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MMA Top 10 Rankings: Jacare Souza Makes Bold Middleweight Move

The updated MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings were released on Thursday, May 23. This system ranks the Top 10 MMA fighters from across the world in each of the seven most widely accepted men’s weight classes and the Top 10 pound-for-pound women fighters.

Taken into consideration are a fighter’s performance in addition to win-loss record, head-to-head and common opponents, difficulty of opponents, and numerous other factors in what is the most comprehensive rankings system in the sport.

Fighters who are currently serving drug-related suspensions are not eligible for Top 10 consideration until they have fought one time after the completion of their suspension.

Fighters must also have competed within the past 12 months in order to be eligible for Top 10 consideration unless they have a bout scheduled within a reasonable time frame.

Notes: Brian Bowles and Dominick Cruz are ineligible for consideration because they haven’t fought in more than a year. Pat Healy is ineligible for consideration because he is currently serving a drug-related suspension.

(Fighter’s previous ranking is in parenthesis.)

Below are the current MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings:

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND (all weight classes)
1. Ronda Rousey (1)
2. Cris Cyborg Santos (2)
3. Cat Zingano (3)
4. Sarah Kaufman (4)
5. Miesha Tate (5)
6. Jessica Aguilar (6)
7. Megumi Fujii (7)
8. Marloes Coenen (8)
9. Sara McMann (9)
10. Alexis Davis (10)

HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (over 205 pounds)
1. Cain Velasquez (1)
2. Junior dos Santos (2)
3. Daniel Cormier (3)
4. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva (4)
5. Alistair Overeem (5)
6. Fabricio Werdum (6)
7. Frank Mir (7)
8. Josh Barnett (8)
9. Mark Hunt (9)
10. Roy Nelson (10)

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (205-pound limit)
1. Jon Jones (1)
2. Lyoto Machida (2)
3. Alexander Gustafsson (3)
4. Dan Henderson (4)
5. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (5)
6. Rashad Evans (6)
7. Phil Davis (7)
8. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (8)
9. Glover Teixeira (9)
10. Ryan Bader (10)

MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISION (185-pound limit)
1. Anderson Silva (1)
2. Vitor Belfort (2)
3. Chris Weidman (3)
4. Michael Bisping (4)
5. Mark Munoz (5)
6. Costa Philippou (6)
7. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (n/a)
8. Tim Boetsch (7)
9. Yushin Okami (8)
10. Brian Stann (9)

WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION (170-pound limit)
1. Georges St-Pierre (1)
2. Johny Hendricks (2)
3. Carlos Condit (3)
4. Martin Kampmann (4)
5. Jake Ellenberger (5)
6. Rory MacDonald (6)
7. Demian Maia (7)
8. Robbie Lawler (8)
9. Nick Diaz (9)
10. Josh Koscheck (10)

LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION (155-pound limit)
1. Benson Henderson (1)
2. Gilbert Melendez (2)
3. Anthony Pettis (3)
4. Gray Maynard (4)
5. Michael Chandler (5)
6. Eddie Alvarez (6)
7. Josh Thomson (7)
8. Nate Diaz (9)
9. Jim Miller (10)
10. Khabib Nurmagomedov (n/a)

FEATHERWEIGHT DIVISION (145 pound-limit)
1. Jose Aldo (1)
2. Chad Mendes (2)
3. Ricardo Lamas (3)
4. Pat Curran (4)
5. Frankie Edgar (5)
6. Chan Sung Jung (6)
7. Cub Swanson (7)
8. Dustin Poirier (8)
9. Erik Koch (9)
10. Nik Lentz (n/a)

BANTAMWEIGHT DIVISION (135 pounds or less)
1. Renan Barão (1)
2. Urijah Faber (2)
3. Michael McDonald (3)
4. Eddie Wineland (4)
5. Brad Pickett (5)
6. Bibiano Fernandes (6)
7. Raphael Assuncao (7)
8. Erik Perez (8)
9. TJ Dillashaw (9)
10. Mike Easton (10)

FLYWEIGHT DIVISION (125 pounds or less)
1. Demetrious Johnson (1)
2. Joseph Benavidez (2)
3. John Dodson (3)
4. John Moraga (4)
5. Ian McCall (5)
6. Jussier da Silva (6)
7. Darrell Montague (7)
8. Louis Gaudinot (8)
9. John Lineker (9)
10. Tim Elliott (10)

Rashad Evans vs. Dan Henderson Takes Over as New UFC 161 Main Event

UFC officials on Tuesday confirmed that interim bantamweight champion Renan Barão sustained an injury that would keep him out of his planned title defense against Eddie Wineland at UFC 161 on June 15.

A short time later, the promotion released an additional statement, noting that the previous co-main event bout between Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson would now serve as the new UFC 161 headliner.

