Who is the second greatest MW of all time?

[JayElectra]

Rich Franklin? (Tanner x2, Loiseau, Okami)

Chael Sonnen? (Filho, Okami, Marquardt, Bisping and Stann)

Dan Henderson? (Renzo, Gono and Busta)

Paulo Filho? (Minowa, Suloev, Misaki) Sonnen wasn't ranked when Filho beat him

Matt Lindland? (Salaverry, Baroni, Horn)

Murilo Bustamante? (Menne, Kikuta, Lindland) disputed decision with Hendo

Top 10 wins in brackets (correct them if they're wrong)

Who?

I'm using Sherdog rankings as the source so the rankings can certainly be contested. I got the links courtesy dman940's thread for the most part. Here is a link to the thread: http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f44/rankings-broken-down-weight-class-2001-present-1204466/

 

[Det Kimble]

 

[FallIntoTheRope**]

Hendo or Franklin.

 

[akproplayer]

Anderson Silva

 

[Peteyandjia]

It's probably one of those three guys, but I don't know who. The Hendo/Rich fight was pretty inconclusive to me. I guess there's no clear #2.

 

[bmasters1993]

Anderson Silva

Came here to post this

 

[Phal4nx]

Dan Henderson beat Rich Franklin @ UFC 93 so I guess that makes Hendo #2?

 

[themainman]

gotta go with hendo

-themainman

 

[Go Go Plata]

Sonnen should not even be mentioned for the top 5 greatest MWs of all time.

Hendo is #2

 

[JayElectra]

Anybody think that a case can be made for Sonnen (note this is MW resume)? He has the most top 10 wins. More losses, though. It really is tough to say.

 

[KDNativeSon]

Not saying he's #2, but where would you guys place Saku on this list? Apparently he walked around and fought at the middleweight range in his prime against Light Heavyweights when he could/should of been cutting to 170.

 

[TicoMMAfan]

Not saying he's #2, but where would you guys place Saku on this list? Apparently he walked around and fought at the middleweight range in his prime against Light Heavyweights when he could/should of been cutting to 170.

Good point but you'll only get hate. And its all so f'n subjective. Just enjoy the fights and then say "these guys were great", don't talk of those that are not great. The end.

 

[JayElectra]

Not saying he's #2, but where would you guys place Saku on this list? Apparently he walked around and fought at the middleweight range in his prime against Light Heavyweights when he could/should of been cutting to 170.

If he fought there naturally and had the competition available, maybe. Doesn't really have the wins to be in the discussion, though.

 

[Kanster]

Chael Sonnen.

 

[Smeaglebutcrack**]

This thread is one of the examples of the weakness of the MW division.

The fact that it really is that hard to choose a consensus #2 and the candidates havnt really done that much impressive at MW

 

[KDNativeSon]

Good point but you'll only get hate. And its all so f'n subjective. Just enjoy the fights and then say "these guys were great", don't talk of those that are not great. The end.

I understand, I only asked because I noticed Hendo mentioned when I've read (and agree with) that his 205 campaigns far outshine his 185 runs. So it made me think of fighters similar to that and of course, Sakuraba came to mind. But the poster below your response made a valid point in saying he doesn't have the necessary Middleweight wins to be considered. Just trying to include in the discussion.

 

[JayJayMMA]

All time no.2 - To me it is Paulo Filho

UFC - Rich Franklin

 

[XRaided]

henderson, closely followed by sonnen.

 

[atl2006]

Hendo

 

[JayElectra]

This thread is one of the examples of the weakness of the MW division.

The fact that it really is that hard to choose a consensus #2 and the candidates havnt really done that much impressive at MW

Yes and no. Both Franklin and Henderson have found notable success at a higher weight class (Henderson more notably than Rich).