The Ultimate Writer 12.21.08: Year-End Award Nominations, Week In News, And Much More!

Posted by Dustin James on 12.21.2008

Are you ready for some year-end award nominations? Who had the best KO of the year? Who is the fighter of the year? What was the biggest upset of the year? Plus 411's Dustin James discusses the week in news! It's all here in the latest edition of "The Ultimate Writer".......

Welcome to the latest JAM-PACKED edition of "The Ultimate Writer". If you read the 411 MMA Rankings that run here every Thursday then you would know that I have been STUCK up on a mountain for almost a week due to the outrageous amount of snow fall we have received. Oh, and it gets better. On Saturday it didn't stop snowing at all. Seriously. It was just little powder snow for hours upon hours upon hours. And to make it worse, I don't even own a sled! Bummer deal. My car would go in the first ditch I came across if I attempted to get off this damn mountain so it's not like I can just drive into town and purchase one.

Oh, and to top it all of it's my girlfriend's birthday today, so as a special treat to her I'm going to hike in the snow for 5 miles and present her with a hug and a frozen Vermont teddy bear. Haaaaaaa! She wishes. I'm actually going to email her one of those free corny birthday cards. People actually think you pay money for those sometime! At least my mom does.

Oh, that's right. You are here for other things besides my personal life (Brandon Roy, 52 points....yaaaa!)......

The Week That Was:

This feature is self-explanatory. The biggest news items of the week go here, duh!

Monday:

We started off the week with A LOT of news! We learned that UFC heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez would be fighting at UFC Fight Night 17. We learned a few days later that his opponent is a UFC newcomer (Denis "The Menace" Stojnic) and most likely cannon fodder for Velasquez. The UFC has high hopes for Cain, other than the fact that he's already acting like he's as big a star as Randy Couture. It's about time for Cain to prove himself, especially with other UFC heavyweight prospects like Shane Carwin coming up.

Also on Monday, Jeff Monson revealed that he was interested in a comeback to the UFC. I'm fine with that seeing as Monson scares the ever loving crap out of me. For those of you who don't know, Monson is big-time into anarchy, hating the government, etc etc etc. As if Monson wasn't scary enough......

And in other UFC news, Junie Browning wasn't impressed with Efrain Escudero's win over Phillipe Nover and wants a rematch with Escudero. Why? How would that move Escudero up the UFC's lightweight ladder? It's just Browning doing what he does best.....trying to gain some attention. And look, it works.

Nooooow, moving on to things that REALLY matter....we also learned that Tim Boestch has signed an extension with the UFC, Forrest Griffin was excited about possibly fighting Wanderlei Silva, and the medical suspensions for "Ultimate Fighter 8" Finale were announced.

Tuesday:

On Tuesday, Tito Ortiz snuck into the news section again because apparently....some people still care about him. It was revealed that Ortiz was joining Affliction in some capacity, and on Wednesday we learned that it was a broadcasting position. This is a good move for Affliction because now they can throw Ortiz's face all over the posters for the event and trick some of the less hardcore fans into purchasing the event under the assumption Ortiz is going to fight. Sure it's sneaky business, but Affliction needs whatever they can get right now. I still don't see Ortiz fighting for the company because honestly, who can he beat that will move him up the LHW ranks in Affliction? Babalu?......exactly. All the top LHW's are in the UFC, and that's where Tito should be if he wants to continue his "legacy" in MMA.

We learned some horrible news on Tuesday as it was revealed that the WEC's Will Ribeiro was in a coma after a motorcycle accident. We here at 411mania wish the best for the Ribeiro family and hope a quick and full recovery for Will. The last I heard was his injuries were life threatening, so let's hope he can pull through.

In happier news, Clay Guida announced that he has signed an extension with the UFC. Let's hope the UFC forces the guy to get a haircut. Seriously dude. The mop has got to go......

