UFC/Pride Light Heavyweight Champions with least-to-most Top 10 ranked wins at Light Heavyweight.

[acannxr]

The Flyweight version is here.
The Bantamweight version is here.
The Featherweight version is here.
The Lightweight version is here.
The Welterweight version is here.
The Middleweight version is here.
The Heavyweight version is here.
Champions with most wins in each division here.
The Multi-Division version is here.

Rankings are based on FightMatrix.

Frank Shamrock

Shamrock's resume:

#4 Kevin Jackson
#1 Tito Ortiz

Shamrock has 2 top ten wins.

Jamahal Hill

Hill's resume:

#10 Thiago Santos
#3 Glover Teixeira

Hill has 2 top ten wins.

Jiří Procházka

Procházka's resume:

#6 Dominick Reyes
#1 Glover Teixeira

Procházka has 2 top ten wins.

Alex Pereira

Pereira's resume:

#2 Jan Błachowicz
#4 Jamahal Hill

Pereira has 2 top ten wins.

Jan Błachowicz

Błachowicz' resume:

#7 Corey Anderson
#7 Dominick Reyes
#8 Aleksandar Rakić

Błachowicz has 3 top ten wins.

Forrest Griffin

Griffin's resume:

#2 Mauricio Rua
#1 Quinton Jackson
#10 Rich Franklin

Griffin has 3 top ten wins.

Vitor Belfort

Belfort's resume:

#5 Wanderlei Silva
#1 Randy Couture
#9 Dan Henderson

Belfort has 3 top ten wins.

Randy Couture

Couture's resume:

#2 Chuck Liddell
#2 Tito Ortiz
#2 Vitor Belfort

Couture has 3 top ten wins.

Daniel Cormier

Cormier's resume:

#5 Dan Henderson
#2 Anthony Johnson
#7 Alexander Gustafsson
#3 Anthony Johnson
#7 Volkan Oezdemir

Cormier has 5 top ten wins.

Glover Teixeira

Teixeira's resume:

#8 Quinton Jackson
#9 Ryan Bader
#9 Ovince St. Preux
#7 Rashad Evans
#4 Anthony Smith
#1 Jan Błachowicz

Teixeira has 6 top ten wins.

Dan Henderson

Henderson's resume:

#10 Murilo Bustamante
#8 Yuki Kondo
#10 Vitor Belfort
#9 Rich Franklin
#2 Mauricio Rua
#9 Mauricio Rua

Henderson has 6 top ten wins.

Wanderlei Silva

Silva's resume:

#7 Kazushi Sakuraba
#6 Quinton Jackson
#7 Yuki Kondo
#4 Quinton Jackson
#5 Ricardo Arona
#3 Keith Jardine

Silva has 6 top ten wins.

Tito Ortiz

Ortiz' resume:

#6 Jerry Bohlander
#8 Wanderlei Silva
#1 Yuki Kondo
#9 Evan Tanner
#6 Vladimir Matyushenko
#3 Vitor Belfort
#9 Ryan Bader

Ortiz has 7 top ten wins.

Lyoto Machida

Machida's resume:

#4 Sokoudjou
#9 Tito Ortiz
#2 Rashad Evans
#4 Mauricio Rua
#7 Randy Couture
#6 Ryan Bader
#4 Dan Henderson

Machida has 7 top ten wins.

Rashad Evans

Evans' resume:

#2 Chuck Liddell
#1 Forrest Griffin
#10 Thiago Silva
#2 Quinton Jackson
#10 Phil Davis
#3 Dan Henderson
#8 Chael Sonnen

Evans has 7 top ten wins.

Quinton Jackson

Jackson's resume:

#5 Kevin Randleman
#3 Chuck Liddell
#1 Chuck Liddell
#5 Dan Henderson
#4 Wanderlei Silva
#7 Keith Jardine
#3 Lyoto Machida

Jackson has 7 top ten wins.

Chuck Liddell

Liddell's resume:

#6 Paul Jones
#9 Murilo Bustamante
#5 Tito Ortiz
#1 Randy Couture
#3 Randy Couture
#8 Renato Sobral
#6 Tito Ortiz
#9 Wanderlei Silva

Liddell has 8 top ten wins.

