Top Middleweights outside of UFC |
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oleg
MMA Regular
Career record: 69-54
Season: 33-26 (#2863)
Location: Southfield MI
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Recently I took a look at the top fighters in the UFC’s middleweight division. Let’s now examine the top middleweights competing in other MMA promotions throughout the world. This is one of the most scattered weight classes in MMA, even though the UFC maintains a lead with the most top fighters at 185 lbs, which will only strengthen if Zuffa merges the WEC & UFC middleweight divisions as has been rumored. Nevertheless, there are plenty of top-level fighters competing in various organizations, with Japan’s Dream coming the closes to giving UFC a run for its money. Here are the top 15 middleweights outside of the UFC, according to the latest Fightmatrix.com ranking:
Read more at Fightmatrix.com!
Last edited 8/14/08 11:58PM by oleg
Edit note/reason: n/a
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Post #1 8/14/08 11:57:18PM
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postman
MMA Sensei
Career record: 149-93
Season: 42-28 (#1631)
Location: Delmont ,Pa
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HOW cool would it be to be Dan Molina and be 1 spot ahead of Evan Tanner at 81. Man I would be so pumped. Good for that guy , I love a underdog!
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Post #2 8/15/08 1:31:17AM
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wiggum
Standup Guy
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Career record: 170-80
Season: 49-21 (#129)
Location: Southwest
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i think the best middleweight outside of the ufc has to be robbie lawler....world class striking and power.....can take a decent punch, good wrestling and his submission defense has improved leaps and bounds....i think misaki is waay overated...trigg is maybe not top 10 in my book but atleast top 15.....kang has fallen on hard times, but i still think he is top 10....moussi or however you spell his name his top15 and has a great great future ahead of him.....akiyama is pretty damn good even tho he's a cheater.....hector lombard and melvin manhoaf or worth mentioning too
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Post #3 8/15/08 10:30:25AM
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wiggum
Standup Guy
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Career record: 170-80
Season: 49-21 (#129)
Location: Southwest
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i almost forgot cung le and matt linland too.....linland is overated i think but still a top mw....joey villasenor is getting alot better too
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Post #4 8/15/08 10:34:22AM
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wagere
MMA Regular
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Career record: 182-101
Season: 48-21 (#322)
Location: Hamilton, OH
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Why is this division so thin, not only in the ufc but mma wide. I think outside the top five it drops way off.
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Post #5 8/15/08 1:30:52PM
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wiggum
Standup Guy
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Career record: 170-80
Season: 49-21 (#129)
Location: Southwest
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it only seems thin cuz the top dawg is pretty much untouchable right now....after him, you got a heirachy of a couple fighters and then a bunch of really good neck to neck guys...i think its one of the most exciting cuz there is so many great fighters at the same level....before anderson silva, nobody talked about how thin the division was
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Post #6 8/15/08 2:07:23PM
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RIP Evan Tanner 1971-2008
Career record: 108-58
Season: 44-26 (#796)
Location: Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
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no order:
lawler
mousasi
akiyama
lindland
belfort
filho is already with zuffa.
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Post #7 8/15/08 2:20:33PM
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Smooth
Career record: 75-47
Season: 41-29 (#1810)
Location: Glen Ellyn
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I don't know why Cung Le's getting all the hype. Frank hasn't been the fighter he used to be and Cung is too old to make an overall impact in the sport with only 6 fights.
He's a good fighter but ever since he beat Frank, he's getting too much hype IMO
Anyway would Kang count as a MW still?
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Proud Junior Dos Santos nuthugger
2 underdog wins (thanks to Aoki and Etim)
1-0 on Avatar bets
"I pick Matt Brown to win... by murder?" Amir Sadollah
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Post #8 8/15/08 2:55:35PM
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GREENMAN!!!!
Career record: 134-73
Season: 50-20 (#178)
Location: selden, new york
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Posted by copcopps
I don't know why Cung Le's getting all the hype. Frank hasn't been the fighter he used to be and Cung is too old to make an overall impact in the sport with only 6 fights.
He's a good fighter but ever since he beat Frank, he's getting too much hype IMO
Anyway would Kang count as a MW still?
i agree about Cung Le, i mean the man is a legend of Martial Arts in the United States but he is just too old to really make a big name for himself at MW.
and yes, Kang would b considered a MW as he just participated in the MW GP in Dream. however, he has lost 3 of his last 5 including 2 straight. granted his recent losses are to top MWs (Akiyama, Misaki, Gregard) but i think he has dropped off the rankings a bit and needs to get back on track.
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*~*~*~Green Man for President*~*~*~
if you want to know my accolades, just look at the six badges because they were literally too long to list. (damn 500 character limit)
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Post #9 8/15/08 3:13:52PM
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Pookie
Heavyweight Champ
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Career record: 203-92
Season: 52-18 (#56)
Location: 707
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Posted by wiggum
i think the best middleweight outside of the ufc has to be robbie lawler....world class striking and power.....can take a decent punch, good wrestling and his submission defense has improved leaps and bounds....i think misaki is waay overated...trigg is maybe not top 10 in my book but atleast top 15.....kang has fallen on hard times, but i still think he is top 10....moussi or however you spell his name his top15 and has a great great future ahead of him.....akiyama is pretty damn good even tho he's a cheater.....hector lombard and melvin manhoaf or worth mentioning too
Its hard to get lawler's loss to mayhem out of my head, submissions still get him but on the feet hes a beast.
Misaki is a special type of fighter, a good wrestler can hold him down, but put him against a striker that isnt technically sound and/or slow and he'll embarass him. He made Henderson look bad.
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Post #10 8/15/08 4:59:53PM
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coldchillin
Standup Guy
Career record: 161-79
Season: 44-26 (#969)
Location:
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a name I don't see being mentioned here is: Ronaldo "Jacare" De Souza.
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Post #11 8/15/08 5:56:28PM
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coldchillin
Standup Guy
Career record: 161-79
Season: 44-26 (#969)
Location:
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I have to agree with Pookie about Misaki... I think he's very underrated and some of his best fights are still ahead of him. I expect him to easily beat Joe Riggs.
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Post #12 8/15/08 6:00:07PM
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gcraig22
MMA Regular
Career record: 196-117
Season: 47-22 (#969)
Location: Benbrook, TX
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Here are my top 10:
Matt Lindland
Robbie Lawler
Joe Villasenor
Cung Le
Yoshihiro Akiyama
Gegarg Mousasi
Murilo Rua
Frank Trigg
Vitor Belfort
Jason "Mayhem" Miller
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Post #13 8/16/08 9:21:24AM
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Purge
Standup Guy
Career record: 117-61
Season: 50-18 (#168)
Location:
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Gegard Mousasi, Melvin Manhoef, Paulo Filho, Yoshihiro Akiyama.
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Post #14 8/16/08 6:53:46PM
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fullerene
MMA Sensei
Career record: 184-92
Season: 42-28 (#1511)
Location:
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Posted by gcraig22
Here are my top 10:
Matt Lindland
Robbie Lawler
Joe Villasenor
Cung Le
Yoshihiro Akiyama
Gegarg Mousasi
Murilo Rua
Frank Trigg
Vitor Belfort
Jason "Mayhem" Miller
Nice list. I could argue Misaki, Kang, Louiseau or Lutter should be on there, but you could argue the other way just aa easily.
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Post #15 8/16/08 9:14:46PM
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