Wednesday:

Wednesday was PACKED with news. In UFC land we learned that they have signed British heavyweight Neil Grove. I don't expect Grove to make an impact in the UFC, but he will help bring in more European fans. The UFC also announced that Chris Wilson will face UFC newcomer John Howard at UFC 94 in January. I love this fight because I'm a HUGE fan of Wilson's. The guy is a Team Quest fighter and one of the best strikers in the welterweight division. He could still be a contender in the UFC's welterweight division. Also in Zuffa land, we learned that the UFC was hoping to return to Montreal in April with a potential main event of GSP vs. Thiago Alves. I don't see this happening. Even if GSP can pull off a win over Penn in January, you really think he will be healthy enough to fight Alves by April? I can't see it.

In other news, of course we learned about Ortiz joining the broadcast team for Affliction's "Day Of Reckoning". Oh, and FEG announced that Mirko Cro Cop would face Hong Man Choi in the "freak fight" at the "FEG FieLDS Dynamite!!" show on New Year's Eve. If Cro Cop loses here, it's bye bye Mirko as far as being a relevant fighter in MMA.

Thursday:

Not much happened on Thursday. Other than the shocking news of the possible "murder-suicide" involving Justin Levens. I will save my judgment until everything is confirmed. It's still a little too early to come out and bash the guy. Perhaps I will save that for next week?

Friday:

On Friday, things picked up in a big way. The UFC is STRUGGLING to put together a good main event for UFC 95 in February. Therefore, I would fully expect the UFC to stack this card with decent names and air it LIVE on Spike TV! After all, it's going down in London. Either way, expect the co-main event to be Joe Stevenson vs. Diego Sanchez. Not a bad fight at all, but Stevenson has definitely lost some luster after that beating from Kenny Florian. I fully expect Diego to walk through "Joe Daddy". Also at UFC 95, we will see Shannon Gugerty vs. UFC newcomer Jeff Lawson (umm yay??) and Nathan Marquardt vs. Wilson Gouveia! See.....SPIKE TV~!

Also on Friday, Josh Barnett came out and said that he's not afraid of Gilbery Yvel even though Yvel has bitten opponents and assaulted referees in the past. Yvel may not scare Barnett, but he scares me and that's good enough. What's the over/under on Barnett getting bit now for talking shit? I can personally see Yvel making Barnett tap via biting one of Barnett's love rolls. Ohhh, isn't that a lovely sight??

Saturday:

Saturday we learned Gabriel Gonzaga will face Shane Carwin at UFC 96 in April. That's a huge heavyweight fight for the UFC and may have a huge impact on the heavyweight rankings in MMA. Carwin is an up-and-coming heavyweight prospect, while Gonzaga WAS the heavyweight prospect just a little over a year ago. Tremendous match-up once again by Zuffa.

It was also revealed that Chuck Liddell was interested in a rematch with Keith Jardine. Sign me up for that one. The first fight was a brutal stand-up war. If Liddell drops this fight, then what happens? Would the UFC actually consider releasing Liddell? Of course not! Win or lose, Liddell is a huge name in MMA and can still sell fights. He doesn't have to be the main event. Those days may be over for the "Iceman", but I personally hope not.

Oh, and Mike Brown agreed to fight Leonard Garcia for the WEC Featherweight Title in March. That should be a great Sunday night bout for the WEC and could pull in some nice ratings.

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The Ultimate Writer Year-End Awards

Of course 2008 is almost over so that means over the course of the next 3 weeks ALL you will hear about is talk of "the best of 2008 etc etc etc". I'm actually waiting until after 2008 to vote on these, but here are the current nominations for my year-end awards:

(Please note that these nominations are NOT final. We still have a few MMA events left in 2008 and I'm not actually voting on these until then. Feel free to persuade me to vote a certain way either by email or in the comments section below!)

2008 Fighter Of The Year:
Note: Fighter must have ZERO losses in the year to be considered for this award. Sorry, but a loss is huge in MMA considering how many times most fighters fight per year.

