From January 2010-2015 (excluding the Gus-Rumble and Davis-Bader match-ups):
Jones
Machida
Gustafsson
Hendo
Evans
Davis
Bader
Teixeira
Newton
Lawal
Other guys:
- Shogun's 2nd win against Machida was great, one of the best wins any guy here has had, but he just wasn't the same fighter after that 3rd knee surgery. He was just too inconsistent, had the worst stretch of his career with especially poor performances against Vera, Sonnen, and OSP. He did give Gustafsson more problems than many realize. It seems Gus has a tendency to struggle in using his boxing game against smaller guys (much more effective against guys his size like Hamman, Diabate, Jones). The key for him was his TDs and then the kicks he was able to set up after he established control of the distance. Outside of when Gus established a clinch, many of the exchanges in boxing range/pocket seemed to favour Shogun.
It took Gus so long to adjust to those right hands and he just kept eating them. When Shogun started to catch onto his jab and countering with the overhand, Gus started trying to adjust; nobody has ever succeeded at convincing him to concede at any range, dude is just very tough. When he did adjust and Shogun started to tire, he did great. The third round was a very strong one for him. But the second round was very close, and the first could have easily gone to Shogun. He showed improved boxing in the Hendo II and Te Huna fights, much better understanding of weight transfer/leverage/punching mechanics, a decent jab against Hendo (always had one from training/sparring videos but never used it) and counter hooks, but that was still a far-cry from what he was.
- Nogueira, even past his prime, shut out Evans and beat Ortiz more decisively than anyone in a long time. But with the inactivity, controversial win against Brilz, and clear losses to Davis and Bader (though I had him taking a round in each fight, and the 2nd against Bader could have been scored 10-10, iirc), I don't think I can quite put him in there. But he is definitely fringe, and probably #11 for me.
- Mousasi was very consistent and had some decent wins (the Sobral win is what really elevated him on the map as far as LHW rankings, but that isn't included within this time frame), although he didn't fight the best guys. His only loss was against Lawal where he damaged him much more than vice-versa.
- Rumble had some decent wins before getting into the UFC, but the performances against Davis and Nogueira were impressive. There weren't many fighters who had a better 2014 than him. If he beats Gustafsson he would definitely climb up.
- Thiago Silva, while inconsistent (maybe it was injuries), had a couple good performances and really made new fundamental, and technical improvements to his game near from the Feijao fight (use of the jab to control distance and pressure, foot positioning, less predictable defence with his high guard, opting to create opportunities to counter, etc.). I was high on him after that performance and thought he had the tools to pose some serious problems for most of the LHWs at the time. It is a shame what has happened since.
Btw, his fight with Evans was very close and I could honestly see it scored 29-29 with a 10-10 2nd round. He clearly got the better of the striking overall (hurt him badly at one point) and despite Evans taking him down almost any time he wanted in the 1st 2 rounds (Silva defended well when he wasn't make poor decisions to get into a sprawl position and waste energy), he got back to his feet almost immediately every time, and Evans didn't have a whole lot of significant offence outside of the 1st, and almost did nothing in the clinch during the 2nd.
- Cormier is a Top-10 p4p fighter imo, and his fight with Jones was very, very competitive and close. But he has only been in the division for a year, although looked very good in it, and deserves a shout.
