This is the second part of the piece i posted up a few days ago which is here , if you like it,i'l post of the rest soon

The Fighters

1-Tim 'The Main-iac' Sylvia (28-6)

                                Sylvia:Celebrating his UFC 59 victory against Andrei Arlovski via second round tko.

A Former UFC Champ who fought for the belt a total of 9 times whilst in the organisation.Sylvia is currently on a four fight win streak outside of the UFC  with a recent knockout of former UFC fighter Paul Buentello  and a stoppage victory over the worlds strongest man Mariusz Pudzianowski spawning increased media attention for the former champ and many fans hoping to see Sylvia back.Tim has spoken about wanting to make a return to the UFC,

"I would definitely like to get back in the UFC or Strikeforce. We have talked with Strikeforce but right now we don't know what is happening right now. There is guys I want to fight in both shows.

If he is impressive versus Abe Wagner at Titan Fighting Championship 16 and against Pedro Rizzo the following month at Powerhouse World Promotions event in   he should definitely be in contention to re-sign with the UFC and possibly even matched up with Shane Carwin in the rumored June PPV in Vancouver, his size and reach could definitely give the former number one contender problems.When company president Dana White was asked about his opinion on Sylvia returning to the UFC he didn't hold back on why he thought it was a bad idea

Are you kidding me, he  seriously wants to return to the UFC?"  "He hasn't won a fight in years and when he did he usually put everyone to sleep, the only time he's in an exciting fight is when he's getting his [expletive] ass handed to him.(source)

You have to wonder id Dana's personal hatred towards Tim is unfair and possibly blocking the former champion and current top 20 heavyweight form making a return to the big stage.Tim holds victories in the UFC against Andrei Arlovski (twice),Jeff Monson, Ricco Rodriguez and Brandon Vera.Of his 6 career losses 5 were to top 10 Heavyweights Fedor,Big Nog,Mir,Couture(at the time) and Arlovski(at the time).He also suffered an embarrassing loss to former boxer Ray Mercer where he showed up to the fight grossly out of shape.Sylvia has since dropped the excess weight is looking like he is a win or two away from returning to the UFC.

2-Ricco 'Suave' Rodriguez (45-11)

       Pictured:Rodriguez battles MMA legend Randy Couture in 2002 for the vacant Heavyweight Championship.

Rodriguez is another former UFC HW Champion who holds notable victories in the UFC over Monson,Arlovski and Randy Couture(to win the Heavyweight title).'Suave' left the organisation seven years ago and battled personal issues in his life resulting in an appearance on celebrity rehab and weighing over 300 pounds at one point.Rodriguez  has gone 31-7 since leaving the UFC in 2003 and is currently riding a 10 fight win streak although the majority of the competition has been not been at an elite level.His most recent victory was against European fighter Daniel Tabera in where he attempted to make a cut to 205 pounds,'Suave' missed weight by 10 pounds and was forced to forfeit a percentage of his purse after winning a unanimous decision.Ricco has openly spoke about his desire to return to the UFC and end his career where he made his name in the beginning,

"Been a lot going on in my career. Last 10 fights, dropping down to 205, winning my last 10, just been a tough year working real hard, and I'm ready to step up to the big leagues," Rodriguez told MMAWeekly.com. "All my past history with Dana and everyone, I just want to totally apologize and hopefully put it behind us and there's still some great fights that the fans want to see. Hopefully all this can be possible."

Rumors are already circulating that he is currently in negotiations to return to the UFC as a Heavyweight in 2011 with a rematch against Big Nog being the most likely debut fight for Rodriguez.. ~Source

Ricco went on to talk about possible match ups he would like if he returns to te UFC 

"I want to be able to end my career in the UFC. I think a lot of fans want to see a Ricco Rodriguez/Randy Couture, they want to see possibly Frank Mir, there's still a lot out there they want to see me in top contendership and see if I'm even capable of doing it''

3-Jeff  'The Snowman' Monson (40-11                                                          

    Pictured:Monson celebrating his stoppage victory of Anthony Perosh on the UFC 61 'Bitter Rivals' card of 2006.

'The Snowman' is a former UFC number one contender who left the company in 2006 after fighting for the HW title and losing a decision to Tim Sylvia,he went 3-1 in his second stint in the UFC.Monson is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and a two-time Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Champion.Since Monson exited the UFC he has gone 17-5 fighting 23 times in four years.

