Rankings Focus: Brendan Schaub robbed again after Andrei Arlovski 'loss'
Brendan Schaub damn near cried talking about his controversial loss to Andrei Arlovski during his Fighter & The Kid podcast. What could he have done when he took a look at the official UFC rankings Tuesday?
Schaub, who came into UFC 174 on Saturday in at No. 14, was nowhere to be found in the new rankings when they were released this week. The mediavoted him out and Arlovski in at No. 15. That's certainly worth a tear or two.
These rankings are odd. The vast majority of media members scored the fight in favor of Schaub, but the judges thought differently. So now those same reporters (presumably) are saying that Arlovski should be ahead of Schaub, because he beat him? That doesn't make any sense. How can we cry about bad decisions and then go and apply those decisions ourselves with votes? That's a terrible precedent.
There are also tons of inconsistencies in voting. This week, Carlos Condit moved ahead of Tyron Woodley to No. 3 in the welterweight division. Woodley is now No. 4. Yes, Woodley lost in lopsided fashion to Rory MacDonald on Saturday night. But does anyone remember that just three months ago Woodley beat Condit head-to-head? That should count for something, no?
And Condit, all respect to him as one of the best 170-pounders on the planet, is out for a year with a torn ACL. He was in Vancouver promoting EA Sports UFC, so maybe those votes for him at No. 3 are based on his skills with an Xbox One controller.
Let's recap here for a second. So, Arlovski beats Schaub despite a terrible decision, so he must go over him in the rankings. Woodley beat Condit in March by TKO (yes, Condit got hurt, but Woodley was dominating), yet Condit hops ahead of him after Woodley's loss. Hypocritical patterns abound.
Look, Schaub and Arlovski put on an awful performance. Maybe neither one of them should be in the rankings after that mess. But the fact that Schaub gets bumped altogether to make room for Arlovski when anyone watching the fight knows Schaub won is simply wrong.
Inexplicable move of the week: Fabio Maldonado
Fabio Maldonado, meet Stipe Miocic's right hand.
This is the best we can do at light heavyweight, guys?
Chael Sonnen announced his retirement last week, so he was no longer votable this week in the UFC rankings. That left a spot open at 205 and Fabio Maldonado has filled it at No. 15. The same Maldonado who is coming off a loss in 35 seconds to Stipe Miocic last month. Granted, Maldonado moved up to heavyweight for that bout, but nothing about him screams that he should be ranked anywhere but the list of fighter who spill the most blood.
Maybe light heavyweight is just weak. One of the UFC's premier divisions historically has taken a hit of late. And not just because champion Jon Jones has been a scourge at the top.
There really is not a whole lot of fighters who should be in at No. 15. Ilir Latifi? Maybe Robert Drysdale can be that guy? The UFC could use some prospects at 205.
Rankings riffs
Mike Easton takes a foot to the face.
-- Mike Easton should have dropped like a rock in the bantamweight rankings and he did, falling six places to No. 14. But that isn't far enough. Easton has to be out. All due respect to an extremely tough fighter, but Yves Jabouin dominated him at UFC 174 and Jabouin's name is nowhere to be found on the list.
-- Ovince St. Preux has reached the top 10 after his win over Ryan Jimmo. Light heavyweight really isn't any good, as stated above, but it's nice to see the rankings working for someone. As I wrote about two weeks ago with C.B. Dollaway, these lists do matter to fringe fighters who are on a roll and don't get a ton of media exposure. Without these rankings, would we consider St. Preux a top-10 light heavweight? Hard to say.
-- Mark Munoz returned to the rankings this week after being removed temporarily while he was working on a new contract with the UFC. He's in as the No. 13 middleweight. C.B. Dollaway moved up one spot to No. 9 above Costas Phillipou, who is now No. 10, even though neither one of them fought. I guess more people were voting based on their experience with EA Sports UFC.
