Middleweight is a pretty weird division to rank an all time top ten for

[XThe GreatestX]

title.

So was thinking about this. If i was to rank the ten best middleweights ever based on resume (185 pounds not Pride's MW weight)

1. Anderson Silva. pretty clearly.....

and then two is probably...Henderson I guess or maybe Izzy if you think highly of this last era of guys?

and then after that it's a glob of guys. Izzy, Weidman, Vitor, Jacare, Whittaker, Rockhold, Romero, Maia, Bisping, Chael, Franklin, Nate, Mousasi etc.

But not much separating 3-10

 

[Luthien]

Kinda true yeah
Anderson was dominant for so long and his fall left the division in the Dark Ages.

Silva = Rome

 

[MartiniSIDe]

For me

1. Anderson
2. Izzy
3. Henderson
4. Bobby Knuckles (will finish 2 or 3 by the end of his career)
5. Weidman
6. Rich
7. Vitor
8. Yoel
9. Moussasi
10. Jacare

But yeah, the bottom half is interchangeable depending on how you look at it.

 

[XThe GreatestX]

For me

1. Anderson
2. Izzy
3. Henderson
4. Bobby Knuckles (will finish 2 or 3 by the end of his career)
5. Weidman
6. Rich
7. Vitor
8. Yoel
9. Moussasi
10. Jacare

to be brutally honest. he was a good fighter

but at this point I think Rich has been pretty clearly surpassed. resume wise in particular

 

[MartiniSIDe]

to be brutally honest. he was a good fighter

but at this point I think Rich has been pretty clearly surpassed. resume wise in particular

I agree

I gave him this spot because he was The Man before Anderson and would probably have kept that spot for a while. But yeah, you could easily argue he's lower than that.

 

[capnlarge]

Now imagine if you were someone who disqualifies PED users from the conversation. That would really make this difficult

 

[Chomsky Honk]

Before Anderson, the main dudes of the division also jumped weight classes a lot, which makes it hard to contextualize the history sometimes

 

[Poatan Power]

Do we throw Shields in here? He beat Hendo and Lawler at MW and was the SF champ. He also failed a PED test and claims it was a diuretic (big deal).

Including PED issues in this division is quite the confusing puzzle. Even Hendo was a TRT dude

 

[Kenny Powerth]

Moussasi is top 3, possibly GOAT if you take out PED abusers

 

[XThe GreatestX]

Do we throw Shields in here? He beat Hendo and Lawler at MW and was the SF champ.

you could. his thing would be he had what? 4 fights at middleweight?

 

[MartiniSIDe]

Do we throw Shields in here? He beat Hendo and Lawler at MW and was the SF champ.

Here's another guy who's though to judge when you consider only one division.

 

[Poatan Power]

you could. his thing would be he had what? 4 fights at middleweight?

I think so. It was in SF just to avoid fighting Nick. I guess it isn't worth him being in the MW discussion with such a short tenure even though it was at a pretty high level.

 

[RonMachineGunJhun]

Kinda true yeah
Anderson was dominant for so long and his fall left the division in the Dark Ages.

Silva = Rome

I like how you have Bisping on there. Bisping deserves respect for what he has done.

 

[Shaddows]

title.

So was thinking about this. If i was to rank the ten best middleweights ever based on resume (185 pounds not Pride's MW weight)

1. Anderson Silva. pretty clearly.....

and then two is probably...Henderson I guess or maybe Izzy if you think highly of this last era of guys?

and then after that it's a glob of guys. Izzy, Weidman, Vitor, Jacare, Whittaker, Rockhold, Romero, Maia, Bisping, Chael, Franklin, Nate, Mousasi etc.

But not much separating 3-10

If we are talking skills/accomplishments, then here it is my list:

1. Anderson

Henderson
Jacare
Moussasi
Izzy
Whittaker
Rockhold
Vitor
Rich F.
Weidman
Nate

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

For me

1. Anderson
2. Izzy
3. Henderson
4. Bobby Knuckles (will finish 2 or 3 by the end of his career)
5. Weidman
6. Rich
7. Vitor
8. Yoel
9. Moussasi
10. Jacare

But yeah, the bottom half is interchangeable depending on how you look at it.

I think you have Henderson too high, he didn't have a lot of big wins at 185 since around half of his fights were at 205+ I would have him at 5th and bump everyone else up.

 

[560ti]

Now imagine if you were someone who disqualifies PED users from the conversation. That would really make this difficult

Yep. Hendo, Chael, Marquardt, and Vitor all on TRT. Anderson busted for multiple compounds. You also have guys like Bisping, Moussasi, Shields, and Franklin that all fought at multiple weight classes (with shields also failing a drug test as well).

Pretty hard to rank a "middle weight only" top 10 based on those factors.

 

[d2s]

If we are talking skills/accomplishments, then here it is my list:

1. Anderson

Henderson
Jacare
Moussasi
Izzy
Whittaker
Rockhold
Vitor
Rich F.
Weidman
Nate

Agree with this list 100%.
Marquardt was such a force during his first UFC run.

 

[SokoudjouFanboy]

Feel like Paulo Filho deserves an honorable mention if not a spot towards the bottom of a top 10 list. Was considered #1 MW in the world even above Anderson for a while before Anderson was dominant. Held the WEC belt. Could have been more if not for the health/drug issues though.

 

[humdizzle]

1 silva
2 izzy
3 moussasi

gegard has done alot. but also has quite a few inexcusable losses on his record like lavato jr and uriah hall.

 

[MartiniSIDe]

I think you have Henderson too high, he didn't have a lot of big wins at 185 since around half of his fights were at 205+ I would have him at 5th and bump everyone else up.

I actually had Bobby in front of him initialy but I was scared all the Pride fanboys would gang up on me.