MMABay’s World Mixed Martial Arts Ranking’s for March

Middleweight

1: Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva: It’s official; Anderson Silva will return to the middleweight division after nearly a year off in April this year. Across the cage is the man once hailed as the antidote to Silva’s dominance, BJJ ace Damian Maia. Silva will be looking to put his long lay-off behind him as the UFC attempts to make a splash in Abu Dhabi with UFC 112.   

2: Dan ‘Hendo’ Henderson: Henderson recently put months of speculation to rest by signing with Scott Coker’s Strikeforce organisation. With a wealth of talent at middleweight including Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ de Souza, Jake Shields and ‘Ruthless’ Robbie Lawler, Hendo will certainly have his hands full should he stay 185lbs. With the Shields bout recently confirmed as the headliner for Strikeforce’s April return to CBS, Hendo will be looking to make a splash and add a championship in a third major organisation to his trophy cabinet.

3: Vitor ‘The Phenom’ Belfort: Despite being on a roll at middleweight and knocking out former champion Rich Franklin at 195lbs, there was much controversy when Belfort was announced as the number one contender to Anderson Silva’s title. It’s been rendered a moot point now though, as an injury to ‘The Phenom’ has but paid to his title aspirations for the foreseeable future. 

4: Chael Sonnen: The man many consider to be the linier WEC middleweight champion (defending champion Paulo Filho came in overweight for their fight, meaning that while he lost, the belt was not on the line), is finally getting into his groove in the UFC. He pulled off a major upset at UFC 109, demolishing top contender Nate Marquardt. Unfortunately a lack of training time prevented him from swooping in to replace Vitor Belfort against Anderson Silva on short notice. Sonnen has made it clear that when he does get his hands on the champion, Silva will be in for the fight of his life.

5: Nate ‘The Great’ Marquardt: Veteran and former ‘King of Pancrase’ Nate Marquardt has looked more than impressive in his last three outings; show-stopping performances against Martin Kampman, Wilson Gouveia and Damian Maia. However, his recent decisive loss at the hands of Chael Sonnen has knocked ‘The Great’ down a few rungs on the ladder. Marquardt will no doubt be hoping that Damian Maia, the man he knocked out in seconds last year, pulls off an upset against Anderson Silva if he is to have any hope of a title shot in the near future.

6: Damian Maia: BJJ standout Maia was perhaps the hottest prospect in the UFC’s middleweight division until he was spectacularly derailed at UFC 102 by Nate Marquardt. After having his chin checked by ‘The Great’, Maia returned in to form with a confident decisioning of Dan Miller at UFC 109. Fate has conspired in Maia’s favour though; he will get the opportunity of a lifetime when he steps in as a late replacement against Anderson Silva in April.

7: Yoshihiro Akiyama: The man known as ‘Sexyama’ to his fans made his long awaited debut at UFC 100 with a victory that was much more decisive than the UFC commentary would have you believe. With the UFC targeting the Asian market for expansion, it’s a safe bet that Akiyama will feature heavily in their plans. First though, he’ll have to deal with Brazilian berserker Wanderlei Silva in Canada this summer.   

8: Jake Shields: Shields’ November 7th victory over Jason Miller may not have produced fireworks, but it confirmed what we already knew about Shields – he’s a smothering grappler more than capable of holding his own at a higher weight. His dream match with Dan Henderson has been confirmed for April; should Shields emerge victorious he will remove all doubt of his status as an elite-level competitor. 

9: Mamed ‘Cannibal’ Khalidov: A veteran of World Victory Road’s ‘Sengoku’, Elite XC and Poland’s excellent KSW events, Khalidov might just be the next big thing in European MMA. Sporting an outstanding record of 20-3-1 and riding an 18-fight undefeated streak, ‘Cannibal’ has not tasted defeat since 2005. The Chechen-Polish slugger seamlessly blends wrestling, karate and freestyle grappling into an unorthodox style that recently saw him KO Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago in just 2:45 of the first round. He’ll rematch Santiago on March 7th, this time with the SRC Middleweight Championship on the line.

10: Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping: UK trailblazer may no longer be the sole poster boy for Brits abroad in MMA with the emergence of Dan Hardy and co, but he proved at UFC 105 that he’s more than capable of flying the flag for the motherland inside the Octagon. Following a dominating second round stoppage of the experienced favourite Dennis Kang in Manchester, Bisping found himself on the losing end of a tight decision loss to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110. ‘The Count’ will need an emphatic victory next time out to keep his place in the rankings at 185lbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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