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Independent World MMA Rankings – July 16, 2009
By Zach Arnold | July 16, 2009
From the office of the Independent World MMA Rankings
July 17, 2009: The July 2009 Independent World MMA Rankings have been released. These rankings are independent of any single MMA media outlet or sanctioning body, and are published on multiple web sites. Some of the best and most knowledgeable MMA writers from across the MMA media landscape have come together to form one independent voting panel.
These voting panel members are, in alphabetical order: Zach Arnold (FightOpinion); Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jared Barnes (Houston Chronicle); Jordan Breen (Sherdog); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter, MMA Memories, and MMA Journalist Blog); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (MMA Payout); Todd Martin (CBS Sportsline); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA); Leland Roling (Bloody Elbow); Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Jonathan Snowden (Author of “Total MMA: Inside Ultimate Fighting”); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion), Ivan Trembow (Freelance); and Dave Walsh (Total MMA).
The rankings are tabulated on a monthly basis in each of the top seven weight classes of MMA, from heavyweight to bantamweight, with fighters receiving ten points for a first-place vote, nine points for a second-place vote, and so on.
The rankings are based purely on the votes of the members of the voting panel, with nobody’s vote counting more than anybody else’s vote, and no computerized voting.
The voters are instructed to vote primarily based on fighters’ actual accomplishments in the cage/ring (the quality of opposition that they’ve actually beaten), not based on a broad, subjective perception of which fighters would theoretically win fantasy match-ups.
Special thanks to Eric Kamander, Zach Arnold, and Joshua Stein for their invaluable help with this project, and special thanks to Garrett Bailey for designing our logo.
Inactivity: Fighters who have not fought in the past 12 months are not eligible to be ranked, and will regain their eligibility the next time they fight.
Disciplinary Suspensions: Fighters who are currently serving disciplinary suspensions are not eligible to be ranked.
Changing Weight Classes: When a fighter announces that he is leaving one weight class in order to fight in another weight class, the fighter is not eligible to be ranked in the new weight class until he has his first fight in the new weight class.
Catch Weight Fights: When fights are contested at weights that are in between the limits of the various weight classes, they are considered to be in the higher weight class. The weight limits for each weight class are listed at the top of the rankings for each weight class.
July 2009 Independent World MMA Rankings
Ballots collected on July 14, 2009
Heavyweight Rankings (206 to 265 lbs.)
- Fedor Emelianenko (30-1, 1 No Contest)
- Brock Lesnar (4-1)
- Josh Barnett (24-5)
- Frank Mir (12-4)
- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1, 1 No Contest)
- Randy Couture (16-9)
- Alistair Overeem (29-11, 1 No Contest)
- Shane Carwin (11-0)
- Brett Rogers (10-0)
- Andrei Arlovski (15-7)
Light Heavyweight Rankings (186 to 205 lbs.)
- Lyoto Machida (15-0)
- Quinton Jackson (30-7)
- Rashad Evans (13-1-1)
- Forrest Griffin (16-5)
- Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (18-3)
- Rich Franklin (25-4, 1 No Contest)
- Keith Jardine (14-5-1)
- Dan Henderson (25-7)
- Renato “Babalu” Sobral (32-8)
- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (17-3)
Middleweight Rankings (171 to 185 lbs.)
- Anderson Silva (24-4)
- Yushin Okami (23-4)
- Dan Henderson (25-7)
- Nathan Marquardt (28-8-2)
- Demian Maia (10-0)
- Jorge Santiago (21-7)
- Robbie Lawler (16-5, 1 No Contest)
- Gegard Mousasi (25-2-1)
- Vitor Belfort (18-8)
- Thales Leites (14-2)
Welterweight Rankings (156 to 170 lbs.)
- Georges St. Pierre (19-2)
- Jon Fitch (19-3, 1 No Contest)
- Thiago Alves (16-4)
- Jake Shields (23-4-1)
- Matt Hughes (43-7)
- Josh Koscheck (12-4)
- Martin Kampmann (15-2)
- Mike Swick (14-2)
- Carlos Condit (22-5)
- Paulo Thiago (11-1)
Lightweight Rankings (146 to 155 lbs.)
- B.J. Penn (13-5-1)
- Kenny Florian (11-3)
- Shinya Aoki (20-4, 1 No Contest)
- Eddie Alvarez (17-2)
- Joachim Hansen (19-7-1)
- Tatsuya Kawajiri (24-5-2)
- Diego Sanchez (21-2)
- Frankie Edgar (10-1)
- Gray Maynard (7-0, 1 No Contest)
- Satoru Kitaoka (25-8-9)
Featherweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.)
- Mike Brown (22-4)
- Urijah Faber (22-3)
- Wagnney Fabiano (12-1)
- Jose Aldo (15-1)
- Hatsu Hioki (19-3-2)
- Leonard Garcia (12-4)
- “Lion” Takeshi Inoue (16-3)
- Dokonjonosuke Mishima (19-6-2)
- Raphael Assuncao (13-1)
- Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (17-2)
Bantamweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)
- Miguel Torres (37-1)
- Brian Bowles (7-0)
- Takeya Mizugaki (11-3-2)
- Masakatsu Ueda (9-0-2)
- Joseph Benavidez (10-0)
- Akitoshi Tamura (14-7-2)
- Will Ribeiro (10-2)
- Rani Yahya (14-4)
- Damacio Page (11-4)
- Manny Tapia (10-2-1)
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Zach, glad to see you got everything up. It’s great having you on the panel.
Shouldn’t Shields be above Lawler in the middelweight rankings since it was a catchweight bout?
First rankings I’ve seen that correctly put Brock as the #2 heavyweight. Kudos for that.
It’s funny, when they first announced the 4 man UFC HW mini-tournament, every person in the world was saying that without a doubt, the winner would be the undisputed #2 HW in the world (unless someone upset Fedor of course).
However, because Brock won, these websites discredit Mir, Randy, and Nog, and instead prop up Barnett, who doesn’t have a victory against a top 10 opponent since he beat Nog 3 years ago by split decision (since that win Barnett has lost to both Nog and Crocop).
It’s really amazing, wins outside the UFC against guys barely in the top 20 are more meaningful than wins inside the UFC against two consensus top 5 fighters (or did Randy lose his #3 ranking because he was no longer fighting Fedor outside the UFC? I forget how it works).
And they say there isn’t an anti-UFC bias in the online rankings…
I dislike Lesnar’s personality, I think it will come back to bite the sport in the ass, but at the same time he is the heavyweight champion in the most complete and competitive heavyweight division in MMA in the top company in the world.
I’m not big on his ‘skill’ or talent — I think his sheer size, strength and athleticism is what is making him so tough to beat and will keep him tough to beat for a long time.
I think Barnett is great, but unless he beats Fedor or moves to UFC and starts cleaning house he isn’t up for a top spot.
First off rankings are just a matter of opinion and have no weight at all.
Second, the fact that Paulo Thiago is listed and Nick Diaz is not is retarded.
If you look at the voting panel it’s a who’s who of the markyest marks of all the “mma media”