Infinitemma.com Australia and New Zealand MMA Fighter Rankings for January 2010
Infinitemma.com is proud to release its January Australian and New Zealand MMA Fighter Rankings, The ranking will be released in the first week of every month and be decided by the staff of infinitemma.com. To start we will be doing the top 5 Australian MMA Fighters and the top 3 New Zealand MMA Fighters, but over time this will ideally expand to a top 10 in each country for each weight division
There was only 1 MMA show over January in Australasia which was Brace for War in Townsville, there were no ranked fighters on this show. With only 1 show in Australia there was very little movement in the rankings, however there were a number of local fighters competing overseas. Brad Morris is removed from the rankings due to inactivity. Must be added, not because of not trying as he has been looking for a fight in recent months. Fighters must have a fight in the previous 15 months to be listed in the rankings. Michael Van Der Vlist moves to number 5. Even though a LHW, last fight was at heavyweight where he defeated the number one ranked New Zealand fighter, Sam Brown.
To view the current infinitemma.com Australia and New Zealand MMA Fighter Rankings and see what has happened in the last month click full story below
Heavyweight: (Under 120kgs)
1) Jim Yorke (11-4)
2) Soa Palelei (9-2)
3) Lucas Browne (5-0)
4) Felise Leniu (3-2)
5) Michael Van Der Vlist (3-2)
Brad Morris is removed from the rankings due to inactivity. Must be added, not because of not trying as he has been looking for a fight in recent months. Fighters must have a fight in the previous 15 months to be listed in the rankings. Michael Van Der Vlist moves to number 5. Even though a LHW, last fight was at heavyweight where he defeated the number one ranked New Zealand fighter, Sam Brown.
Light-Heavyweight (Under 93kgs)
1) Jamie Te Huna (12-4)
2) Anthony Perosh (10-5)
3) Priscus Fogagnolo (5-1)
4) Gordon Graff (5-3)
5) Api Hemara (8-6, 1 draw)
No changes in top five. Jamie Te Huna is scheduled to fight in the next month when he takes on Igor Pokrajac at UFC 110 in Sydney.
Middleweight (Under 84kgs)
1) Hector Lombard (22-2, 1 draw)
2) Kyle Noke (16-4, 1 draw)
3) Dylan Andrews (10-2, 1 no contest)
4) Chris Haseman (20-16)
5) Steve Micallef (4-0)
No changes in top five. Hector Lombard is scheduled to fight on gForce Promotions against Joey Gurczynski on 4 February in the US with the weight scheduled at 205lbs (Under 92kgs). Chris Haseman will also be moving up in weight division when he takes on Elvis Sinosic at UFC 110. Kyle Noke is filming reality show The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 with coaches Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. Dylan Andrews was the only fighter in action in the past month, however his fight on the Legends FC card was declared a no-contest due to unintential illegal shots.
Welterweight (Under 77kgs)
1) Brian Ebersole (41-15)
2) Justin Murray (4-1, 1 draw)
3) Jai Bradney (6-2, 1 draw)
4) Shane Nix (5-1)
5) Luke Picklum (2-1, 2 draws)
With the retirment of infinitemma number 2 ranked fighter Xavier Lucas, he has been taken off the rankings list. Luke Picklum, who last had a victory over Matt Cain in July moved up to number 5. Australia’s most competitive division. A top 10 ranking system could be implemented for this division in the near future.
Lightweight (Under 70kgs)
1) George Sotiropoulos (11-2)
2) Adrian Pang (15-6, 1 draw)
3) Bernardo Magalhaes (9-1)
4) Rob Hill (7-3, 1 draw)
5) Ian Schaffa (8-7, 1 draw)
No changes in top five. Adrian Pang only fighter in the top five to compete in the last month as he took on Nam Yui Chul in a fight that was declared a draw. George Sotiropoulos will be competing against Joe Stevenson at UFC 110 in Sydney on February 21.
Feathweight (Under 66kgs)
1) Gustavo Falciroli (8-2, 2 draws)
2) Richard Vaculik (4-0)
3) Michael Mortimer (9-3)
4) Alex Shevtsov (7-6)
5) Renato Vieira (1-1)
No changes in the top five. Michael Mortimer competed on the Legend FC where he lost to up-and-coming South Korean fighter Nam Jin Jo. Rumours are circulating that Falciroli and Vaculik are lightly to fight against each other in March. If this is the case, will be the first time two Australians ranked number 1 and 2 have fought each other since the implementation of the infinitemma rankings. In the case of Raad Brewer and Hugh Cameron, who both can be arguably ranked at number 5, it is just a matter of actually fighting at under 65 kgs. Both fighters can make the weight division but have chosen in recent times to fight at catch-weights above the set weight limit.
New Zealand MMA Fighter Rankings Top 3
No changes for the New Zealand rankings with no MMA shows happening in January.
Heavyweight (Under 120kgs)
1) Sam Brown (Current Supremacy Title Holder)
2) Benji Kney
3) Matt Toa
Sam Brown will take on Australian fighter Adam Tibbits on Supremacy in April.
Light-Heavyweight (Under 93kgs)
1) Andrew Dearsley
2) Antz Nansen
2) Aaron Boyes
Andrew Dearsley will fight Kaota Puna on Supremacy in April, Antz Nansen is also supposed to fight an international opponent on this show
Middleweight (Under 84kgs)
1) Gareth Ealey (Current ICNZ Title Holder)
2) Gareth Burke
3) Pat Crawley
Gareth Ealey is set to rematch John Erskine on Supremacy in April
Welterweight (Under 77kgs)
1) Rod MacSwain (Current Supremacy Title Holder)
2) Daniel Digby (Current ICNZ Title holder)
3) Dave Nicholls
Rod MacSwain will fight Daniel Digby on Rize 4 in Brisbane in March, this will decide who is the number 1 welterweight fighter in New Zealand. Rod is also Scheduled to take on an international opponent on Supremacy
Lightweight (Under 70kgs)
1) Korey Gibson
2) Daniel Hooker (Current Supremacy title Holder)
3) Scott Benson
Daniel Hooker will fight for the Rize lightweight title against Rob Hill in March
Featherweight (Under 66kgs)
1) Jerry Norris
2) Doug Higgins
3) Richie Barnett
Discuss the rankings in the forum http://infinitemma.com/index.php/forum/viewthread/14156/