The 'Snowman' scored notable wins against  world ranked number 14 Roy Nelson,Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix participant and former top 10 fighter Sergei Kharitonov,respected veteran Ubiratan Lima(11-4) and former UFC Champ Ricco Rodriguez(45-11) who has also been on a tear since leaving the UFC.Since leaving the UFC Monson also suffered losses to Pedro Rizzo(Twice),top ranked Josh Barnett,60 fight veteran Travis 'Diesel' Wiuff and fast rising prospect Shamil-Abdurahimov(11-1),four of these fights went to a decision one being split and another majority.

Monson has talked about making 205 in 2011 but with his size and muscle mass he may remain at heavyweight.The former number one contender was rumored to be in negotiations for a return to the big leagues in 2008 to face Cheick Kongo (via fiveouncesofpain)

"If Monson wins, he’ll fight once more in Sengoku in Japan," Hockensmith said. "Then he expects to return to the UFC. He’s had a lot of conversations with them." 

According to Hockensmith, the talks between the UFC and the two-time Abu Dhabi champion have progressed to a point that even a potential opponent has been discussed, with a future bout between Monson and Cheick Kongo discussed as a possibility.

 Monson's proposed return never occurred more then likely due to a legal issue in which he was caught doing graffiti on a Capitol Building and an army recruitment center in Olympia, Washington.Monson recently fought in Canada against and won via first round submission,the veteran will surely be back in the UFC if he can keep his current win streak coming. Possible interesting match ups include of the prospects in the UFC listed in part one.

4-Neil "Goliath" Grove

      (Grove) at the UFC 95 Weigh in , standing 6ft 6'and weighing 266 pounds 'The Goliath' is a 'true' Heavyweight.

Grove is a former UFC fighter  who was cut from the organisation after only one loss.The guy definitely deserves another chance when you haves guys like Tim Hague losing three in a row in the UFC then being called back after one or two wins.Since being cut 'The Goliath' has had three first round knockouts  against solid opposition in Alexey Oleinik (28-6-1),former UFC fighter Eddie Sanchez and UK Veteran Martin Thompson, he fought to a draw with prospect Stav Economou(10-1-1) and his only loss since his departure was to the undefeated Cole Konrad(7-0) who is the the Bellator HW champion and training partner of Brock Lesnar.He is an exciting fighter that could definitely be used for the European cards.Groves main discipline is Karate and he  holds a black belts in both Shodan in Gōjū-ryū karate.

5-Marcio "Pe de Pano" Cruz (7-2)

        Above:Cruz bloodies current UFC contender Frank Mir to win his debut and the spoil the champions return.

Marcio Cruz joined the UFC in 2006 as a rookie in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts with a record of 2-0.He is at a similar level to Big Nog and Fabricio Werdum as one of the best HW BJJ fighters.He holds third degree black belt under  Carlos Gracie Jr.In his UFC debut he was matched against the former champ Frank Mir which many saw as a 'gimme' fight for Mir but Cruz scored one of the biggest upsets of the year when he stopped the returning Mir in the very first round.

Cruz would go on to lose back to back fights in the UFC against Monson in a very lackluster fight that could have went either way and  to Arlovski at UFC 66 by KO in a fight there was controversy surrounding the ending as there some poor reffing.Cruz then left the organisation and has gone 5-0 since with wins versus Rafael Cavalcante (DQ), Dan Christison(18-7) and Choi Mu Bae(7-2 at the time).The 6-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion, 5-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu National Champion would be a welcome edition the the current heavyweight division which holds many wrestlers and stand up fighters.

                                                 Part three to come soon ,hope you enjoy the read. Cormac

via www.mmalinker.com

~Its a long read and took a lot of time and effort,i will have to break it up into different parts,hope its interesting and you enjoy the read.Im also working on a list of 10 fighters/prospects who have not been in the UFC that they can sign for their HW division in 2011 so if you like this,let me know and il post that up too~

This is part one,a quick look at the division they have as of today.The UFC currently has 26 Heavyweights on their roster which is extremely small when compared to some of their other divisions such as Welterweight(57), Lightweight(51) and Middleweight(41).

Out of the 26 Heavyweights 18 are booked to fight in the first half of 2011,the Champion is sidelined for 6-8 months,Big Nog is Injured as is Carwin(set to return in June) both Herring and Hardonk have taken a break from fighting but still have fights remaining on their contracts.The remaining three who are yet to receive a fight in 2011 are Kongo,Rothwell,Broughtan.

