USAT/SBN June 2010 MMA Consensus Rankings: Heavyweight

Rankings compiled by Richard Wade. Rank Fighter Points Promotion Last Rank 1 Fedor Emelianenko 300 M-1 Global/Strikeforce 1 2 Brock Lesnar 287 UFC 2…

By: Nate Wilcox | 13 years ago
USAT/SBN June 2010 MMA Consensus Rankings: Heavyweight
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

Rank Fighter Points Promotion Last Rank
1 Fedor Emelianenko 300 M-1 Global/Strikeforce 1
2 Brock Lesnar 287 UFC 2
3 Shane Carwin 274 UFC 3
4 Cain Velasquez 260 UFC 4
5 Frank Mir 240 UFC 5
6 Junior dos Santos 237 UFC 6
7 Alistair Overeem 232 Strikeforce/DREAM 7
8 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 225 UFC 8
9 Fabricio Werdum 198 Strikeforce 9
10 Josh Barnett 166 DREAM/Impact Fighting 10
11 Brett Rogers 162 Strikeforce 12
12 Antonio Silva 149 Strikeforce 11
13 Gabriel Gonzaga 120 UFC 13
14 Cheick Kongo 101 UFC 14
15 Aleksander Emelianenko 85 Free Agent 16
16 Mirko Filipovic 84 UFC 17
17 Andrei Arlovski 81 Strikeforce 15
18 Pedro Rizzo 73 Impact FC 17
19 Roy Nelson 64 UFC 19
20 Ben Rothwell 59 UFC 21
21 Tim Sylvia 52 Free Agent 20
22 Randy Couture 47 UFC 21
23 Stefan Struve 41 UFC 23
24 Ray Mercer 31 Free Agent 23
25 Sergei Kharitonov Strikeforce 27

This is the calm before the storm. This weekend will see long reigning #1 Fedor Emelianenko face #9 Fabricio Werdum on Strikeforce; Fedor vs Werdum Showtime.

Then the following weekend we’ll see #2 Brock Lesnar face #3 Shane Carwin in a UFC heavyweight title unification bout at UFC 116 on July 3rd.

The lack of major heavyweight action over the last month makes any movement in this month’s rankings pretty much all noise, no signal.

Based on the premise that all MMA rankings are subjective but that it’s still useful and informative to know who the online MMA community as a whole ranks as the best fighters in MMA, we collect and average the rankings of the top MMA websites to produce our consensus rankings. We compile the top MMA rankings from each of our sources and award 25 points for a first place ranking, 16 for a 10th place ranking, 1 for a 25th place ranking. A formula is used to “normalize” the data so all fighters are awarded points from those lists that do not include a full 25 fighters. This formula ensures that each ranking site awards the same number of total points regardless of how many fighters they choose to rank. Each fighter’s total is divided by the number of possible points to determine their standing in the Consensus Rankings.

We are now moving to what JCS of Fight Matrix has described as assumed rankings in an attempt to rank fighters who move between weight classes. This has been the biggest problem with the consensus rankings and we believe this new methodology will rectify that.

Let’s take Anderson Silva for instance. 87% (13 of 15) of our panelists have him at Light Heavyweight and 100% (15 of 15) at Middleweight. On the 13 ballots that ranked Silva at 205, we took the average (21.2). We then reduced that number by half the percentage of Light Heavyweight ballots that he was not included on. Say he’s not on 30% of them, then we do a 15% penalty on the average that we found in the previous step. That number is then used instead of the usual “normalization number” to provide points from those not ranking the fighter in the weight class in question. This avoids fighters being excessively penalized by confusion about which weight class they belong.

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About the author
Nate Wilcox
Nate Wilcox

Nate Wilcox is the founding editor of BloodyElbow.com. As such he has hired every editor and writer to work for the site. Wilcox’s writing for BE is known for its emphasis on MMA history, the evolution of fighting techniques and strong opinions. Wilcox developed the SBN MMA consensus rankings which were featured in USA Today from 2009 to 2011. Before founding BE, Wilcox was a political operative working for such figures as Senators John Kerry and Mark Warner and an early political blogger. He is the co-author of Netroots Rising, a history of the political blogosphere from 2003 to 2007. Wilcox also hosts the Let It Roll podcast on music history for the Pantheon Podcast Network.

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