| It seems fitting with UFC 77 right around the corner, | | | | faced Rich Franklin, but neither has faced middleweight |
| with Rich Franklin fighting current UFC middleweight | | | | champion Anderson Silva. Since Okami got less |
| champion Anderson Silva to give my UFC | | | | beaten up by Franklin than MacDonald did, I give him |
| middleweight top 5 rankings now. | | | | the #3 spot. I think that if Okami had committed himself |
| The UFC middleweight division is probably the | | | | earlier in the fight he would have possibly decisioned |
| weakest in all of the UFC. By weakest I mean that | | | | Franklin. |
| there is one clear cut champion, a clear cut second | | | | 2. Rich Franklin is defintely deserving of his #2 status. |
| and then everyone else is way below. Mixed Martial | | | | He has defeated both the third and fourth best fighters |
| Arts has come a long way in a very short period of | | | | in the division and deserves to get his title rematch |
| time, so things could change overnight. Let's get started | | | | against Anderson Silva. Until Silva arrived on the scene, |
| with my rankings. | | | | it looked like Rich Franklin would remain on top of the |
| 5. Chris Leben; I think most MMA fans would not | | | | middleweight mountain for quite a while. Franklin took a |
| include Chris Leben in the top 5 of the UFC | | | | beating at the hands of Silva and I'm interested to see |
| middleweight division, but Leben is coming off an | | | | what improvements he has made to his game |
| impressive come from behind win over a very tough | | | | strategy for the rematch. |
| Terry Martin and fought a close decision loss with Kalib | | | | 1. Anderson Silva is the best middleweight in the UFC, |
| Starnes. I personally thought that the Starnes fight was | | | | maybe the best middleweight in the world. Real MMA |
| a draw or even a narrow Leben victory. | | | | fans would love to see a bout between Matt Lindland |
| The thing I've been most impressed with lately with | | | | and Anderson Silva to decide the best MMA |
| Leben is his ground game. Sure, he's not at the level of | | | | middleweight, but since Lindland doesn't fight in the UFC |
| Jason MacDonald or Travis Lutter yet, but he's | | | | we have Anderson Silva reigning supreme. His |
| defended very well and even attempted some | | | | dominant performances against Chris Leben, Rich |
| submissions in the Starnes fight. It's clear after his loss | | | | Franklin, Travis Lutter and most recently Nate |
| to MacDonald Silva that Chris Leben has gone back to | | | | Marquardt indicate true dominance. In fact, in his last 4 |
| the drawing board and made some real improvements | | | | fights only one has gone into the second round and |
| to his game. | | | | they represent only 10 minutes of total fight time. |
| 4. Jason MacDonald had a real streak going before he | | | | Anderson Silva is extremely comfortable throwing |
| met Rich "Ace" Franklin. He had back to back wins | | | | punches from all angles. He isn't afraid of being taken |
| over ultimate fighters Ed Herman and Chris Leben | | | | down, so he allows himself to take risks throwing big |
| winning both fights by submission. MacDonald had a bit | | | | flying knees and other high profile strikes. It's that kind |
| of a set back when he faced recently de-throned | | | | of fighting which will both keep Anderson on or near |
| champion Rich Franklin. This fight showed just how big | | | | the top of the middleweight division for quite some |
| of a gap there is in the UFC middleweight division, but | | | | time. Fans love to see the big strikes and there is |
| MacDonald is taking it all in stride and a recent victory | | | | nothing more satisfying than a KO. |
| at UFC 72 over Rory Singer shows that "The Athlete" | | | | That rounds out the UFC middleweight top 5. Time to |
| is back on track. Jason MacDonald takes on Yushin | | | | start working on the UFC heavyweight top 5, but with |
| Okami at UFC 77, likely to see who will face the | | | | the departure of Randy Couture and the recent signing |
| winner of Anderson Silva and Rich Franklin. | | | | to M-1 of Fedor Emelianenko, that could be a real |
| 3. Yushin Okami and Jason MacDonald have both | | | | chore. |