Wow, I’ve been gone for a while, spending more and more of my time over at MMAmania.com, but wouldn’t you know it’s time to update those SteelSkins UFC Power Rankings! While it seems like forever ago since we last updated the Top 15, there has actually only been one UFC event in that time—UFC 82, which I was fortunate enough to attend live in Columbus, OH.
SteelSkins picks for UFC 82 were a good 6 – 3, but it was an easy card to score. This moves our overall record to 24 – 10. Not too shabby.
Now let’s see those Power Rankings.
Heavyweights
Heath Herring upset Cheick Kongo to win via split decision. Herring looked great and has significantly improved his conditioning, losing a few extra pounds along the way. While we didn’t pick it, we’re happy with the upset and felt Kongo was a bit overrated due to his win over a fading Cro Cop.
In the night’s only other HW bout, Andrei Arlovski fulfilled the last fight on his contract, earning a 2nd round victory (TKO due to strikes) over the young Jake O’Brien. This was the most disappointing fight of the night. Without a contract, Arlovski had every incentive to pummel O’Brien, thereby making the case he was worth every dollar to keep. But Arlovski looked conservative in the first round and earned the occasional boo from the Columbus crowd.
I saw Jake O’Brien the night before the fight at the bar in the lobby of the hotel he was staying in. At first I thought he was drinking the night before a fight with the former HW Champion. I was shocked as he kept coming up and ordering more and more drinks for him and his entourage. Then I realized it was Jake’s twin brother ordering the drinks, and while Jake was present, he wasn’t drinking. Still, I was amazed at how young this kid is. His wrestling is very good, but his critics are right: he’s a one-trick pony who lays and prays. He’ll need to develop better striking and submissions if he ever wants to contend in the UFC.
Unfortunately, there’s really no one who deserves the #1 Contender spot in this division, and the occasionally boring Arlovski will have to do.
Only Frank Mir, Eddie Sanchez and Christian Wellisch have back-to-back wins inside the Octagon; while Arlovski has bettered that by one and is on a 3-fight win streak. He’s beaten Werdum and, more importantly, he hasn’t lost to a fighter who wasn’t named Tim Sylvia since March 2002.
Here’s to hoping the UFC resigns Arlovski, especially since Cro Cop has moved on to greener pastures in Japan, leaving the HW division thin to say the least.
In the meantime, the return of newly inducted Hall of Famer Mark “The Hammer” Coleman will have to do. We’ll see how the 43 year old does against the beast, Brock Lesnar, at UFC 87 in Minneapolis this August.
SteelSkins’ picks for Heavyweights this last month were 1-1, brining our HW total to 2-4:
- Heath Herring def. Cheick Kongo (split decision) at UFC 82 – Our pick: Kongo (TKO – strikes, Rnd3)
- Andrei Arlovski def. Jake O’Brien (TKO – strikes, Rnd 2) at UFC 82 – Our pick: Arlovski (TKO – strikes, Rnd1)
Upcoming Heavyweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:
- The double Octagon debut of #17 Brad Morris vs. #18 Cain Velasquez at UFC 83 (April 19) – Although he’s just 2-0, Velasquez has been lauded by his teammates as a future contender. That’s good enough for us. We’ll take Velasquez via TKO (strikes) in Rnd2
- Christian Wellisch vs. Shane Carwin at UFC 84 (May 24) – Carwin’s debut is going to be a good one, as the 3-time NCAA Division II All-American and national wrestling champ is going to cruise to a 1st Round TKO (strikes).
- Fabricio Werdum vs. Brandon Vera at UFC 85 (June 7) – I’d love to see Vera take this, but Werdum is for real. Werdum by decision.
- Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Coleman at UFC 87 (August 9) – I like both these guys, and if Coleman can weather the initial storm, this could prove to be a battle. That said, we have to pick Lesnar (TKO – strikes) Rnd1
Your Top 15 Contenders are:
Light Heavyweights
There were no LHW fights since our last update, but there’s a shit ton coming up in the months ahead. We’re still 2-0 in picking fights in the division, for now.
The biggest news is Shogun Rua pulled out of his UFC 85 headliner with Chuck Liddell due to injury, and has been replaced by Rashad Evans (which temporarily left Thiago Silva without an opponent). Similarly, Stephan Bonner withdrew from his fight with Matt Hamill, and the explosive newcomer Tim Boetsch has stepped in. Oh yeah, and Wanderlei Silva is set to fight Keith Jardine. Holy shit, this is a great division!
