{"id":17550,"date":"2011-08-09T17:00:56","date_gmt":"2011-08-10T00:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=17550"},"modified":"2013-01-01T23:16:21","modified_gmt":"2013-01-02T06:16:21","slug":"inside-the-fight-game-hwlhw-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=17550","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Fight Game: HW\/LHW Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Fedor’s future up in air after third straight loss\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

By George Hernandez<\/p>\n

Two thirds of the year is gone and most of MMA’s elite have stepped into the cage or ring, with some winning their first title and others looking like they should be on their way out.<\/p>\n

Heavyweight:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Cain Velasquez (9-0) – UFC Champ: Cain will have his biggest test to date when he faces Junior Dos Santos at UFC 139.<\/p>\n

2. Junior Dos Santos (13-1) – Will have his chance to be number one in the world.<\/p>\n

3. Alistair Overeem (35-11 0 – Stripped of SF title: After being cut from his Zuffa contract and bumped out of the Strikeforce Grand Prix there\u2019s not much of a chance he’ll be moving up the rankings.<\/p>\n

4. Brock Lesnar (5-2) – Probably the most dangerous heavyweight because he’s already been champ and still has more to learn.<\/p>\n

5.Fabricio Werdum (14-5-1) – Lost to Overeem in the Grand Prix; needs a big win to move up or get title shot.<\/p>\n

6. Antonio Silva (16-2) – Looks like the favorite now to win the SF Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

7. Shane Carwin (12-2) – Carwin might be on a two fight losing streak but there\u2019s no shame in losses to Dos Santos and Lesnar.<\/p>\n

8. Frank Mir (15-5) – Don’t think he’ll be getting a title shot anytime soon.<\/p>\n

9. Fedor Emelianenko (31-4) – Probably the greatest fighter of his time but three losses in a row have put him at a cross road.<\/p>\n

10. Sergei Kharitonov (18-5) – Could open some eyes with a win over Josh Barnett.<\/p>\n

Rising star: Daniel Cormier (8-0) – Cain’s training partner gets a shot at the big boys after replacing Overeem in the Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Light Heavyweights:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Jon Jones (13-1) – UFC Champ: Already the champion and only getting better.<\/p>\n

2. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (19-5) – Didn’t look his best against Jones, but will be back with a vengeance.<\/p>\n

3. Rashad Evans (19-1) – Put in work against Ortiz, now waiting for winner of Rampage\/Jones.<\/p>\n

4. Quentin “Rampage” Jackson (32-8) – Gets first crack at Jones at UFC 135.<\/p>\n

5. Lyoto Machida (17-2) – After stopping his two fight skid with a KO win over Couture, he’s looking to get his title back.<\/p>\n

6. Dan Henderson (28-8) – SF champ: “Hendo’s” win over Fedor made him one of the all time greats.<\/p>\n

7. Forrest Griffin (18-6) – Another former champ looking for his way back to the title; will be in a rematch against “Shogun”.<\/p>\n

8. Gegard Mousasi (31-3-2) – Only way he’s moving up the rankings is if his Zuffa contract get’s moved to Strikeforce.<\/p>\n

9. Rich Franklin (28-6) – Only fights the best of the best.<\/p>\n

10. Tito Ortiz (17-9-1) \u2013 His losses have come against the best of the best in the light heavyweight division.<\/p>\n

Rising Star: Phil Davis (9-0) – Injuries forced him out of his fight with Rashad and that could have cost him a title shot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fedor’s future up in air after third straight loss\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By George Hernandez Two thirds of the year is gone and most of MMA’s elite have stepped into the cage or ring, with some winning their first title and others looking like they should be on their way out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[1324,1144,1254,1397,1143,1145,3308,5758,2327,1698],"class_list":["post-17550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10s","category-uncategorized","tag-antonio-silva","tag-brock-lesnar","tag-cain-velasquez","tag-dan-henderson","tag-fedor-emelianenko","tag-frank-mir","tag-mauricio-shogun-rua","tag-quentin-rampage-jackson","tag-shane-carwin","tag-tito-ortiz"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17550"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30666,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17550\/revisions\/30666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}