(If a fighter has a * by their name, it means they still have a fight left in 2008)

1. Anderson Silva (3-0 in 2008)
2. Georges St. Pierre (2-0 in 2008, won UFC Welterweight Title)
3. Eddie Alvarez (4-0 in 2008)*
4. Forrest Griffin (1-0 in 2008, won UFC Light Heavyweight Title)*
5. BJ Penn (2--0 in 2008)
6. Gegard Mousasi (5-0 in 2008, won DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix)
7. Thiago Alves (3-0 in 2008)
8. Kenny Florian (3-0 in 2008)
9. Andrei Arlovski (3-0 in 2008)
10. Demian Maia (3-0 in 2008)

2008 Fight Of The Year:

1. Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver (WEC 34)
2. Eddie Alvarez vs. Joachim Hansen (DREAM 3)
3. Forrest Griffin vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (UFC 86)
4. Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch (UFC 87)
5. Miguel Torres vs. Yoshiro Maeda (WEC 34)

Most Improved Fighter Of 2008

1. Forrest Griffin (1-0 in 2008, defeated "Rampage" for UFC Light Heavyweight Title)*
2. Demian Maia (3-0 in 2008)
3. Thiago Alves (3-0 in 2008)
4. Kenny Florian (3-0 in 2008)
5. Jorge Santiago (4-0 in 2008)

2008 Submission Of The Year

1. Dustin Hazelett over Josh Burkman (via armbar at Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale)



2. Shinya Aoki over Katsuhiko Nagata (via gogoplata at DREAM 4)



3. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza over Zelg Galesic (via armbar at DREAM 6)



4. Demian Maia over Ed Herman (via triangle choke at UFC 83)



5. Ricardo Almeida over Rob Yundt (via guillotine at UFC 81)




2008 Knockout Of The Year

1. Josh Koscheck over Yoshiyuki Yoshida (UFC Fights For The Troops)



2. Rashad Evans over Chuck Liddell (UFC 88)



3. Wanderlei Silva over Keith Jardine (UFC 84)



4. Thiago Alves over Matt Hughes (UFC 85)



5. Jeremy Stephens over Rafael dos Anjos (UFC 91)




2008 MMA Promotion Of The Year

1. UFC
2. Affliction
3. EliteXC
4. DREAM
5. Strikeforce

2008 Story Of The Year

1. Death of Evan Tanner
2. EliteXC Debuts On CBS, Then Folds
3. UFC/Randy Couture Saga
4. Brock Lesnar's Rise To The Top
5. Debut Of Affliction

2008 Card Of The Year

1. UFC 84 (Silva over Jardine, Machida over Ortiz, Thiago Silva over Antonio Mendes, and BJ Penn over Sean Sherk)
2. Affliction "Banned" (Fedor over Sylvia, Arlovski over Rothwell, Barnett over Rizzo)
3. DREAM 3 (Alvarez over Hansen, Diaz over Inoue, Uno over Ishida, Manhoef over Dae Won Kim, Jason Miller over Shibata)
4. UFC 87 (St. Pierre over Fitch, Lesnar over Herring, Florian over Huerta, Maia over MacDonald, Emerson over Gamburyan)
5. UFC 92 (On paper it's a GREAT card, but we shall see if it's nomination will hold up!)

2008 Upset Of The Year

1. Thiago Alves over Matt Hughes (UFC 85)
2. Forrest Griffin over Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (UFC 86)
3. Brock Lesnar over Randy Couture (UFC 91)
4. Rashad Evans over Chuck Liddell (UFC 88)
5. Mike Brown over Urijah Faber (WEC 36)
6. Junior dos Santos over Fabricio Werdum (UFC 90)
7. Sergey Golyaev over Takanori Gomi (Sengoku 6)
8. Caol Uno over Mitsuhiro Ishida (DREAM 3)

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Where are they now?

This feature looks at fighters who have been inactive for some time. Where exactly have they gone? I don't know and I'm reaching out to you guys to help us find these missing MMA stars......