Upcoming Light Heavyweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:
- Houston Alexander vs. #17 James Irvin at Fight Night 13 (April 2) – We’ll take Alexander (TKO – strikes) Rnd1
- Matt Hamill vs. #18 Tim Boetsch at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Hamill (submission) Rnd2
- Keith Jardine vs. Wanderlei Silva at UFC 84 (May 24) – We’ll take Silva (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
- Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 – We’ll take Machida (decision)
- Thiago Silva vs. #19 Antonio Mendes at UFC 84 – We’ll take Silva (submission) Rnd1
- Wilson Gouveia vs. #25 Goran Reljic at UFC 84 – We’ll take Reljic (submission) Rnd2
- Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. #16 Kazuhiro Nakamura at UFC 84 – We’ll take Sokoudjou (TKO – strikes) Rnd1
- Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans at UFC 85 (June 7) – We’ll take Liddell (decision)
- Jason Lambert vs. #20 Luis Arthur Cane at UFC 85 – We’ll take Lambert (KO) Rnd2
- Champion Rampage Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin at UFC 86 (July 5) – We’ll take Griffin (decision)
Your Top 15 Contenders are:
Middleweights
Middleweight Champion (and pound-for-pound greatest fighter in the world) Anderson Silva defeated a game Dan Henderson in the UFC 82 main event. While we expected this to happen, we didn’t expect it to end in the second round. Hendo seemed to have won the first round with a solid game plan, but either stamina or Silva’s aggressive stand-up was too much for Hendo to take in the second, leading to his eventual submission via rear naked choke.
UFC 82 also saw the return of former MW Champ Evan Tanner to action against the always tough Yushin Okami. While we picked Tanner to win this fight, we admit it was just wishful thinking. Okami is too strong an opponent to try to shake two years worth of cage rush off against, but we’re glad to see Tanner back in the cage regardless.
Rounding out UFC 82’s MW card, Chris “The Crippler” Leben slugged it out with Alessio Sakara and came out the victory. Hate to say we told ya so, but…
Martin Kampmann was rescued from being dropped from the SteelSkins Top 15 (is there a worse fate?) and is slated to return at UFC 85 vs. Jorge Rivera. His prolonged knee injury is apparently on the up-and-up, which is a good thing because he hasn’t fought since March 2007. He now gets to shake the cage rust off against Rivera, who’s coming off an explosive 1st Round TKO victory over TUF3 Champion Kendall Grove.
Our record for picking Middleweight fights this past month was 2-1, moving our MW total to 4-3. Here are the recent fights, along with our picks:
- Champ Anderson Silva def. Dan Henderson (submission, Rnd2) at UFC 82 to unify the UFC and PRIDE MW titles – Our pick: Silva (TKO – strikes) Rnd4
- Yushin Okami def. Evan Tanner via KO in Rnd2 at UFC 82 – Our pick: Tanner (submission) Rnd3
- Chris Leben def. #23 Alessio Sakara via TKO (strikes) in Rnd1 at UFC 82 – Our pick: Leben (TKO – strikes) Rnd2
Upcoming Middleweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:
- Former Champ Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter at UFC 83 (Apr. 19) – We’ll take Franklin (decision)
- Jason MacDonald vs. #28 Joe Doerksen at UFC 83 – This is a rematch from 2005 when MacDonald won via rear naked choke. We’ll take MacDonald (submission) Rnd2
- Michael Bisping vs. #31 Charles McCarthy at UFC 83 – We’ll take Bisping (KO) Rnd2
- Nate Quarry vs. #30 Kalib Starnes at UFC 83 – We’ll take Quarry (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
- Ed Herman vs. #18 Demian Maia at UFC 83 – We’ll take Herman (submission) Rnd1
- #22 Alan Belcher vs. #35 Jason Day at UFC 83 – We’ll take Belcher (submission) Rnd2
- #24 UFC newcomer Rousimar Palhares vs. #27 Ivan Salaverry at UFC 84 (May 24) – We’ll take Salaverry (submission) Rnd2
- Nate Marquardt vs. #16 Thales Leites at UFC 85 (June 7) – We’ll take Marquardt (submission) Rnd2
- Martin Kampmann vs. #23 Jorge Rivera at UFC 85 – We’ll take Kampmann (KO) Rnd2
- TUF 7 Finale, featuring Middleweights (June 21)
- Ricardo Almeida vs. Patrick Cote at UFC 86 (July 5) – We’ll take Cote (decision)
Your Top 15 Contenders are:
Welterweights
UFC 82 saw four Welterweight battles, including Jon Fitch welcoming Chris Wilson to the Octagon with a unanimous decision victory for the future title contender (big surprise); Diego Sanchez welcoming David Bielkheden to the Octagon with a first round submission (big surprise); Josh Koscheck bettering the young gun Dustin Hazelett is a fantastic slugfest; and Luigi Fioravanti out-pointing Luke Cummo (this last one surprised us).
