Are All the Top Fighters In The UFC and How Do We Judge Those That Are Not?-Part 1

Can the current generation of MMA fighters be considered all time greats without ever fighting in the UFC?  While the UFC does not have a monopoly, which they have surprisingly referenced recently, it can be truly hard to gauge a fighter's resume without them fighting in the top organization in the world.  The days of Pride are gone and the UFC is without question the top organization with the strongest roster.  If top fighters, who are not veterans, in other organizations never fight within the UFC can they be judged with true validity.  This was briefly discussed between Zak and myself during the podcast in reference to Jake Shields.  After the jump I will look at the SB Nation/USA Today Consensus Rankings to determine how many of the "top" fighters are actually in the UFC.  I will close by explaining the drawbacks of this simple analysis and if I think that top tier fighters outside the UFC and who never fought in PRIDE can be judged with true validity. 

Before I begin, full disclosure:  Tomorrow (today when I post this) is my first day off in 26 days, but I cannot go out because I have so much to do.  Instead of going out I have been delegated to going to the liquor store with my roommate and watching a movie as I write this post and drink my drink.  As I perused my local liquor store and had two children (without parents) run by, a man with jean shorts and no shirt walk in, and the 50 year old eastern European owner ask me if my roommate and I "drink together" I knew what I had to get.  I currently write this post with my trusty 40 (Colt 45 of course, I don't need that classy Mickey's shit) to my side.  Every sip tastes like class.  While none of this is relevant I thought I should let you know my current state of mind while I write for the sole reason I cannot decide if I am in heaven or hell right now.  Thank you for letting me ramble and now back to the post.

Using the USA Today/SB Nation MMA consensus rankings I looked at the top 25 fighter in the five main weight classes (deal with it Mark featherweight is not one of THE weight classes and guess what, Hockey is not in the big 4 either) and determined how many fighters were not in the UFC.

Heavyweight Division: 14 of 25 fighters not in the UFC and 5 of the top 10 are not in the UFC.  The five fighters are Fedor, Barnett, Arlovski, Slyvia, and Overeem.  With the UFC Heavyweight division thinned out it has provided top fighters the opportunity to test themselves outside of the UFC.  Despite Fedor's most recent wins coming against Arlovski and the South Park Sea Otters, who have both lost in horrible fashion, he is finding "top tier" talent to fight.  However, all of these fighters are either UFC or PRIDE vets.  They received notoriety and respect through an organization that no longer exists or the UFC.  The Heavyweight Division has seen the most outside UFC success in regards to recognition, but it will be interesting what people think of the upcoming generation of fighters who do not have previous UFC/Pride reputation to fall back on.  Bret Rogers has the potential to make a name for himself with his win over Arlovski and the potential future fight against Overeem, but where does he go from there?

Light Heavyweight Division: This was the bread and butter for the UFC in the past, but with the first generation of greats getting older and the potential domination of Machida (I have already claimed him the best ever, I cannot help it) the division is in a bit of a transition.  However, only 8 of the top 25 are not in the UFC and 3 of them are 24, 24, and 25 while two are unsigned.  So, only 3 of the top 23 Light Heavyweight belong to organizations other than the UFC.  Sokoudjou is a UFC reject, Sobral was kicked out of the UFC, and Little Nog fought in PRIDE.  He also lost to Sokoudjou in what was one of the biggest upsets in MMA history, at the time.  How is a fighter supposed to prove himself when the Light Heavyweight competition outside the UFC is shall we say, lacking.

Middleweight Division: Based on the current discussion of Dana White and the state of the UFC Middleweight Division it is not surprising that 11 (Frank Trigg is back in the UFC) of the top 25 fighters are not in the UFC and 4 of the top 10 are not in the UFC.  The Middleweight Division is the most intriguing to me because of one man, Gegard Mousasi.  Of the 4 fighters not in the UFC, he is the only who has never been in the UFC.  I do not think anyone would tell you that Jorge Santiago or Robbie Lawler are the same fighters who fought in the UFC, but Mousasi has never even been there.  This provides hope for organizations such as DREAM and Affliction (despite the fact that Tom Atencio does not know what Trilogy means) where Mousasi has earned his stripes.