MISSING

Jared Rollins

Whatever happened to Jared Rollins? Everybody remembers him as the dude who almost brawled with Jon "War Machine" Koppenhaver over the "upper-decker" prank on The Ultimate Fighter season 6. However, we haven't seen Rollins since his WAR with War Machine last December. Where is he at? He looked like he had some potential during his stay on "TUF" and his excellent fight with Koppenhaver, so why hasn't he fought in over a year? Did he get injured and I just forgot? Perhaps somebody can fill me in......

If you know the whereabouts of Jared Rollins, please contact Dustin James at [e-mail], or go to his myspace located here.

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Random Top 10 List Time!

Here you will see a random top 10 list put together by yours truly. It may be Top 10 submission fighters, Top 10 stand-up fighters, or hell, even Top 10 ways that Anderson Silva could kill you. Seriously, don't mess with that man. He's dangerous.

Top 10 MMA fights I want to see in 2009: (Pretty self-explanatory this week.....)

ARE YOU READY?

(This list is in no particular order)

10. Anderson Silva vs. Chuck Liddell - At first, I hated this fight.....but the more talk it got, the more I actually wanted to see it. I just want to see Silva as a LHW again!

9. Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir - We HAVE to see this rematch. We have to see if Brock's submission defense has improved at all and since Mir is continuously talking shit....the fight doesn't need to be sold.

8. BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian - I personally think Penn would dominate Florian, but it would be a great fight for sure.

7. Forrest Griffin vs. Rich Franklin - This one would be good............

6. Shinya Aoki/Eddie Alvarez vs. BJ Penn - Either one of these guys fighting Penn would be something dreams are made of.

5. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. Demian Maia - The BJJ fan in me would LOVE to see this fight.

4. Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira - Two MMA legends doing battle. Count me in.

3. Forrest Griffin vs. Wanderlei Silva - This would be a hard hitting fight, and both guys would look like they just came out of a war. Consider me interested!

2. Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva - This fight actually COULD happen in 2009. If it does happen, it wouldn't happen until after the summer, but it would be a MUST SEE for sure.

1. Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brock Lesnar - Won't happen, but who doesn't want to see it?

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Current Champions:

This feature is pretty self explanatory. I list the current champions in each relevant promotion, and you guys sit and read. Easy enough for ya?



Brock Lesnar - UFC Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Randy Couture back on November 15 at UFC 91.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria - Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship

Won the title from Tim Sylvia back on February 2, 2008 at UFC 81

Forrest Griffin - UFC Light Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Quinton "Rampage" Jackson back on July 5, 2008 at UFC 86

Anderson Silva - UFC Middleweight Champion

Won the title from Rich Franklin back on October 14, 2006 at UFC 64

Georges St. Pierre - UFC Welterweight Champion

Won the title from Matt Serra back on April 14, 2008 at UFC 83

BJ Penn - UFC Lightweight Champion

Won the title from Sean Sherk back on May 24, 2008 at UFC 84



Alistair Overeem - Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Paul Buentello back on November 16, 2007 at Strikeforce: Four Men Enter, One Man Survives

Renato "Babalu" Sobral - Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Bobby Southworth back on November 21 at Strikeforce: Destruction

Cung Le - Strikeforce Middleweight World Champion

Won the title from Frank Shamrock back on March 29, 2008 at Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Le

Josh Thomson - Strikeforce Lightweight Champion

Won the title from Gilbert Melendez back on June 27, 2008 at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson



Gegard Mousasi - DREAM Middleweight Champion

Won the title from Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza back on September 23, 2008 at DREAM 6

Joachim Hansen - DREAM Lightweight Champion

Won the title from Shinya Aoki back on July 21, 2008 at DREAM 5



Carlos Condit - WEC Welterweight Champion

Won the title from Mike Pyle back on March 24, 2007 at WEC 26

Jamie Varner - WEC Lightweight Champion

Won the title from Rob McCullough back on February 13, 2008 at WEC 32

Mike Brown - WEC Featherweight Champion

Won the title from Urijah Faber back on November 5, 2008 at WEC 36

Miguel Torres - WEC Bantamweight Champion

Won the title from Chase Beebe back on February 13, 2008 at WEC 32



Fedor Emelianenko - WAMMA Heavyweight Champion

Won the title from Tim Sylvia back on July 19, 2008 at Affliction "Banned"

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Watch Out For This Guy:

In this feature I will showcase a fighter who I believe is on his way up in the MMA world......


