UFC 173

Dana White has claimed over the past few months that it is Renan Barao that should be considered the #1 pound for pound fighter on the planet since demolishing any opponent to stand across from him. Not only that, but Renan Barao is exciting, and a finisher.  Bring in a young stud who always puts on a good show in TJ Dillashaw and you have quite the title fight in the main event.  Meanwhile, potential top contender Daniel Cormier takes on MMA legend Dan Henderson and former top contender Robbie Lawler takes on a killer in Jake Ellenberger.  To say those 3 fights are amazing is an understatement, but this PPV.  Here is my take on how it all goes down on Saturday night:

Fight Pass Prelims:

• Li JingLiang decision over David Michaud because look at that name.
• Sam Sicilia KO of Aaron Philips
• Anthony Njokuani and Vinc Pichel could win FOTN in a real barn burner.  Njokuani via TKO in the 3rd.

Preliminary Fights on Fox Sports 1:

• Al Iaquinta KO with that nasty right hand over Mitch Clarke
• Chris Holdsworth guillotine choke win over Chico Camus
• Tony Ferguson decision over Katsunori Kikuno
• Michael Chiesa with his signature RNC over Francisco Trinaldo

PPV:

•  Jamie Varner has had one of the most up and down careers a guy can possibly have.  He is currently on a skid but has been nothing short of entertaining in losing efforts to Lauzon and Trujillo.  The exciting James Krause is trying to bounce back from a very controversial loss to Bobby Green against the dangerous Varner.  I say Varner uses enough wrestling to take a few rounds and eventually lands that fight ending punch.  Varner via KO.
• Takeya Mizugaki has been on quite the winning streak lately.  Francisco Rivera is one of the most powerful punchers in the bantamweight division.  I think Mizugaki's chin holds up through Rivera's early onslaught and Takeya can take home a decision win.  This win puts him in line for some big fights with top 10 bantamweights like Faber, Assuncao, McDonald, or Wineland.
• Robbie Lawler put on one heck of a showing in his losing effort to Johny Hendricks.  Jake Ellenberger has been in the mix forever at 170 but hasn't gotten that signature win to put him over the hump.  They both have a chance to be a fight away from a title fight with a win here.  I for one see Lawler winning here and getting a top contender match.  Lawler vs Matt Brown anyone?  Sign me up.  Lawler via decision over Ellenberger.
• Daniel Cormier is a stud and really offers Jon Jones a tough match based on his skill set.  However, he has to get through Dan Henderson first!  Whenever people count Dan Henderson out, he surprises us all with spectacular wins.  His last fight was amazing and he really put the 205lb division on notice that he isn't done yet.  As much as I would love to see the H-bomb destroy Daniel Cormier's face, it doesn't happen on Saturday.  DC puts Henderson on his back and beats him up for a while.  Too much speed and amazing wrestling to lose to Hendo here.  DC vs Jon Jones should be the next fight to make.
• Renan Barao is top 5 pound for pound no doubt.  #1?  Not so sure I agree with Dana about that.  Him and Jose Aldo have literally been unbeatable for a very long time now.  As much as I love what Dillashaw brings to the table, I am not sure he pulls off this upset.  Dillashaw has great wrestling, great chokes, and underrated striking so you never know.  Still, Barao is the best at everything at 135 and should remain champ.  I do think that Barao's 100% finish rate in title fights comes to an end though.  Barao via decision.

Updated Fighter Rankings (5/8/14)

Anthony Johnson is the biggest mover, going
from unranked all the way to 7th in the rankings

Another month has come and gone.  New rankings are in heading into a busy month for the UFC and Bellator.  Also, after re-evaluating the middleweight division, I made some serious changes to the P4P rankings.  The middleweight division is unreal stacked.  Here are the rankings:

Men's Pound for Pound:

1. Jose Aldo (1)
2. Jon Jones (2)
3. Renan Barao (3)
4. Chris Weidman (4)
5. Demetrious Johnson (5)
6. Cain Velasquez (6)
7. Anderson Silva (7)
8. Johny Hendricks (8)
9. Vitor Belfort (9)
10. Anthony Pettis (10)
11. Dominick Cruz (11)
12. Chad Mendes (12)
13. Junior Dos Santos (13)
14. Lyoto Machida (14)
15.  Urijah Faber (15)
16. Frankie Edgar (16)
17. Gilbert Melendez (17)
18. Jacare Souza (NR)
19. Luke Rockhold (NR)
20. Alexander Shlemenko (NR)

Dropping out: Joe Benavidez (18), Michael McDonald (19), Benson Henderson (20)

Heavyweight:

1. Cain Velasquez (1)
2. Fabricio Werdum (3)
3. Junior Dos Santos (4)
4. Stipe Miocic (5)
5. Travis Browne (2)
6. Mark Hunt (6)
7. Antonio Silva (7)
8. Josh Barnett (8)
9. Roy Nelson (12)
10. Stefan Struve (9)
11. Alistair Overeem (11)
12. Gabriel Gonzaga (13)
13. Ben Rothwell (14)
14. Brendan Schaub (15)
15. Frank Mir (16)
16. Soa Palelei (18)
17. Matt Mitrione (19)
18. Shawn Jordan (20)
19. Vitaly Minakov (NR)
20. Alexander Volkov (NR)

Dropping out: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (10), Cheick Kongo (17)

Light Heavywight:

1. Jon Jones (1)
2. Alexander Gustafsson (2)
3. Daniel Cormier (3)
4. Rashad Evans (5)
5. Dan Henderson (7)
6. Glover Teixeira (4)
7. Anthony Johnson (NR)
8. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (8)
9. Emanuel Newton (9)
10. Rampage Jackson (10)
11. Ryan Bader (11)
12. Chael Sonnen (12)
13. Rafael Cavalcante (13)
14. Shogun Rua (14)
15. Phil Davis (6)
16. James Te-Huna (15)
17. Muhammed Lawal (16)
18. Jimi Manuwa (18)
19. Ovince St. Preux (19)
20. Ryan Jimmo (Dropped Out)

Dropping out: Attila Vegh (17),  Thiago Silva (20)

Middleweight:

1. Chris Weidman (1)
2. Vitor Belfort (2)
3. Lyoto Machida (3)
4. Ronaldo Souza (4)
5. Anderson Silva (5)
6. Luke Rockhold (6)
7. Alexander Shlemenko (7)
8. Tim Kennedy (8)
9. Yoel Romero (11)
10. Gegard Mousasi (10)
11. Thales Leites (14)
12. Mark Munoz (12)
13. Yushin Okami (13)
14. Michael Bisping (9)
15. Cung Le (16)
16. Alan Belcher (17)
17. Rich Franklin (18)
18. Costa Philippou (19)
19. Clint Hester (20)
20. Tim Boetsch (15)

Welterwight:

1. Johny Hendricks (1)
2. Matt Brown (2)
3. Robbie Lawler (3)
4. Tyrone Woodley (4)
5. Dong Hyun Kim (5)
6. Carlos Condit (6)
7. Rory Macdonald (7)
8. Jake Ellenberger (8)
9. Ben Askren (9)
10. Tarec Saffiedine (10)
11. Hector Lombard (11)
12. Jake Shields (12)
13. Demian Maia (13)
14. Martin Kampmann (14)
15. Nick Diaz (15)
16. Rousimar Palhares (16)
17. Josh Burkman (17)
18. Josh Koscheck (18)
19. Brandon Thatch (19)
20. Stephen Thompson (20)

Lightweight:

1. Anthony Pettis (1)
2. Gilbert Melendez (2)
3. Khabib Nurmagomedov (3)
4. Benson Henderson (4)
5. Josh Thomson (5)
6. Donald Cerrone (10)
7. Jim Miller (12)
8. TJ Grant (6)
9. Michael Chandler (8)
10. Eddie Alvarez (9)
11. Nate Diaz (11)
12. Rafael dos Anjos (7)
13. Gray Maynard (13)
14. Erik Koch (15)
15. Joe Lauzon (16)
16. Rustam Khabilov (17)
17. Bobby Green (18)
18. Abel Trujillo (19)
19. Michael Johnson (20)
20. Edson Barboza (14)

Featherweight:

1. Jose Aldo (1)
2. Chad Mendes (2)
3. Cub Swanson (3)
4. Dustin Poirier (4)
5. Frankie Edgar (5)
6. Conor McGregor (7)
7. Chan Sung Jung (8)
8. Ricardo Lamas (6)
9. Dennis Bermudez (9)
10. Clay Guida (13)
11. Shinya Aoki (10)
12. Dennis Siver (11)
13. Paticio Freire (12)
14. Jeremy Stephens (14)
15. Pat Curran (15)
16. Daniel Straus (16)
17. Darren Elkins (17)
18. Nik Lentz (18)
19. Hatsu Hioki (20)
20. Tatsuya Kawajiri (19)

Bantamweight:

1. Renan Barao (1)
2. Dominick Cruz (2)
3. Urijah Faber (3)
4. Rafael Assuncao (4)
5. Michael McDonald (5)
6. T.J. Dillashaw (6)
7. Eddie Wineland (7)
8. Eduardo Dantas (8)
9. Marlon Moraes (9)
10. Bibiano Fernandes (10)
11. Takeya Mizugaki (11)
12. Joe Warren (15)
13. Yuri Alcantara (12)
14. Erik Perez (14)
15. Alex Caceres (15) 
16. George Roop (17)
17. Mike Easton (16)
18. Sergio Pettis (18)
19. Tyson Nam (19)
20. Francisco Rivera (20)

Flyweight:

1. Demetrious Johnson (1)
2. John Dodson (2)
3. Joe Benavidez (4)
4. Ali Bagautinov (3)
5. Brad Pickett (5)
6. Jussier Formiga (6)
7. Ian McCall (7)
8. Darrel Montague (8)
9. Zack Makovsky (9)
10. John Moraga (10)
11. Dustin Ortiz (14)
12. John Lineker (11)
13. Tim Elliot (12)
14. Louis Gaudinot(13)
15. Chris Cariaso (15)
16. Alptekin Ozkilic (16)
17. Josh Sampo (17)
18. Scott Jorgensen (18)
19. Danny Martinez (19)
20. Kyoji Horiguchi (20)

Women's Pound for Pound:

1. Ronda Rousey (1)
2. Cristiane Santos (2)
3. Alexis Davis (3)
4. Jessica Aguilar (4)
5. Cat Zingano (5)
6. Marloes Coenen (6)
7. Sarah Kaufman (8)
8. Sara McMann (7)
9. Barb Honchak (9)
10. Michelle Waterson (11)
11. Miesha Tate (10)
12. Jessica Eye (12)
13. Jessica Penne (14)
14. Amanda Nunes (15)
15. Carla Esparza (16)
16. Jessica Andrade (17)
17. Shayna Baszler (18)
18.  Zoila Gurgel (19)
19. Tecia Torres (20)
20. Bethe Correia (NR)

Dropping out: Liz Carmouche (13)