Mauricio Rua

Rua's resume:

#5 Quinton Jackson
#8 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
#5 Alistair Overeem
#10 Alistair Overeem
#8 Chuck Liddell
#1 Lyoto Machida
#6 Forrest Griffin
#10 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Rua has 8 top ten wins.

Jon Jones

Jones' resume:

#6 Ryan Bader
#1 Mauricio Rua
#4 Quinton Jackson
#6 Lyoto Machida
#3 Rashad Evans
#4 Alexander Gustafsson
#6 Glover Teixeira
#2 Daniel Cormier
#4 Anthony Smith
#6 Thiago Santos
#8 Dominick Reyes

Jones has 11 top ten wins.

 

[faustian]

Shogun should have 9 and Machida should have 6 if we're going by who really won their first fight

EDIT: Shogun should actually have 10. Where's his Arona win?

 

[acannxr]

Shogun should have 9 and Machida should have 6

EDIT: Shogun should actually have 10. Where's his Arona win?

Arona was #12 when Shogun defeated him.

You'll have to be more specific on the others.

 

[HHJ]

we need the HW version of this!

 

[acannxr]

we need the HW version of this!

I did a different version of this for a top five at Heavyweight, Fedor won.

I'll likely do a version of this for the Heavyweight division later though.

 

[Zebra Cheeks]

The Lightweight version is here.
The Welterweight version is here.
The Middleweight version is here.

Rankings are based on FightMatrix.

Frank Shamrock

Shamrock's resume:

#4 Kevin Jackson
#1 Tito Ortiz

Shamrock has 2 top ten wins.

Jan Błachowicz

Błachowicz' resume:

#7 Corey Anderson
#7 Dominick Reyes

Błachowicz has 2 top ten wins.

Forrest Griffin

Griffin's resume:

#2 Mauricio Rua
#1 Quinton Jackson
#10 Rich Franklin

Griffin has 3 top ten wins.

Vitor Belfort

Belfort's resume:

#5 Wanderlei Silva
#1 Randy Couture
#9 Dan Henderson

Belfort has 3 top ten wins.

Randy Couture

Couture's resume:

#2 Chuck Liddell
#2 Tito Ortiz
#2 Vitor Belfort

Couture has 3 top ten wins.

Daniel Cormier

Cormier's resume:

#5 Dan Henderson
#2 Anthony Johnson
#7 Alexander Gustafsson
#3 Anthony Johnson
#7 Volkan Oezdemir

Cormier has 5 top ten wins.

Dan Henderson

Henderson's resume:

#10 Murilo Bustamante
#8 Yuki Kondo
#10 Vitor Belfort
#9 Rich Franklin
#2 Mauricio Rua
#9 Mauricio Rua

Henderson has 6 top ten wins.

Wanderlei Silva

Silva's resume:

#7 Kazushi Sakuraba
#6 Quinton Jackson
#7 Yuki Kondo
#4 Quinton Jackson
#5 Ricardo Arona
#3 Keith Jardine

Silva has 6 top ten wins.

Tito Ortiz

Ortiz' resume:

#6 Jerry Bohlander
#8 Wanderlei Silva
#1 Yuki Kondo
#9 Evan Tanner
#6 Vladimir Matyushenko
#3 Vitor Belfort
#9 Ryan Bader

Ortiz has 7 top ten wins.

Lyoto Machida

Machida's resume:

#4 Sokoudjou
#9 Tito Ortiz
#2 Rashad Evans
#4 Mauricio Rua
#7 Randy Couture
#6 Ryan Bader
#4 Dan Henderson

Machida has 7 top ten wins.

Rashad Evans

Evans' resume:

#2 Chuck Liddell
#1 Forrest Griffin
#10 Thiago Silva
#2 Quinton Jackson
#10 Phil Davis
#3 Dan Henderson
#8 Chael Sonnen

Evans has 7 top ten wins.

Quinton Jackson

Jackson's resume:

#5 Kevin Randleman
#3 Chuck Liddell
#1 Chuck Liddell
#5 Dan Henderson
#4 Wanderlei Silva
#7 Keith Jardine
#3 Lyoto Machida

Jackson has 7 top ten wins.

Chuck Liddell

Liddell's resume:

#6 Paul Jones
#9 Murilo Bustamante
#5 Tito Ortiz
#1 Randy Couture
#3 Randy Couture
#8 Renato Sobral
#6 Tito Ortiz
#9 Wanderlei Silva

Liddell has 8 top ten wins.