Evans vs. Henderson will remain a three-round bout.

The UFC did not reveal details of Barão’s injury, although Tatame.com reported that he injured his right foot.

Henderson (29-9) was on target to finally score the UFC light heavyweight championship bout that he missed out on at UFC 151 due to injury, but had his plans derailed when he lost a split decision to Lyoto Machida at UFC 157.

Henderson had been on a four-fight winning streak prior to that loss, including victories over Shogun Rua and Fedor Emelianenko.

Evans (17-3-1) is a former UFC light heavyweight champion.

He rode a four-fight winning streak – weathering several setbacks due to injury – into a return shot at the belt at UFC 145, but fell short to champion Jon Jones, his former teammate. Evans followed that up with a flat performance against Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 156 over Super Bowl weekend.

Evans lost both fights by unanimous decision, entering the bout with Henderson in desperate need of a victory.

UFC 161 takes place on Saturday, June 15, at MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Interim Bantamweight Champ Renan Barão Injured, Officially Out of UFC 161 Main Event

UFC Canadian officials on Tuesday confirmed earlier reports that UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barão is injured and out of his scheduled title defense against Eddie Wineland.

Barão and Wineland were supposed to headline the upcoming UFC 161 fight card on June 15 at MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

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Barão (30-1) won the interim belt with a five-round unanimous decision victory over former WEC champion Urijah Faber at UFC 149 in Calgary last summer.

The Brazilian champion had hoped to wait for UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz to return from injury before fighting again. When Cruz’s recovery was delayed, Barão defended his belt against Michael McDonald at UFC on Fuel TV 7 in London in February. He submitted McDonald late in the fourth round.

The fight with Wineland was to be Barão’s second interim title defense.

The UFC has not yet announced how it will handle the UFC 161 fight card with Barão on the sidelines.

Antonio Bigfoot Silva: “The First Punch I Really Land, He’s Going to Go Down”

UFC heavyweight contender Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva has the opportunity for redemption in his rematch with Cain Velasquez for the heavyweight title at UFC 160 on May 25.

Silva (18-4) lost to Velasquez in his promotional debut at UFC 146 on May 26, 2012, but this time around things are different heading into the fight.

“I think the main thing is in our first fight I was nervous and I was anxious.  I have replaced those emotions.  Now I’m calm and I’m driven, I really want this,” said Silva on a media conference call promoting the event.

While Silva is in a different place mentally than he was a year ago, his preparation has remained largely the same.  The game plan, however, has been slightly modified.

“A lot of my preparation has been the same as it was for the first fight,” said Silva.  “Obviously in the first fight I made a big mistake.  But there were a lot of things that I did right going into that fight and that unfortunately you guys didn’t get to see.  So much has maintained and overall the main strategy is just not to let his elbows get near my forehead.  That would be the change.”

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Velasquez (11-1) utilized his wrestling to quickly get the fight to the ground when the two first met at UFC 146.  From there, he unleashed a barrage of punches and elbows that left Silva bloodied and beaten, but Silva feels he’s only one punch away from victory.

“Comparing my style of fighting to Cain’s style of fighting, I would have to be born again to become faster than Cain Velasquez.  I’ve got 30 pounds on him.  He’s going to be faster than me.  So I need to work with what I have and what I have is very, very heavy hands,” said Silva.

“I’m going to need to keep my hands healthy and heavy to go in there and I’m sure that the first punch that I really land, he’s going to go down,” added the 33-year-old heavyweight. “I have a lot of respect for Cain Velasquez, I think he’s an incredible fighter, and I respect him as a person.  But I’m very confident in myself and I feel very good going into this fight.”

Silva is a heavy underdog heading into the rematch, but relishes the role and sees it as an opportunity to silence his critics.

“I like when people underestimate me.  It’s nice.  I get to go out there and I get to show them wrong,” he said.  “There are no superheroes in this sport, nobody is invincible. And I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work for the last nine weeks. I have been preparing myself and I’m very confident that I’m going to have my arm raised on May 25.”

 

 

UFC 160 fight card: Velasquez vs. Silva

Check out the UFC 160 fight card below.

Main card (PPV at 10 p.m. ET)
Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva
Junior dos Santos vs. Mark Hunt
Glover Teixeira vs. James Te-Huna
Gray Maynard vs. TJ Grant
Donald Cerrone vs. KJ Noons

Undercard (FX at 8 p.m. ET)
Mike Pyle vs. Rick Story
Dennis Bermudez vs. Max Holloway
Colton Smith vs. Robert Whittaker
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Abel Trujillo

Undercard (Facebook at 6:30 p.m. ET)
Stephen Thompson vs. Nah-Shon Burrell
Brian Bowles vs. George Roop
Jeremy Stephens vs. Estevan Payan

UFC on FX 8: Post-Fight Press Conference