Welterweight Division: With the depth of the UFC Welterweight Division it is not surprising that only 6 of the top 25 are not in the UFC and only 1 in the top ten is not in the UFC.  That 1 is obviously Jake Shields who has to fight at catchweights in order to prove himself.  The next top ranked welterweight in Strikeforce is 13 Nick Thompson who just lost to Tim Kennedy (and also lost to Shields in 1:03 into the first round) and Nick Diaz who has been fighting at catch weights as well.  Both of these fighters have also been discussed in reference to being signed by the UFC.  Being signed by the UFC would be Shields's time to prove himself and Diaz's opportunity to prove he is an evolved fighter.

Lightweight Division: The Lightweight Division has 13 of the top 25 fighters not in the UFC and 7 of the top ten not in the UFC.  This is a remarkable number compared to the other divisions and the dominance of the UFC in general.  The lightweight division provides the best opportunity for fighters to prove themselves against top talent outside the division.  However, there is not as much discussion about the UFC searching for more lightweight talent.  While the UFC might not have all the top lightweights in the world they have created depth and equality among their division.  This is an example of the dominance of the brand over the fighters.  If the casual American MMA fans was asked to name the top lightweights in the world my guess is that they would not any credit to DREAM which holds 4 of the top ten lightweights in the world.  Regardless, this division has great potential for fighters with 3 of the top ten having never fought in PRIDE or the UFC.

Looking at the 125 fighters, 52 (41.6%) are not currently in the UFC and of the top 50 (top 10 in each weight class) 19 (38%) are not in the UFC.  This percentage falls to 30% if you eliminate lightweights and if you look at only welterweights, middleweights, and light heavyweights then only 23% of the top 30 fighters are outside the UFC. 

A casual observer of the sport might be surprised to find out that UFC does not have a monopoly on all the top fighters in the world.  While they are significantly more than any other promotion it does not mean all the best fighters are with them.  However, one problem when looking at the other top fighters in the world is that most of them have proven themselves through PRIDE or previous UFC runs.  Very few of these fighters either struggled in the past (Lawler, Diaz) and have evolved as fighters or have never fought in one of those two organizations.  Looking at the top 123 (Aoki and Mousasi are mentioned twice) only 13 (10.56%) have never fought in the UFC or PRIDE.  Only 4 of the top 50 (8%) have never fought in the UFC or PRIDE.  The question remains, how can we accurately judge fighters who have never fought in organizations that house(d) the best talent in the world?  Are Strikeforce, Affliction, and DREAM at a level where we can consider them top tier?  I do not think these organizations have the depth for that statement to be true.  Granted many fighters struggled in the UFC or PRIDE and have proven themselves after the fact, but the fact remains that they have already been recognized as having the potential or talent to compete with the best. 

There are a couple of reasons this all may be the case.  One is that because of the UFC's reputation and prominence only their fighters get noticed while fighters in other organizations get passed over.  There is also the case of bias.  The consensus rankings take into account the rankings of many different polls across the internet.  This is beneficial because increasing the sample size reduces the error (why do I keep mentioning stats), but it also brings polls that favor the UFC into the mix.  The truth is that the majority of people who watch MMA and even follow MMA primarily follow the UFC (at least in this country).  If UFC fighters are the fighters they see the most often then those are the fighters they will grade the highest.  The UFC's popularity, exposure, and reputation increase the perceived talent level of their fighters. 

While it is no surprise that the majority of the top fighters perform within the UFC it is interesting to determine how we can gauge the talent level of non UFC fighters.  How can they be accurately compared if all the top fighters are in the UFC?  I have mentioned the recent talk by the UFC regarding non UFC fighters and many see this as a positive.  The belief is that the UFC has to acknowledge other fighters because organizations such as DREAM, Strikeforce, Affliction, and Bellator are putting on good shows with good fighters.  However, the truth is that these organizations have only a handful of top level fighters (at least proven top level fighters) and the UFC is going to cherry pick those fighters in order to bleed the other organizations dry.  Strikeforce is putting on good shows, but they already are having their top fighters fight at catchweights.  Eddie Alvarez and Jose Aldo were the two favorites for Bellator and they both won.  Even though it is because of poor business practices (everyone made money except Affliction) Affliction is nearing the end of their run.  Finally, "Cro Cop" ditched the UFC to make more money in DREAM and he would not tarnish his legacy since there are no top heavyweights in DREAM (in my pointless opinion).  If the UFC starts stealing the top talent we might be headed toward a MLB with baseball as opposed to EPL with soccer.  While I do not think MMA can ever have a MLB, NFL, or NBA dominance because of the amount of fighters who compete they still can tighten their grip on the MMA landscape.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/rankings