The heavyweight rankings stay mostly the same for September, with the notable addition of one new face. Daniel Cormier‘s brutal knockout of Antonio Silva vaults him into the top ten for the first time; with the kind of improvement he’s showing from fight to fight, Cormier could be a mainstay on these rankings for years to come.
Velasquez will finally return to the cage in November, and he’s doing it on the biggest stage in UFC history: prime time on the first-ever UFC on Fox event. It’s a sweet chance for Velasquez to reach the biggest audience possible, to cement himself as the best heavyweight in the sport and become a true drawing card for the UFC. He’s got a tough opponent, though.
Dos Santos serves as the other half of the Fox equation, and his bout with Velasquez is incredibly important for the promotion. It might be the most important bout in UFC history. Dos Santos – and Velasquez, for that matter – should be able to deliver an exciting fight, and he’ll go in with every chance of walking away as the UFC heavyweight champion.
Overeem’s had quite the month, hasn’t he? He pulls out of the Strikeforce grand prix due to injury. He gets released by the UFC. A month later, he signs a new contract with the UFC and starts preparation to face Brock Lesnar at UFC 141 in December. Things are looking up for the former Strikeforce heavyweight champion.
4. Brock Lesnar
Lesnar makes his long-awaited return to the cage against Overeem at the tail end of December. Questions about his motivation for fighting continue to exist, and the surgery that saw 12 inches of his intestines removed will only serve to create even more questions. But Lesnar’s willingness to fight the best cannot be denied, and he’ll face one of the toughest challenges of his career in Overeem.
With Strikeforce seemingly knocking on death’s door, Werdum finds himself in a kind of promotional limbo. He has no fights on the horizon and no invite back to the UFC just yet, although one would expect that to happen by the middle of 2012.
6. Shane Carwin
Carwin has suffered two consecutive losses and needs a win in his next bout to stay relevant amongst top UFC heavyweights. He has no scheduled date for his return, but he’s looking to get back in the cage near the end of the year.
7. Frank Mir
Mir will have a chance to defy the doubters when he faces Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 140 in December. A dominant win could propel Mir back into the upper echelon of the division and perhaps earn him another crack at the heavyweight championship.
Nogueira says his dominant and emotional win over Brendan Schaub at UFC 134 was a career resurgence. Finally healthy after several years defined by pain and medical procedures, Nogueira gets the rematch with Frank Mir he’s long been waiting for. Is a healthy Nogueira competitive with Mir? We’re going to find out in December.
9. Josh Barnett
Barnett’s victory over Sergei Kharitonov in the Strikeforce grand prix semi-finals was much like his win over Brett Rogers: effortless and pain-free. The win for the newly-dubbed “Warmaster” was his eighth in a row, but he’ll face a much sterner test when he faces Daniel Cormier in the finals in early 2012. Barnett likely doesn’t have the wrestling skills to take Cormier to the canvas, and there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to outstrike the former Olympian.
10. Daniel Cormier
Cormier’s destruction of Antonio Silva was his coming-out party, serving notice that there’s a dangerous new force in the heavyweight division. His wrestling is the best in the game, but it was his ever-improving striking game that drew comparisons to Fedor Emelianenko. Cormier’s got nearly unlimited potential to be one of the best heavyweights in the sport.
