierre got back on the winning side with a unanimous decision victory over another AKA standout, Josh Koscheck. Even with the loss, Kos is still a Top 5 WW and should get back to winning no matter who his next opponent is.
  • Extending his winning streak to 10 (5 inside the Octagon), former boxer-turned-MMA badass Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis submitted #26 Paul Taylor (armbar) at UFC 75. Early in the first round, Taylor looked to have rocked Davis, who came back from behind to sink in the armbar.
  • Also at UFC 75, the Frenchman #25 Jess Liaudin TKO’d #27 Anthony “The Crush” Torres in the very first round.
  • UFC Fight Night 11 saw Luke Cummo TKO #40 Ediberto “Crocota” de Oliveira at 1:45 of the very first round. Cummo might drink his own urine, but the boy can fight, extending his Octagon record to 3-2 and earning him a spot in the Top 15 for the very first time.
  • Having been suspended for testing positive for the banned substance Spironolactone, a diuretic, following his win over #18 Tony DeSouza at UFC 66, Thiago Alves finally made his return against #21 Kuniyoshi Hironaka at UFC Fight Night 11, TKOing the Japanese standout at 4:04 of the second round and extending his Octagon win streak to three.
  • Also at UFC Fight Night 11, Dustin Hazelett stepped in for an injured Mike Swick to take on #19 Jonathan Goulet, submitting the French Canadian (armbar) at 1:14 of the very first round. This victory launches Hazelett into the Top 15 for the first time on SteelSkins’ charts.
  • The fight that most people are talking about happened at UFC 76, as rising contender Jon Fitch took on Diego “The Nightmare” Sanchez, who was coming off the first loss of his career to Fitch’s AKA teammate, Josh Koscheck. Fitch extended his unbeaten Octagon win streak to seven and his overall MMA win streak to 14 (he hasn’t lost since December 2002), which places Fitch very convincingly in the Top 3 UFC WW Contenders. Fitch’s status will only continue to rise, should Matt Serra successfully defend his title against former Champ Matt Hughes this December. With back-to-back losses, former #3 Contender Diego Sanchez has his work cut out for him if he hopes to get a title shot anytime soon. His highlight reel victory over Karo Parisyan seems so very long ago.
  • Also at UFC 76, #29 Rich “No Love” Clementi submitted #32 Anthony Johnson via rear naked choke in the second round.

Upcoming fights include Josh Burkman vs. #26 Forrest Petz (UFC 77); Karo Parisyan vs. UFC newcomer #16 Hector Lombard (UFC 78); #22 Tamdan “The Barn Cat” McCory vs. UFC newcomer #20 Akihiro Gono (UFC 78); and WW Champion Matt Serra vs. former Champ Matt Hughes (UFC 79). Your Top 15 Contenders are:











Lightweights

With both the LW Champion Sean Sherk and #1 Contender Hermes Franca testing positive for banned substances, following their title bout, the LW Division saw some shifting, along with the eleven LW fights that took place over the last four UFC events. Franca has been banned for one year, forcing him out of the SteelSkins Power Rankings. While Sherk’s fate will be announced at next month’s appeal hearing with the California State Athletic Commission (October 31), his one-year suspension will likely stand, forcing a title bout between the Division’s top two contenders, B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson, and (even worse!) forcing Sherk out of the SteelSkin’s Power Rankings until his return.