Ronnys Torres

The newest lightweight fighter to join the UFC is none other than the 14-1 Shooto veteran Ronnys Torres. For those of you who have never heard of Torres, sit back and listen to this. Since his first professional loss back in September of 2007, Torres has fought an unbelievable 8 times. That's 8 times in about 15 months. Oh, and he came out on the winning side in each one of those fights as well. As a matter of fact, only one of his opponents has made it to the third round with him in that time frame. Seriously, watch out for this guy. He could make an impact in the UFC's lightweight division real quick.

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Upcoming Events:

Here are a few of the upcoming events in the wonderful world of MMA:



UFC 92: Ultimate 2008 - December 27 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada

-Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans (UFC Light Heavyweight Title)
-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria vs. Frank Mir (UFC Heavyweight Title)
-Quinton Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva
-CB Dollaway vs. Mike Massenzio
-Cheick Kongo vs. Mustafa Al-Turk
-Yushin Okami vs. Dean Lister
-Matt Hamill vs. Reese Andy
-Ryo Chonan vs. Brad Blackburn
-Antoni Hardonk vs. Mark Burch
-Dan Evensen vs. Pat Berry

FEG FieLDS Dynamite!! 2008 - December 31 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

-Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante vs. Joachim Hansen (DREAM lightweight title)
-Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
-Mark Hunt vs. Jerome Le Banner
-Eddie Alvarez vs. Shinya Aoki
-Mirko Cro Cop vs. Hong Man Choi
-Alistair Overeem vs. To Be Announced
-Hideo Tokoro vs. Daisuke Nakamura
-Semmy Schilt vs. "Mighty" Mo Siliga
-Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kozo Takeda (K-1 Kickboxing bout)
-Gegard Mousasi vs. Musashi (K-1 Kickboxing bout)
-Yoshihiro Sato vs. Artur Kyshenko (K-1 Kickboxing bout)

World Victory Road's "Sengoku 7" - January 4 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

-Takanori Gomi vs. Satoru Kitaoka (Sengoku lightweight title)
-Jorge Santiago vs. Kazuo Misaki (Sengoku middleweight title)
-Antonio Silva vs. Yoshihiro Nakao
-Dave Herman vs. Choi Mu Bae
-James Thompson vs. To Be Announced
-Roger Gracie vs. To Be Announced
-Sanae Kikuta vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
-Paul Daley vs. To Be Announced
-Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Sergey Golyaev
-Muhammad Lawal vs. Yukiya Naito
-Maximo Blanco vs. Seigo Inoue
-Minoru Kato vs. Hidetada Irie

UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson - January 17 at The O2 in Dublin, Ireland

-Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson
-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Mark Coleman
-Denis Kang vs. Alan Belcher
-Chris Lytle vs. Marcus Davis
-Rousimar Palhares vs. Jeremy Horn
-Martin Kampmann vs. Alexandre Barros
-Eric Schafer vs. Antonio Mendes
-Thomasz Drwal vs. Ivan Serati
-Nate Mohr vs. Dennis Siver
-John Hathaway vs. Tom Egan

Affliction: Day Of Reckoning - January 24 at The Honda Center in Anaheim, California

-Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski (WAMMA heavyweight title)
-Josh Barnett vs. Gilbert Yvel
-Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort
-Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Sokoudjou
-Dan Lauzon vs. Chris Horodecki
-Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
-Jay Hieron vs. Jason High
-Paul Buentello vs. Kiril Sidelnikov
-Antonio Duarte vs. Albert Rios
-Mark Hominick vs. L.C. Davis
-Brett Cooper vs. Patrick Speight

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UFC Undisputed 2009 Update:

It's no secret that I'm a huge UFC and video game fan. I currently own an Xbox360 and a Wii, and will gladly take a PS3 if it's offered to me. With that out of the way, I can't WAIT for the upcoming UFC Undisputed 2009 video game. Therefore, "The Ultimate Writer" will be your headquarters for all the updates and news on the upcoming video game!

