MMA Top 10 Middleweights a Fine Mess

The middleweight division in mixed martial arts is a mess. The undisputed best middleweight in the world, Anderson Silva, looks bored with the middleweight division in the UFC, and he's moving up to fight Forrest Griffin at light heavyweight, at least for the time being. The UFC 99 main event of Wanderlei Silva vs. Rich Franklin features one star (Silva) moving down from light heavyweight to middleweight because he wants a shot at Anderson Silva's belt, and another star (Franklin) moving up from middleweight to light heavyweight because he knows he'll never get another shot at Anderson Silva's belt.

And that's just for starters.

The UFC 100 middleweight battle between Ultimate Fighter coaches Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping will probably produce the next contender to the middleweight throne, but Henderson already tried and failed at beating Anderson Silva, and Bisping seems very unlikely to beat Anderson Silva. Meanwhile, the guy who I've been saying forever deserves a shot at Silva -- Yushin Okami -- keeps getting hurt and may never get that shot.

There are questions beyond the UFC as well. Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le isn't fighting because he'd rather be a movie star, and the two fighters who won the two middleweight Strikeforce fights on Saturday night -- Nick Diaz and Jake Shields -- won't fight each other because they're friends and training partners. And anyway, those two fights were technically at catch weights rather than middleweight, and Diaz and Shields should really be fighting at welterweight.

There are some good middleweight fights coming up this summer: Henderson-Bisping, Vitor Belfort vs. Jorge Santiago at Affliction Trilogy and Nate Marquardt vs. Demian Maia at UFC 102 will all be fun. But I still feel like we're going to look up at the end of the summer and feel like the middleweight division consists of Anderson Silva and a bunch of guys who have almost no chance of beating him.

Having said all that, here's my list of the Top 10 middleweights in MMA:

1. Anderson Silva
2. Dan Henderson
3. Yushin Okami
4. Vitor Belfort
5. Nate Marquardt
6. Demian Maia
7. Thales Leites
8. Jorge Santiago
9. Chael Sonnen
10. Michael Bisping

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-09-2009 @ 9:37AM

retrojoke said...

Anderson Silva looks bored lol. More like people are bored of him. Someone knock this guy back into the shadows of unknown please. Anderson is lackluster and no fun.

6-09-2009 @ 9:44AM

vincent said...

if henderson is truly the number 2, than this division is horrible. henderson was systematically destroyed by anderson. it wasnt even a fight. if thats the best there is for him, its no wonder he is bored.

i do think anderson is a great champion, but in reality he has not even fought even 1 true contender.

if wanderlei gets a shot or loyota moves to that division relatively soon, before anderson loses his edge, than at least we can judge anderson a little better.

loyota vs anderson would be a tremendous fight.

6-09-2009 @ 1:07PM

kwilbur10 said...

everyone stop the lyoto vs anderson fight talks. the reason anderson is not in LHW is because he doesn't want to fight his friend, he has said this numerous times. so STOP.

If you watched the hendo fight with silva...hendo won the first round. lol. but after that it was over for him. i think hendo is a very good fighter, he is a little old, but he may do fine we will see when he wins his rematch after dispatching bisping.

after hendo in the rankings the MW is scarce. you can put anybody you want after that. no doubt in my mind. vitor is on his way back to form but whatever. i still believe that MW is whack. anderson did a fine job of cleaning that division out...literally. maybe the author of this blog can maybe do one on why anderson silva is bad for the UFC MW division, cause if Thales was the #1 contender and showed up like that then there are some problems.

6-09-2009 @ 2:00PM

richardbikle said...

hendo won the first round, he pretty much dominated silva round 1. hendo is a true middle weight, while silva should be fighting at LHW. If you ever see him in person he towers above everyone else.

6-09-2009 @ 10:26AM

djlil said...

Why no Mousasi? you honestly believe he isn't in the top 10? do your homework please....

6-09-2009 @ 11:19AM

Michael David Smith said...

If you're going to tell me to do my homework, you might want to learn what weight class Gegard Mousasi fights in. Mousasi weighed in at 218 pounds for his last fight and has signed on to fight at 205 pounds for his next. He's not a middleweight.

6-09-2009 @ 11:15AM

jaydupe said...

No Mousasi, He is fighting at lightheavy now

6-09-2009 @ 11:33AM

Where is he when he meets Babalu?

Gegard Mousasi (born August 1, 1985) is a professional Armenian-Iranian mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He is fighting out of Team Jurojin in Leiden, Netherlands and is a member of Red Devil Sports Club. He is the former Dream Middleweight Champion and former Cage Warriors Middleweight Champion. During 2009 he is scheduled to make a move up to light-heavyweight and possibly heavyweight. Sherdog ranks Mousasi as the #3[1] middleweight in the world while MMAWeekly currently ranks him as #7.[2]

6-09-2009 @ 12:02PM

Mousasi vs. Babalu is at light heavyweight. The winner of that fight deserves to be considered the best light heavyweight outside the UFC.

6-09-2009 @ 1:53PM

i'll take Mousasi, i like his chances.

6-09-2009 @ 7:36PM

jctequila55 said...

You have Sonnen and Bispin ahead of Belfort?? Belfort would destry these two any day. I personally beleive Bisping does not belong in the top 10. Sorry man.

6-09-2009 @ 7:50PM

how good a friends are anderson and loyota? i wasnt aware they were close. that definitely puts the kibosh on a fight between them. but in theory it would be a great fight.

6-09-2009 @ 11:15PM

DBisio said...

If Wanderlei Silva is moving down from light heavyweight to middleweight, and Rich Franklin is moving up from middleweight to light heavyweight, what weight will they be fighting at?