Top 5 non-UFC fighters that could challenge for UFC gold

Jorge has never fought to win, he fights to entertain.

how about that reff though, how fucking dumb!

No true order here but off the top of my head:

Fedor
Melendez
Diaz
Jacare
Gagard - yes I know he needs some work, but he is not that far off.

Melendez, Feijao, Fedor, Werdum, Overeem

But I could easily stick Jacare, Marlon Sandro(WEC), Bibiano Fernandez(WEC), Hector Lombard, Eddie Alvarez(good point about the accessibility of his chin Ninja), Mousasi and perennial contender Dan Henderson on the list.

There seem to be a list of about 6 guys that everyone is agreeing on for the most part.

LudoCain wrote:

chorky777 wrote:

Sorry Sooners, but Nick Diaz would get tooled by GSP. And to that point; Fitch, Koscheck, and Alves as well.

And Aoki wouldn't get smacked around by any top 5 lightweight? Come on.

Aoki has those leg locks that can come from nowhere. He can beat anybody with one. I'd favor him to lose in most matchups, but with the grappling equivalent of a heavy right hand, you can never count him out. I was just looking at Frank Edgar and thinking that Aoki could possibly grab a leg and do serious business to one of his knees.

And with his grappling being his only weapon against any top fighter at lightweight you don't think they will gameplan around it? American fighters on the whole don't usually intentionally play to the strengths of they're opponents. I can see a replay of Gilbert Melendez 99 out of every 100 fights Aoki has with any top five opponent.

Outside of that fight, often that gameplan just isn't enough with Aoki. Alvarez, two of the three Hellboy fights and Kawajiri provide examples.

No one thinks King Mo would be a contender?

King Mo is on a "only as good as your last fight" probation period. He'll back in the mix sooner than later.

Ya I think he could be a contender but Feijao stole his mojo right now and Strikeforce has so much top talent now it's hard to keep a guy off a loss on that list.

Fedor is too small to compete with the UFC heavyweights now, back when it was Randy,Big Nog and Mir he had a chance.

Is this the same Noons who was knocked the fuck out by Krazy Horse ?

I hate this what have you done for me lately BS that has the hype train being passed around from Mousasi to Mo to Feijao. I haven't bought the hype on any of them as an elite LHW. Give them time, people are trying to rush the hype and set unfair standards for these guys.

Fedor vs Brock
Melendez vs Edgar
Aldo vs Edgar
Alvarez vs Edgar
Mousasi vs Shogun

We haven't even seen any skilled, athletic 230ish HW's in their primes fight any of the handful of monsters(all with giant festering holes in their games) Ali. Except in fights where the bigger guys lose.