Will Be Released: Spring of 2009

Platform: Xbox360, PS3

Current Updates: Nothing you haven't heard before. I honestly can't wait for this game to get a concrete release date. If it's half as good as it looks, I may buy two copies just in case my first one gets stolen/broke. Let's hope the game lets you fight outside of the weight classes because I would love to finally see my dream fight of Brock Lesnar vs. BJ Penn.

Current roster for UFC Undisputed 2009: (These are the confirmed fighters in the game thus far. The game is rumored to feature over 80 fighters.)

Heavyweight:
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Brock Lesnar
Randy Couture

Light Heavyweight:
Forrest Griffin
Wanderlei Silva
Quinton Jackson
Chuck Liddell

Middleweight:
Anderson Silva
Amir Sadollah
Michael Bisping

Welterweight:
Georges St. Pierre
Jon Fitch
Matt Hughes

Lightweight:
BJ Penn
Roger Huerta
Kenny Florian
Joe Stevenson

UFC Legends:
Royce Gracie

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Current 411mania.com MMA Rankings:

These are the current MMA rankings as voted on by the staff of 411mania.com. You can catch the updated version every Thursday on 411mania.com!

Heavyweight: (last voted on November 27, 2008)

1. Fedor Emelianenko
2. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
3. Andrei Arlovski
4. Josh Barnett
5. Brock Lesnar
6. Randy Couture
7. Gabriel Gonzaga
8. Alistair Overeem
9. Frank Mir
10. Tim Sylvia

Light Heavyweight: (last voted on December 11, 2008)

1. Forrest Griffin
2. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
3. Lyoto Machida
4. Rashad Evans
5. Wanderlei Silva
6. Thiago Silva
7. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
8. Keith Jardine
9. Chuck Liddell
10. Luis Cane
11. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
12. Rich Franklin
13. Vladimir Matyushenko
14. Tito Ortiz
15. Renato "Babalu" Sobral

Middleweight: (last voted on December 18, 2008)

1. Anderson Silva
2. Dan Henderson
3. Robbie Lawler
4. Yushin Okami
5. Matt Lindland
6. Gegard Mousasi
7. Nathan Marquardt
8. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza
9. Yoshihiro Akiyama
10. Denis Kang
11. Kazuo Misaki
12. Thales Leites
13. Frank Trigg
14. Michael Bisping
15. Demian Maia

Welterweight: (last voted on November 13, 2008)

1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Thiago Alves
4. Jake Shields
5. Josh Koscheck
6. Carlos Condit
7. Diego Sanchez
8. Matt Hughes
9. Karo Parisyan
10. Matt Serra

Lightweight: (last voted on December 4, 2008)

1. BJ Penn
2. Shinya Aoki
3. Eddie Alvarez
4. Kenny Florian
5. Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante
6. Sean Sherk
7. Takanori Gomi
8. Josh Thomson
9. Gilbert Melendez
10. Joachim Hansen
11. Tatsuya Kawajiri
12. Mitsuhiro Ishida
13. Nate Diaz
14. Jamie Varner
15. Tyson Griffin

Pound For Pound: (last voted on November 20, 2008)

1. Anderson Silva
2. Fedor Emelianenko
3. Georges St. Pierre
4. BJ Penn
5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
6. Miguel Torres
7. Lyoto Machida
8. Forrest Griffin
9. Urijah Faber
10. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua

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Thank you for joining me again for this wonderful column. I hope you continue to read every week and don't forget to check out the other wonderful columns here on 411mania.com, which is updated daily because that's how we roll.