  • Joe Stevenson earned his #2 Contender status by defeating Kurt Pellegrino at UFC 74, extending his win streak to four and his overall record to 32-7. While Pellegrino lost the unanimous decision, he still moves up one spot this month due to the dismissal of Hermes Franca.
  • Former Top 10 Contender Marcus Aurelio was leapfrogged by then-#16 Clay Guida, due to a split decision at UFC 74. Aurelio now finds himself at #12, while Guida, always the exciting fighter, takes over the #10 spot.
  • Rising Contender Gleison Tibau—who was once looked over at #33—finds his way into the Top 15, thanks to a unanimous decision victory over #31 Terry Etim at UFC 75.
  • Also at UFC 75, #30 Dennis Siver, who dropped down from 170 lbs., KO’d #43 Naoyuki Kotani in the second round.
  • UFC Fight Night 11 saw four Lightweight battles, starting with the headline fight Kenny Florian vs. Din Thomas. In an exciting fight, Florian submitted Thomas via rear naked choke in the first round, earning him Top 3 Contender status, albeit tied with Spencer Fisher.
  • Just outside of the Top 15, TUF5 Winner and Cesar Gracie standout #16 Nate Diaz submitted #46 Junior Assuncao via guillotine choke in the very first round at UFC Fight Night 11.
  • Another TUF5 alum, #27 Cole Miller defeated the always entertaining Leonard Garcia via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 11, knocking Garcia out of the Top 15 and landing at #17.
  • Yet another TUF5 alum, #26 Gray Maynard, who was coming off a disappointing No Contest decision against Rob Emerson, earned his first Octagon win over UFC newcomer #50 Joe Veres at UFC Fight Night 11.
  • At UFC 76, Tyson Griffin outlasted Thiago Tavares to win a unanimous decision. The win helps Griffin move into the Top 10, while Tavares drops one spot.
  • #30 Matt “Handsome” Wiman defeated UFC newcomer #48 Michihiro Omigawa at UFC 76.
  • And finally, #21 Jeremy “Little Heathen” Stephens defeated Diego Saraiva at UFC 76, dropping “The Octopus” into dead-last #56 on the SteelSkins Lightweight Power Rankings.

Upcoming fights include #21 Jorge Gurgel vs. #25 Alvin Robinson (UFC 77); #23 Jason Black vs. #42 Matt Grice (UFC 77); Spencer Fisher vs. Frankie Edgar (UFC 78); Joe Lauzon vs. #40 Jason Reinhardt (UFC 78); and Roger Huerta vs. Clay Guida (TUF 6 Finale). Your Top 15 Contenders are:

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Week 3 picks

It's our first weekly pickoff against the guys at Metcalfupthemiddle - www.metcalfupthemiddle.blogspot.com. The temptation here is to talk a little smack at these dudes, but they root for the Browns, you know? Ya kinda feel bad picking on Browns fans - don't they have enough trouble as it is? So here we go, MUTM, get read to take it UTA.

Steelskins week 3 picks

Aaron's picks

Week 3


Winner

Lions at Eagles

Eagles

Dolphins at Jets

Jets

Vikings at Chiefs

Vikings

49ers at Steelers

Steelers

Colts at Texans

Colts

Cardinals at Ravens

Ravens

Rams at Buccaneers

Bucs

Bills at Patriots

Patriots

Chargers at Packers

Chargers

Browns at Raiders

Raiders

Bengals at Seahawks

Seahawks

Jaguars at Broncos

Broncos

Panthers at Falcons

Panthers

Giants at Redskins

Redskins

Cowboys at Bears

Cowboys



Titans at Saints

Titans

Sean's picks

Week 3


Winner

Lions at Eagles

Lions

Dolphins at Jets

Jets

Vikings at Chiefs

Vikings

49ers at Steelers

Steelers

Colts at Texans

Colts

Cardinals at Ravens

Ravens

Rams at Buccaneers

St. Louis

Bills at Patriots

Patriots

Chargers at Packers

Packers

Browns at Raiders

Raiders

Bengals at Seahawks

Bengals

Jaguars at Broncos

Broncos

Panthers at Falcons

Panthers

Giants at Redskins

Redskins

Cowboys at Bears

Cowboys



Titans at Saints

Titans

Austin's picks


Winner

Lions at Eagles

Lions


Dolphins at Jets

Dolphins

Vikings at Chiefs

Vikings

49ers at Steelers

Steelers

olts at Texans

Colts

Cardinals at Ravens

Ravens

Rams at Buccaneers

Rams

Bills at Patriots

Pats

Chargers at Packers

Chargers

Browns at Raiders

Brownies

Bengals at Seahawk

Seahawks


Jaguars at Broncos

Broncos

Panthers at Falcons

Panthers

Giants at Redskins

Redskins

Cowboys at Bears

Bears



Titans at Saints

Saints

Friday, September 21, 2007

Whatever Happened to the Pro Cap?

