At FIGHT! Magazine, we believe there is a need for a completely objective and unbiased ranking system for fighters to replace the myriad of subjective rankings that have become skewed, in many instances, by fighter popularity. In an effort to address this issue FIGHT! Magazine brings you its computerized rankings system which takes into account a fighters strength of opponent, strength of performance, and frequency of activity. Strikeforce: Nashville upset the apple cart as three of its champions – Gilbert Melendez, Jake Shields, and Muhammed Lawal – enter the top five in their respective divisions.
Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields retained his belt and moved from #6 to #3 in FIGHT!’s Middleweight Rankings with his unanimous decision win over P4P mainstay Dan Henderson. Hendo slipped from #3 to #7 with the loss.
Gilbert Melendez defended his title against Shinya Aoki and jumped from #9 to #2 in FIGHT!’s Lightweight Rankings while Aoki dropped from #2 to #10. If the pre-fight hype bears out we may see Melendez traveling to Japan to vie for Aoki’s DREAM Lightweight Championship, but after last night’s showing it wouldn’t be surprising if Aoki wanted no part of it.
In the light heavyweight title tilt, “King Mo” upset the reigning champ Gegard Mousasi. Lawal jumped from #13 to #4 in FIGHT!’s Light Heavyweight Rankings and in doing so, dropped Mousasi from the #2 to the #7 spot.
The only other ranked fighter on the card, Jason Miller, moved from #50 to #37 in our Middleweight rankings with his win over Tim Stout.
FIGHT! Fans: What do you think?
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