In Honor of a Great Light Heavyweight Showdown: Top ten LHW Rankings.

just updated mine today..not happy with my bottom 4 but it should clear up in the next couple months

After tomorrow night I imagine Rampage will be at 5 on mine, with Rua and Machida each bumping up 1 spot.

@wolf - Why no Machida? O_o

* Edited at 09.23.2011, 3:03 PM ET *

OSP at 6, you never cease to amaze me with your rankings wolf.

@wolfman your top 5 are very un-wolfman-like ... in that they look so normal!

does machida even have a fight lined up? and OSP is going to beat Mousasi. a couple of mine individual rankings have to do with what i believe will happen in there next fight. i just do it a little differently. my top 5 are right on.

* Edited at 09.23.2011, 3:08 PM ET *

I'm a big Mousasi fan but I do have some doubts about him facing OSP

I've heard rumors they are saving Machida for the UFC Japan card. That's really the only reason I could think of why they haven't booked him yet.

* Edited at 09.23.2011, 3:18 PM ET *

@Beast ours are pretty damn close to the same I just have Davis ahead of Griffin and Franklin

1 - He's the champ. Enough said.

2 - He's the guy who will face the winner of Jones/Rampage and so he's the de facto #1 contender

3 - His wins, ever since losing the title, may have not been pretty but they are wins nevertheless and in the case of the Machida fight, that was a notable win. Oh and he's facing Jones for the belt.

4 - Still proving he is one of the most dangerous men in MMA.

5 - His injury may have prevented him from going any higher (he was set to face Rashad Evans) but regardless he's so far had an impressive run in the UFC, which as involved him beating who many people consider a legend (Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, "Minotoro").

6 - Still one of the most deadly fighters outside of the UFC. He may not have had the legthy reign many expected to have when he won the Strikeforce LHW belt but his wins since then have reminded people he's still a force in MMA (Oh please, we all know Keith Jardine emits some weird energy that makes him arkward to fight against)

7 - Had a close fight against Rampage and sent Couture into retirement. The latter warranting him hanging around in the top ten :D

8 - Yes his win against Forrest was spectacular but Forrest looked like his mind was somewhere else. So no he dosen't get any higher then this.

9 - No Matt Hamill was not a #10 by the time Gustafsson faced him. But the way Gustafsson beat him down was a wake up call for the LHW division. Also since Forrest has been embrassing (even in his last couple of wins in retrospect), Tito is back on the slide and Gustafsson has so far had a good run in the UFC, I don't see why Gustafsson shouldn't have a place in the top ten.

10 - Almost had him out but he has wins against two legends (Rich Franklin and Tito Ortiz). Yes they are sandwiched between two embrassing losses but it's kind of hard to find someone else to replace him.

Out -
Tito Ortiz - almost kept him in the #10 spot but he can tank Rashad for knocking him off the rankings. His win against Bader was truly one of the biggest "holy s****!" moment and it had people talking that Tito was back and if he could make a run for the title one more time. But now we know the result and Ortiz is back in the outside looking in.

My LHW rankings can probably use some updating, but they're still not far off. 

Machida may be better than this, but he needs to win something big

* Edited at 09.23.2011, 3:36 PM ET *

Heres mine!

Pow!

* Edited at 09.23.2011, 3:42 PM ET *

@thiago. i have thiago silva  in my rankings. can't wait to see who they put him up against!

he'll be back in my top 15 at the very least once he comes back

@Cash Great minds think alike

Just updated mine. Gustaffson is now my number 10.

@wolf.. Think of how excited you are... I am 10 times more excited than that.. I ******* cant wait til hes back.