Post-Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson ranking update

Almost forgot to do this one. Though Feijao was ranked at #11 before the bout, I’ve opted to raise Henderson all the way up to #9 following his win. A win over a #11 fighter, combined with the fact that he’s undefeated it his current light-heavyweight stint and already holds a win over Rich Franklin, makes his P3Y record more attractive than that of Franklin or Thiago Silva.

LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT (205 lbs.) TOP 15

#	Name	Pro MMA Record	P3Y Record at LHW	Notes
1	Mauricio Rua	19-4	3-1 (loss avenged)	UFC light-heavyweight champion
2	Rashad Evans	15-1-1	4-1-1
3	Quinton Jackson	31-8	3-2
4	Lyoto Machida	16-1	4-1
5	Jon Jones	12-1	12-1 (1 DQ)
6	Ryan Bader	12-1	6-1
7	Forrest Griffin	18-6	3-2
8	Antonio Rogerio Nogueira	18-4	6-1
9	Dan Henderson	27-8	3-0	Moved to #9 following a win over former #11 Rafael Cavalcante for the Strikeforce light-heavyweight title at Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson on 3/6/11.
10	Thiago Silva	15-2	3-2
11	Rich Franklin	28-6	2-2
12	Rafael Cavalcante	10-3	6-2
13	Muhammed Lawal	7-0	7-0
14	Gegard Mousasi	29-3-1	4-1
15	Alexander Gustafsson	11-1	9-1

Quick note: Rafael Cavalcante vs. Dan Henderson at Strikeforce tonight

Tonight’s Strikeforce show–the prelims are underway as I write–features one ranking-relevant bout: #11 light-heavyweight Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante defending his title against Dan Henderson. Since he returned to 205 lbs. with a win over Renato “Babalu” Sobral this past December, I’ve got Henderson somewhere in the #16-#18 range, so a loss wouldn’t be terrible damaging for Cavalcante. Nonetheless, winning this fight against a highly-decorated  but now 40-year-old veteran like Henderson is crucial to proving that he’s got the talent to be a major player at light-heavyweight.

Post-Strikeforce: Houston ranking update

Following Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante’s win over Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal for the Strikeforce light-heavyweight title last night, the rankings at 205 lbs. shake out this way:

LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT (205 lbs.) TOP 15

#	Name	Pro MMA Record	P3Y Record at LHW	Notes
1	Mauricio Rua	19-4	3-2	UFC light-heavyweight champion
2	Lyoto Machida	16-1	6-1
3	Rashad Evans	15-1-1	5-1-1
4	Anderson Silva	25-4	2-0
5	Forrest Griffin	17-6	3-2
6	Quinton Jackson	30-8	3-2
7	Antonio Rogerio Nogueira	18-3	6-0
8	Cyrille Diabate	16-6-1	5-0
9	Thiago Silva	14-2	4-2
10	Ryan Bader	11-0	9-0
11	Rich Franklin	28-5	2-1
12	Rafael Cavalcante	10-2	6-1	Moved to #12 following a win over Muhammed Lawal for the Strikeforce at light-heavyweight title at Strikeforce: Houston on 8/21/10.
13	Muhammed Lawal	7-0	7-0
14	Gegard Mousasi	28-3-1	3-1
15	Luis Arthur Cane	10-2	4-2

Strikeforce: Houston + SRC 14 ranking preview

Sorry I forgot to do a preview of WEC 50–I was out of town and away from computers. Anyway, there was just one fight to preview–#1 Dominick Cruz vs. #3 Joseph Benavidez at bantamweight–and Cruz won, so those rankings stay the same.

(EDIT: forgot about Mackens Semerzier vs. Javier Vazquez from that show–see subsequent post.)

Moving on, this weekend we’ve got Strikeforce: Houston on Saturday night, and SRC 12 in Japan the same evening (i.e. 2am Sunday morning in the U.S.). Here are the three top-15-relevant fights to watch:

Light-heavyweight

• #11 Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal vs. Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante. Lawal made it to his current spot on the basis of one fight: his upset of Gegard Mousasi for the Strikeforce light-heavyweight belt back in April. Mousasi was himself ranked in the top 15 thanks to a single fight: his title victory over Renato Sobral in August of last year. Now it may be Feijao’s turn to score that one big win. With Mousasi still right there, Lawal isn’t set to drop much, even with a loss against a man who lost to Mike Kyle just over a year ago.

Middleweight

• #10 Jorge Santiago vs. Kazuo Misaki. The fractured state of the Japanese fight game helps Misaki here: once a perennial top-15 middleweight–both Santiago and Paulo Filho (and thus by extension Chael Sonnen) owe their rankings to Misaki’s success at his peak–he was bounced out of these standings thanks to a loss to  Melvin Manhoef at the Sengoku x DREAM event on New Year’s Eve 2009. Sure, it was an early stoppage, but Misaki paid the price for bothering to stand and trade with his heavy-handed, grappling-averse opponent. He hasn’t competed since, but given SRC’s lack of viable challengers at middleweight, Misaki’s year-old win over Kazuhiro Nakamura is good enough for another title shot against Santiago. A Misaki win here makes a mess of the standings at 185: I probably couldn’t drop Santiago below Mamed Khalidov, but putting Misaki at #10 win the loss to Manhoef still fresh just seems wrong. We’ll see, I guess.
• #15 Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Tim Kennedy. A Kennedy win here gives me another puzzle: given his oustanding loss to Jason Miller–who Souza has beaten–would I have to drop Souza below my#16, Yoshihiro Akiyama? Or is Akiyama’s loss to Chris Leben too damaging, and too fresh, to grant him a berth back into the top 15 just because the guy above him lost? I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.