The division is in serious need of some experienced Heavyweights and new prospects this year.Ive made a list of ten former UFC heavyweights the UFC could look at re-signing in 2011 and I'm currently working on the prospects list.Here is a quick look at the current fighters the UFC  has under contract.

The Elite of the division,all currently ranked top 10

via www.fiveknuckles.com

• 1-Cain Valesquez (9-0) World number 1                             4-Shane Carwin (12-1) World number 6
• 2-Brock Lesnar (5-2)     World number 2                            5-Frank Mir (14-5) World number 7 
• 3-Junior Dos Santos (12-1) World number 5                       6-Big Nog (32-6-1) World number 9

Second tier,established veterans and possible contenders(All top 25)

via www.mma-manifesto.com

• 7-Brendan Schaub (7-1) World number 13    10-Ben Rothwell (31-7)     World number 17 
• 8-Roy Nelson(15-5)  World number 14          11-Mirko CroCop (27-8-2) World number 19     
• 9-Cheick Kongo(15-6-2) World number 15    12-Mike Russow (13-1)    World number  22                                                                                           

The Prospects

via owall.net

In no particular order,Stefan Struve (21-4)Pat Barry (5-2),Matt Mittrione (3-0),Travis Browne (10-0-1),Rob Broughtan (15-5-1),Jon Madsen(7-0) and Christian Morecraft (6-1)

Thats 19 from 26 fighters i would say are doing well in the UFC and deserve to be there the rest which are listed below i believe are either not ready for UFC competition,out of shape(or in the wrong weight class),passed their prime or their records in and out of the UFC are poor.The majority of these fighters should be cut and we need to see some deserving veterans back in the division along with new prospects in 2011.The list will start in my next fan post of the 10 most deserving former UFC fighters to make a return to the UFC this year.

via images2.fanpop.com

Joey Beltran,Sean McCorkle,Tim Hague,Chris Tuchscherer,Mark Hunt,Heath Herring,Antoni Hardonk.

The List of Veterans Begins in the next fan post. (Source -Rankings)

http://tatame.com/2008/09/27/Samuray-Mendes-back-to-UFC-in-2009

‘Samuray’ Mendes back to UFC in 2009 Saturday 27th of September 2008 05:46 PM

Photo Josh Hedges

After debuting in UFC with a loss against Thiago Silva in the 84th edition, Antonio ‘Samuray’ Mendes will be back in action in January 2009. The Europe Top Team athlete, who fought seven times in 2007 and won all the fights, will fight at January 17th in Dublin, Ireland, and might face another Brazilian fighter. After facing Thiago Silva, Samuray might fight with Andre Gusmão, that also did one fight in the event and loss to Jon Jones by unanimous decision. Stay tuned on TATAME.com to know everything

JAN 17TH 2009 UFC HITTING DUBLIN ?

this would make sense as i read on ufc.com that lorenzo fertitta visited dublin recently , probabally to book the arena ?

quote from ufc.com "We’ve always had high ambitions and high expectations for what we’re doing with growing the UFC, but it’s kind of cool now to see it actually happening and unfolding right before our eyes," said Fertitta, who is on the last leg of a trip that has seen him spread the UFC gospel in the United Kingdom, Dublin, France, Germany, and now the Philippines, over the last week. "I think to some extent we’ve underestimated ourselves over the past couple of years. If you go to a lot of these countries, we’re very well known."

http://uk.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=14687

 silva v page is almost official for ufc 92 so i can see them putting forrest v evans here ? maybe not , maybe its a fight night for all i know ! arena sits 10,000 i think

after checking out mmaweekly and sherdogs top 10 hw rankings i found them very weak so created these rankings which i think are more accurate.

HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (over 205 pounds)

1. Fedor Emelianenko (28-1-0) org; affliction.

THE GOOD;
fedor is without a doubt the no 1 hw in the world and possibly the p4p no 1.He has an almost perfect record and holds wins against nogx2 , mirko , sylvia , hunt and schilt.

THE BAD;
Athough there isnt much to say here fedor does take some stick for fighting the odd freakshow match eg v choi or v martins and taking easy fights also.

FUTURE;
The ufc hw tourney if you like will put fedor under big pressure , if randy takes out lesnar and mir or nog he will look to de-thrown fedor as the no 1 in a super fight in mid 09.

Fedor also has yet to face either of Arlovski or Barnett which pose a serious threat to the russian.The two are set to meet eith the winner fighting Fedor in early 09.Fedor has a tough year ahead.

2. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira(31-4-1) org ; ufc

THE GOOD;
Probally the best and most danderous bjj in the hw division.And Nogueira has great boxing also ,making him a very well rounded hw.Holds wins versus werdum , crocop , sylvia and kharonitov.Currently the ufc interim hw champ and set to defend against fellow bjj rival frank mir with the winner facing the hw champ in early 09.

THE BAD ;
Nog has been beaten twice by the no 1 which is understandable and suffered a controvertial split dec loss to barnett which he avenged along with his other loss to pride lhw champ hendo.

FUTURE;
Nog will have to get through mir and the winner or lesnar/coture which is highly possible.He might get another shot at fedor to prove he is the no 1 hw.

3.Randy "The Natural" Couture (16-8-0)


THE GOOD ;
Has a great wrestling backround and has evolved his stand-up game to a new level.He came out of retirment in 2007 to dethrone and dominate the ufc champ tim sylvia and then stop the no 1 contender Gonzaga in his first defense of the belt.He is set to defend the belt against the wwe star and top level wreslter Brock Lesnar in nov.

THE BAD ;
Randy has not fought in over a year due to the legal battle with zuffa and his desire to fight the no 1 ranked fighter Fedor outside the ufc.He has been dominated before at hw but many now see him as a new fighter.

THE FUTURE ;
Randy has no reason to lose to the relevant newcomer to the sport Lesnar but will have a difficult matchup if he faces the no 2 Nogueira in 09.If he wins the mini-tourney he will be the no.2 hw and no 1 contender for fedors wamma hw belt.

4. Josh "The Babyface Assassin" Barnett (26-5-0) org ; aflicition

THE GOOD ;
Holds wins against the ufc hw champ randy , no. 2 big nog , aleks emelianenko , hunt and currently riding a 3 fight win steak against decent hw's yoshida , monson , rizzo.Has avenged all losses accept crocop.

THE BAD;
Has been beaten 3 times by crocop athough the first was due to injury and the latest was the final of a gp were he claimed to have an eye injury.Was done for doing steroids and booted from the ufc before joining pride.

THE FUTURE;
Barnett is rumored to be fighting in nov for sengoku after his no 1 contender match v a.a was scratched.It is not known weather they still intend to keep the matchup but it is clear barnett is only one or two good wins away from being the top hw fighter.

5. Andrei "Pitbull" Arlovski (13-5-0) org ; affliction


THE GOOD;
Arlovski is simply above werdum becuse he beat him in a lackluster dec at ufc 70.If that fight take place next month i see it being closer.Overall werdum has faced the tougher fighters but the bottom line is a.a. beat him.Arlovski was set to face Emelianenko before he hurt his hand and then the barnett fight was posponed so he is now set to face former ifl champ big country on cbs and is seen as the heavy favourite.He recently beat top tier hw figher rothwell via tko and o brien in 2008 along with the victory over werdum in 07 that cements his place in the top 5 despite back to back losses to tim sylvia.

THE BAD ;
Arlovski has some blemishs on his record that includes going 3-3 in his first 6 fights and a woeful performance against big tim at ufc 61 followed by a week showing at ufc 70 losing his title shot he was promised.

THE FUTURE;
A win v nelson wont do much for his career but possible fights with barnett and fedor await arlovski.

6. Fabricio Werdum (11-3-0) org ; ufc

7. Tim Sylvia(26-6-0) org ; affliction

8. Sergei Kharitonov (16-3-0) org; dream

9. Alistair "Demolition Man" Overeem(28-11-1) org ;dream

10.Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic(23-6-2) org ; dream
= Aleksander Emelianenko(13-3-0) org ; affliction
= Antonio ''Bigfoot'' Silva (11-1) org ; elite xc

**cant decide who is no 10**

**6-10 were hard to rank they could be changed**

Possible fighters to break the top 10 in the near future.

Brock Lesnar (2-1) org ; ufc
If he beats randy he is top 10.

Frank Mir (11-3) org ; ufc
If he wins against Nog he will move up.

Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga (9-3) org; ufc
Needs to fight tougher opponents to break back in , McCully and Hendricks are unranked.

Cain Valesquez (4-0) org ; ufc
Needs some more wins and a breakthrough fight against a top ranked fighter.

Shane Carwin (9-0) org ; ufc
Getting close to top 10 , a win v Wain is not great but a few more decent wins and he is almost there.

Cheick Kongo (12-4-1) org; ufc
Needs to rebound from that loss to Herring with a few wins.If he takes out Al-turk in Dec and Evansen already thats a good start.Needs work on the ground game.