bobby green winsDespite Bobby Green defeating Josh Thomson via split decision at UFC on FOX 12 over the weekend – I actually had Green winning all three rounds – the updated official UFC lightweight rankings still have Thomson ranked ABOVE Green. How does that make sense? Green is undefeated in his UFC run, with four straight wins over Jacob Volkmann (submission), James Krause (TKO), Pat Healy (unanimous decision), and Thomson (split decision).

In now what is his second UFC tenure, Thomson has exactly one win, with two losses. Thomson should be applauded for his knockout win over Nate Diaz in April of last year. That’s huge (even though Diaz is no longer even ranked). But since then, Thomson has dropped a split decision to Benson Henderson, and now the split decision to Green.

Since both Green and Thomson both made the transition from Strikeforce in 2013, lets look at their records prior that. Green has now won eight straight fights and has not lost since 2011, when he dropped a split decision to Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante in Strikeforce.

As for Thomson,  he is 4-4 in his last eight outings. Since 2012, Thomson has fought five times, and has gone 3-2. Those two wins were over the aforementioned Nate Diaz in April, and KJ Noons back in Strikeforce. So tell me again how Thomson is ranked ahead of Green?

One might argue that Thomson has faced tougher competition. And I would not argue with that. But he still LOST TO BOBBY GREEN!! And if you don’t beat that “tougher competition” then how much weight should that really carry?

Green did make a nice jump up the rankings after his win over Thomson. He was at number 13, and he moved up six spots to number 7. Thomson was at 3 and dropped to 6. In my opinion, Green should now be at 6 and Thomson at 7. How do you beat a guy and not take his spot in the rankings? Please feel free to share your opinion. Educate me on this if I am somehow not seeing the light.

Here’s the complete updated lightweight rankings as of July 28, 2014.

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion : Anthony Pettis

  1. Benson Henderson
  2. Gilbert Melendez
  3. Khabib Nurmagomedov
  4. Donald Cerrone
  5. Rafael dos Anjos
  6. Josh Thomson
  7. Bobby Green
  8. Jim Miller
  9. Myles Jury
  10. Michael Johnson
  11. Edson Barboza
  12. Gray Maynard
  13. Rustam Khabilov
  14. Jorge Masvidal
  15. Joe Lauzon

Check www.ufc.com/rankings for the latest rankings for all UFC weight classes.
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3 thoughts on “Bobby Green gets screwed in UFC rankings despite win over Josh Thomson”
  1. I had Green winning the fight too..but it’s not like he dominated Thomson..it was a pretty close fight…probably just because Green was ranked so low prior to the fight..and Thomson was ranked so highly…for example…if the #13 team beats the #3 team in college football…the lower ranked team isn’t going to jump the higher ranked team most of the time…

    The real question is why was Thomson ranked so high prior to the fight? As you mentioned…aside from the Nate Diaz win…what has he done really?

  2. The only explanation is that whoever made the rankings felt that Thomson won the fight. He also could have easily been declared the winner of his fights against Henderson and the last one against Melendez, had one judge been replaced by another. He’s arguably 3-0 in the UFC, and I guess whoever made the rankings doesn’t care about who was actually declared winner.

    I scored it 29-28 Thomson, the people who scored it for Green are the same ones who think Diego Sanchez beat Pearson and Gomi. Green was moving forward the whole time and Thomson was countering very well in the first two rounds, definitely landing the best strikes. Green won round 3 and had some success earlier in round 2 but that’s it.

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