Mauricio Rua

Rua's resume:

#5 Quinton Jackson
#8 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
#5 Alistair Overeem
#10 Alistair Overeem
#8 Chuck Liddell
#1 Lyoto Machida
#6 Forrest Griffin
#10 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Rua has 8 top ten wins.

Jon Jones

Jones' resume:

#6 Ryan Bader
#1 Mauricio Rua
#4 Quinton Jackson
#6 Lyoto Machida
#3 Rashad Evans
#4 Alexander Gustafsson
#6 Glover Teixeira
#2 Daniel Cormier
#4 Anthony Smith
#6 Thiago Santos
#8 Dominick Reyes

Jones has 11 top ten wins.

Interesting that Jan has already made a dent. When all is said and done he’ll rank pretty well amongst some of these guys

 

[acannxr]

When all is said and done he’ll rank pretty well amongst some of these guys

Doubtful; he only has 2 top ten wins at 37 years old; for comparison, Jones had 2 top ten wins at 23 years old.

 

[Pault1989]

Dom Reyes only #7 in his title fight with Jan?

 

[Zebra Cheeks]

Doubtful; he only has 2 top ten wins at 37 years old; for comparison, Jones had 2 top ten wins at 23 years old.

I don’t expect him to compete with Jon jones. Jon jones is the type of fighter you get once, maybe twice every decade

 

[TheChance]

#4 Sokoudjou

Jesus, the people responsible for that ranking should be ashamed of themselves. Quick KO's of Arona and Lil' nog shouldn't have got him this high.

 

[HHJ]

Fedor won.

 

[tripleo]

damn LHW used to be THE ELITE WEIGHT CLASS for ufc
now it's a wasteland

 

[faustian]

Arona was #12 when Shogun defeated him.

You'll have to be more specific on the others.

You chose the Fight Matrix date as 07/01/2005

That was before Arona beat the consensus world #1 Wand on 08/28/2005

Shogun then beat Arona later that same evening

Fight Matrix then had Arona ranked #5 on 10/01/2005 coming off his Shogun loss. So his win over Wand was enough keep him at #5 even after losing the GP finals to Shogun. Point being, he was ranked at least top 5 after his Wand win and when he fought Shogun

 

[HHJ]

#4 Sokoudjou

Jesus, the people responsible for that ranking should be ashamed of themselves. Quick KO's of Arona and Lil' nog shouldn't have got him this high.

??

Beating them is all that matters

 

[TheChance]

??

Beating them is all that matters

I didn't mean to imply the method of victory should make a difference, I meant that beating those two at all should have gotten him to #4

 

[HHJ]

I didn't mean to imply the method of victory should make a difference, I meant that beating those two at all should have gotten him to #4

what were they ranked?

 

[acannxr]

You chose the Fight Matrix date as 07/01/2005

I go by the ranks fighters had prior to the fight I'm looking at, that's how I've done it with all four of these threads.

 

[UFCBlackbelt]

Why do some fighters like Chuck get rematches counted but Jones and Dc dont?

 

[faustian]

I go by the ranks fighters had prior to the fight I'm looking at, that's how I've done it with all four of these threads.

I appreciate the work you've done but if you're using Fight Matrix then it already isn't an exact science and we aren't using official historical rankings, so there should be room for applying common sense and context in order to mitigate some of the inherent problems with Fight Matrix. The problem with Fight Matrix here is that it's a retroactive formulaic ranking that's only searchable in 3 month increments. With Arona, the increments fall before his Wand win (when it ranks him #12) and after his blowout loss to Shogun (when it ranks him #5). Ipso facto we can conclude that Fight Matrix -- if their retroactive rankings were generated fight by fight rather than once every 3 months -- would rank Arona at least #5 for the Shogun fight

And this would align with the reality of where the consensus MMA community had Arona ranked when he fought Shogun. Arona was in fact the lineal Pride MW champ at that point, of course he was ranked top 10. Ignoring this, as well as the fact that Fight Matrix had Arona #5 after losing to Shogun, and instead insisting that it had Arona #12 on 07/01/2005 prior to his Wand and Shogun fights, would just be doubling down on the limitations of using Fight Matrix in the first place

 

[Fergelmince]

Well this totally proves that Jones sucks and he was just a flash in the pan.