For the second time in a row, our record for picking Welterweight fights was 3 – 1, pushing our record to 6 – 2. Here are the recent fights, along with our picks:
- Jon Fitch def. #27 Chris Wilson (unanimous decision) at UFC 82 (March 1) – Our pick: Fitch (submission) Rnd2
- Josh Koscheck def. Dustin Hazelett (TKO – strikes, Rnd2) at UFC 82 – Our pick: Kos (submission) Rnd3
- Diego Sanchez def. #33 David Bielkheden (submission, Rnd1) at UFC 82 – Our pick: Sanchez (TKO – strikes) Rnd1
- #17 Luigi Fioravanti def. Luke Cummo (unanimous decision) at UFC 82 – Our pick: Cummo (guillotine choke) Rnd2
Upcoming Welterweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:
- Karo Parisyan vs. Thiago Alves at Fight Night 13 (April 2) – We’ll take Alves (split decision)
- #16 Tommy Spear vs. #40 Anthony Johnson at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Spear (TKO – strikes) Rnd2
- #17 George Sotiropoulos vs. #36 Roman Mitichyan at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Sotiropoulos (submission) Rnd2
- Champ Matt Serra vs. GSP at UFC 83 (April 19) – We’ll take GSP (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
- #22 Jonathan Goulet vs. #34 Kuniyoshi Hironaka at UFC 83 – We’ll take Goulet (submission) Rnd2
- #19 Jon Koppenhaver vs. #23 Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 84 (May 24) – We’ll take Koppenhaver (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
- #38 Dong Hyun Kim makes his UFC debut vs. #41 Jason Tan at UFC 84 – We’ll take Kim (KO) Rnd2
- The extremely dangerous BJJ black belt (but low ranked because of his 5 – 3 record and history of backing out of fights due to training injuries) #43 Jeff Joslin vs. TBD at UFC 84.
- Marcus Davis vs. Mike Swick at UFC 85 (June 7) – We’ll take Davis (submission) Rnd2
- #28 Jess Liaudin vs. #29 Paul Taylor at UFC 85 – We’ll take Liaudin (TKO – strikes) Rnd2
- Ryo Chonan vs. Roan Carneiro at UFC 85 – This is a rematch from a 2005 DEEP event, where Chonan won via 3rd Round TKO due to a cut. We’ll take Chonan (submission) Rnd3
- Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti at TUF7 Finale (June 21) – We’ll take Sanchez (decision)
- Josh Burkman vs. Dustin Hazelett at TUF7 Finale – We’ll take Hazelett (submission) Rnd3
- Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Lytle at UFC 86 (July 5) – This one is still in the rumor stage, but we’d love to see it happen. Would Kos risk standing with the former boxer? We’ll take Lytle (KO) Rnd2
- #30 Ben Saunders vs. TBD at UFC 86
Your Top 15 Contenders are:
Lightweights
There was one Lightweight fight at UFC 82, which we picked correctly, pushing our overall record for the division to a stellar 11 – 1. Here are the recent fights, along with our picks:
- #23 Jorge Gurgel def. #35 John Halverson (unanimous decision) at UFC 82 (Mar. 1) – Our pick: Gurgel (submission) Rnd3
Upcoming Lightweight fights currently scheduled and/or rumored include:
- Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon at Fight Night 13 (April 2) – We’ll take Florian (submission) Rnd2
- Frankie Edgar vs. #24 Gray Maynard at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Edgar (TKO – strikes) Rnd2
- Din Thomas vs. #21 Josh Neer at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Thomas (TKO – strikes) Rnd2
- Clay Guida vs. #38 Samy Schiavo at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Guida (submission) Rnd3
- Kurt Pellegrino vs. Nate Diaz at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Diaz (submission) Rnd2
- Marcus Aurelio vs. #35 Ryan Roberts at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Aurelio (submission) Rnd1
- #23 Manny Gamburyan vs. #50 Jeff Cox at Fight Night 13 – We’ll take Gamburyan (decision)
- #16 Mac Danzig vs. #34 Mark Bocek at UFC 83 (April 19) – We’ll take Danzig (submission) Rnd2
- #19 Sam Stout vs. #22 Rich Clementi at UFC 83 – We’ll take Clementi (TKO – strikes) Rnd3
- Champion B.J. Penn vs. former Champ Sean Sherk at UFC 84 (May 24) – We’ll take Penn (submission) Rnd3
- #18 Jeremy Stephens vs. #31 Terry Etim at UFC 84 – We’ll take Stephens (decision)
- Thiago Tavares vs. #26 Matt Wiman at UFC 85 (June 7) – We’ll take Tavares (TKO –strikes) Rnd1
- Joe Stevenson vs. #17 Gleison Tibau at UFC 86 (July 5) – We’ll take Stevenson (submission) Rnd2
- #29 Cole Miller vs. TBD at UFC 86
- #36 Corey Hill vs. #41 Justin Buchholz at UFC 86 – We’ll take Hill (decision)
- #52 Steve Bruno vs. TBD at UFC 86
Your Top 15 Contenders are:
