Ivan's Blog

Featuring Ivan Trembow's Self-Important, Random Rants on Mixed Martial Arts, Video Games, Pro Wrestling, Television, Politics, Sports, and High-Quality Wool Socks



Friday, August 27, 2010
 
The August 2010 Women's 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 MMA web sites, as well as www.IndependentWorldMMARankings.com.

The members of the voting panel for the Women's Independent World MMA Rankings are, in alphabetical order: Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter and MMA Journalist Blog); Yael Grauer (MMA HQ); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (Freelance); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA); Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion); and Ivan Trembow (Freelance).

Note: Gina Carano, Lena Ovchynnikova, and Emily Thompson are temporarily ineligible to be ranked, due to the fact that they have not fought in over 12 full months.

Note: Carina Damm has regained her eligibility to be ranked because she has fulfilled the terms of her 2008 California State Athletic Commission steroids suspension by paying her fine. Given that she has recent fights in both the bantamweight and flyweight divisions, she is eligible to be ranked in both of those weight classes.

August 2010 Women's Independent World MMA Rankings
Ballots collected on August 24, 2010

Featherweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.)
1. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (10-1)
2. Marloes Coenen (17-4)
3. Yuko "Hiroko" Yamanaka (9-1-1)
4. Cindy Dandois (4-0)
5. Shana Olsen (4-0)
6. Amanda Nunes (5-1)
7. Jamie Seaton (2-1)
8. Hitomi Akano (16-8)
9. Ediane Gomes (5-1)
10. Yoko Takahashi (14-11-3)

Bantamweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)
1. Sarah Kaufman (12-0)
2. Roxanne Modafferi (15-6)
3. Tara LaRosa (18-2)
4. Miesha Tate (11-2)
5. Hitomi Akano (16-8)
6. Shayna Baszler (12-6)
7. Takayo Hashi (12-2)
8. Jennifer Tate (6-1)
9. Julie Kedzie (14-8)
10. Vanessa Porto (10-4)

Flyweight Rankings (116 to 125 lbs.)
1. Tara LaRosa (18-2)
2. Aisling Daly (9-0)
3. Rosi Sexton (10-2)
4. Zoila Frausto (8-1)
5. Rin Nakai (7-0)
6. Megumi Fujii (21-0)
7. Sally Krumdiack (8-3)
8. Monica Lovato (5-1)
9. Jeri Sitzes (3-1)
10. Carina Damm (15-4)

Junior Flyweight Rankings (106 to 115 lbs.)
1. Megumi Fujii (21-0)
2. Yuka Tsuji (22-2)
3. Lisa Ward (13-5)
4. Mei "V Hajime" Yamaguchi (6-2)
5. Jessica Aguilar (9-3)
6. Zoila Frausto (8-1)
7. Kyoko Takabayashi (11-4)
8. Jessica Pene (7-1)
9. Angela Magana (8-4)
10. Emi Fujino (8-4)

The Women's Independent World MMA Rankings are tabulated and published on a monthly basis, 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 hypothetical match-ups.

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, or who have been denied a license for drug test or disciplinary reasons, are not eligible to be ranked.

Changing Weight Classes: When a fighter announces that she 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 her first fight in the new weight class has taken place.

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.

Special thanks to Eric Kamander, Joshua Stein, and Yael Grauer for their invaluable help with this project, and special thanks to Garrett Bailey for designing our logo.

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Monday, August 16, 2010
 
Mixed Martial Arts: Random Thoughts

-On Strikeforce pressuring Joe Riggs into signing a contract with a smaller paycheck for his most recent fight:

Strikeforce’s contractual shenanigans with Joe Riggs are not right. As a promotion, they should either honor contracts or not sign them in the first place. If they don’t think that Riggs is worth X price anymore, then releasing him would be more ethical than trying to screw him out of the amount-per-fight for which they signed him.

-On Strikeforce's one-night women's MMA tournament, in which the semi-final bouts were changed from three rounds to two rounds just a few days before the event:

Strikeforce’s disorganization strikes again.

If Strikeforce had actually prepared for this event ahead of time instead of throwing it together in the past couple of weeks, they could have learned months ago that Arizona’s athletic commission was not going to allow any fighter to fight more than five rounds in one night.

With that knowledge, they could have made the tournament semi-finals two rounds of five minutes each (instead of three minutes), and they could have made the tournament finals three rounds of five minutes each (instead of three minutes).

Instead, they had to change it at the last minute to make the semi-final fights two rounds instead of three, and if they changed the rounds to being five minutes long, that would have been another last-minute change thrown at the fighters, who had been told to train for three-minute rounds.

So, we ended up with semi-final fights that could last a maximum of six total minutes. A six-minute fight is like a YAMMA fight with a round break / stand-up in the middle of it.

-On the subject of Joe Riggs’ ignorant comments about #1-ranked women's bantamweight fighter Sarah Kaufman:

Kaufman deserves to be on major Strikeforce events a lot more than Riggs. Kaufman is the #1 fighter in her weight class. Riggs is nowhere near the top ten in his weight class. Given those basic facts, the only justification for Riggs being more deserving of a “major show spot” is that Riggs is a man and Kaufman is a woman. (Or, as Riggs put it in his own sexist way, "We're the show. The men are what people are here to see... She's lucky to even be on TV.")

Strikeforce apparently doesn’t disagree with this line of thinking too much, as they put both Sarah Kaufman and the women’s tournament finals in non-main-event spots on Strikeforce Challengers shows, while Riggs somehow got a main event spot on a Strikeforce Challengers show.

-On the 30-day suspension that the Quebec athletic commission gave to Paul Daley:

What a joke of a punishment for Daley, especially since he just happens to have a fight scheduled immediately after the conclusion of this convenient 30-day suspension.

The only way in which Quebec's athletic commission could have made their ruling more of a joke would be if they said, "Your suspension is for 30 days... unless you have a booking in three weeks. Do you? We could make it a 20-day suspension, you know. Maybe you'd like to fight two weeks from now. That would be no problem. We'd just make it a 13-day suspension in that case. The most important thing is that we do whatever is most convenient for you, the guy who sucker-punched someone after a match was over."

-On the fact that K-1 still hasn't paid Gary Goodridge for his fight from last New Year's Eve against Gegard Mousasi:

It's bad enough that Goodridge, at his age, still has to fight in order to make a living, but it's just reprehensible for K-1 to stiff him on his paycheck. Goodridge was on the wrong end of a huge mismatch, but still took the fight on short notice, and this is how they treat him?

Other fighters should take a stand and refuse to fight for promoters who stiff fighters on pay, such as K-1/Dream, Shine Fights, and ImpactFC. If for no other reason, they should do it because of the fact that they could be the next fighters to not get paid.

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Friday, August 13, 2010
 
The August 2010 Men's 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 MMA web sites, as well as www.IndependentWorldMMARankings.com.

Some of the best and most knowledgeable MMA writers from across the MMA media landscape have come together to form an independent voting panel. These voting panel members are, in alphabetical order: Zach Arnold (Fight Opinion); Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jared Barnes (Freelance); Jordan Breen (Sherdog); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter and MMA Journalist Blog); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (Freelance); Todd Martin (Los Angeles Times and Sherdog); Jim Murphy (The Savage Science); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA); Leland Roling (Bloody Elbow); Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion); Ivan Trembow (Freelance); and Dave Walsh (Head Kick Legend).

Note: Paul Daley, Gilbert Melendez, Jake Shields, Nick Diaz, and Jason Miller are all temporarily ineligible to be ranked due to the fact that they are all currently serving disciplinary suspensions. Daley is serving a disciplinary suspension for punching Josh Koscheck after their fight was over, and all of the other fighters are serving disciplinary suspensions for their roles in the post-fight brawl at the Strikeforce event in Nashville.