Remember Mark Kelso, the safety for the Bills in the 80s and 90s who wore a Pro Cap on top of his helmet to prevent concussions? Given the concussions are a big deal now, with the whole John Kitna thing, why haven't more people adopted it? Is it ineffective, bulky and/or heavy? Or is it because their website is out of date?

Or maybe the stigma of having a slow white safety using the product isn't such a great trendsetter.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Darn, I Used to Like Donovan McNabb

Any guy who has been a victim of both Rush Limbaugh and Terrell Owens, you have to like. And he was all class on and off the field. But getting P.O.'ed about a QB being drafted in the 2nd round, and now his complaints about racism against black quarterbacks (when he is clearly playing very poorly) makes me wonder if those stories about him punking out in the Super Bowl are true.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Other Things Bill Belichick Has Been Accused Of



Stealing signs from deaf kids

Producing the Faces of Death series to get a read on the Reaper’s tendencies

Videotaping Michael Vick’s hand signals to his dog (sit, attack, kill, rape, die, thrust, parry, spin!) and using them against Vick when their dogs threw down in the pit.

Stealing and then flashing the gang sign that led to the melee that got Joey Porter shot in the ass.

During their all too brief love affair, Bill Belichick as a prank put Ben Gay in Shawne Merriman’s shorts—the origin of the Lights Out dance, which Merriman turned into an expression of defiance, only to have it thrown back in his face thanks to Marty Chokenheimer and the dumbass defender who didn’t drop a 4th down pass.

Bootlegging numerous movies to supplement both his income and that of his poorly paid players, who were just thankful for a trip to the movies.

Compiling a frame by frame analysis of the original that was instrumental in the remake of Psycho.

Videotaping performances of Bill Hicks that greatly facilitated Denis Leary’s stealing from him (Hey, if Rescue Me hadn’t descended into such stupid self help self indulgent twaddle, I wouldn’t be saying this--plus Belichick had a cameo on it.)

As a promising lad, produced the grainy, deliberately bad quality film that turned Matt Damon into Michael Corleone in the Good Shepherd.

Obsessively videotaping his wife in bed in order to capture her orgasm as he screwed her. Despite his wife’s pleadings, he refused to set the camera up on a tripod because he needed to keep flashing to the digital clock to capture the duration of every stage of her arousal. Finally he said fuck it and got Tom Brady to do the honors while he focused on the camera. He was very pleased with his footage, and so was his wife. Tom Brady found it a refreshing change of pace.

Monday, September 17, 2007

New York Giants Homosexuality Report

I bet you've been wondering exactly what the status is of all the gays on the Giants, well Steelskins is here to give you the up high, or as they call it in gay land, the down low.


Elisha Manning
Quarterback
Status: Questionable


















Michael Strahan
Defensive End
Status: Probable























Jeremy Shockey
Tight End
Out

















Plaxico Burress
Wide Receiver
Status: Inactive
















Tom Coughlin
Coach, Beady Eyes Model
Status: Spurned



















(Apologies for not having the technical know how to get a better picture of Shockey's ass. Fuck you, Flickr, and you're non-photo sharing ways!)

Friday, September 14, 2007

For gods sake Grey Lady, just say it

This is how the NY Times played the Greg Oden injury story. It's one way to put it, I guess:

Oden’s Career Is Delayed by Surgery

I guess that's better than:

Portland fans bent over, rammed up the ass

Published: September 14, 2007

Greg Oden was stamped a franchise savior the moment the Portland Trail Blazers made him the No. 1 pick in the June draft. As he emerged yesterday morning from a knee operation that will probably wipe out his rookie season, Oden felt the full force of that burden.

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

A promising career, and a franchise’s anticipated rebirth, were delayed when the 19-year-old Oden had microfracture surgery on his right knee.