Note: Due to the fact that Anderson Silva has said in numerous recent interviews that he plans to stay in the middleweight division for the rest of his career and has no plans to fight in the light heavyweight division anymore, along with the fact that Silva's most recent fights have been at middleweight, Silva has lost his eligibility to be ranked in the light heavyweight division. Unless Silva returns to light heavyweight in the future, he will be eligible to be ranked exclusively in the middleweight division.

August 2010 Men's Independent World MMA Rankings
Ballots collected on August 10, 2010

Heavyweight Rankings (206 to 265 lbs.)
1. Brock Lesnar (5-1)
2. Fedor Emelianenko (31-2, 1 No Contest)
3. Fabricio Werdum (14-4-1)
4. Cain Velasquez (8-0)
5. Junior dos Santos (12-1)
6. Shane Carwin (12-1)
7. Alistair Overeem (33-11, 1 No Contest)
8. Frank Mir (13-5)
9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-6-1, 1 No Contest)
10. Antonio Silva (14-2)

Light Heavyweight Rankings (186 to 205 lbs.)
1. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (19-4)
2. Lyoto Machida (16-1)
3. Rashad Evans (15-1-1)
4. Quinton Jackson (30-8)
5. Forrest Griffin (17-6)
6. Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal (7-0)
7. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (19-3)
8. Jon Jones (11-1)
9. Gegard Mousasi (29-3-1)
10. Thiago Silva (14-2)

Middleweight Rankings (171 to 185 lbs.)
1. Anderson Silva (27-4)
2. Chael Sonnen (25-11-1)
3. Nathan Marquardt (29-9-2)
4. Dan Henderson (25-8)
5. Vitor Belfort (19-8)
6. Demian Maia (12-2)
7. Yushin Okami (25-5)
8. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza (12-2, 1 No Contest)
9. Jorge Santiago (22-8)
10. Robbie Lawler (17-6, 1 No Contest)

Welterweight Rankings (156 to 170 lbs.)
1. Georges St. Pierre (20-2)
2. Jon Fitch (23-3, 1 No Contest)
3. Josh Koscheck (15-4)
4. Thiago Alves (17-7)
5. Dan Hardy (23-7, 1 No Contest)
6. Martin Kampmann (17-3)
7. Matt Hughes (45-7)
8. Paulo Thiago (13-2)
9. Matt Serra (11-6)
10. Mike Swick (14-4)

Lightweight Rankings (146 to 155 lbs.)
1. Frankie Edgar (12-1)
2. B.J. Penn (15-6-1)
3. Kenny Florian (13-4)
4. Shinya Aoki (24-5, 1 No Contest)
5. Eddie Alvarez (20-2)
6. Gray Maynard (9-0, 1 No Contest)
7. Tatsuya Kawajiri (26-6-2)
8. George Sotiropoulos (13-2)
9. Evan Dunham (11-0)
10. Ben Henderson (12-1)

Featherweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.)
1. Jose Aldo (17-1)
2. Manny Gamburyan (11-4)
3. Urijah Faber (23-4)
4. Mike Brown (23-6)
5. Hatsu Hioki (21-4-2)
6. Marlon Sandro (17-1)
7. Bibiano Fernandes (8-2)
8. Josh Grispi (14-1)
9. Michihiro Omigawa (11-8-1)
10. "Lion" Takeshi Inoue (18-4)

Bantamweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)
1. Dominick Cruz (15-1)
2. Brian Bowles (8-1)
3. Joseph Benavidez (12-1)
4. Miguel Torres (37-3)
5. Scott Jorgensen (10-3)
6. Takeya Mizugaki (13-4-2)
7. Damacio Page (15-4)
8. Wagnney Fabiano (14-2)
9. Masakatsu Ueda (11-1-2)
10. Rani Yahya (15-6)

The Men's Independent World MMA 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 hypothetical match-ups.

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, or who have been denied a license for drug test or disciplinary reasons, 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 his first fight in the new weight class has taken place.

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.

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.

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