1. Nick Penner (Current Rank: #77 vs. 9/1/08 Rank: #72 | [5-0-0 2yr])

Talk about a stasis.  In this span, his rating went DOWN.  Penner has fought two debuting fighters and a 0-1 fighter.  In his last two, he’s taken a small jump in quality, but it’s time to move away from Canada and take an increase in competition.

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2. Delson Heleno (Current Rank: #43 vs. 9/1/08 Rank: #60 | [6-0-0 2yr])

Heleno has made a career out of bouncing around the minor circuits on a global scale.  His losses are pretty respectable, but he has no very good wins.  Maybe he’s simply peaked as a fighter.

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3. Brent Weedman (Current Rank: #39 vs. 9/1/08 Rank: #57 | [7-0-0 2yr])

On a positive note, he’s gotten noticed and moved onto Bellator from the southeastern US circuit.  Time will tell if he can rise up the rankings.

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4. Hector Lombard (Current Rank: #24 vs. 9/1/08 Rank: #45 | [10-0-0 2yr])

The most prolific thrasher of mid-level competition in professional mixed martial arts.  Shlemenko will be his highest ranked competition (at the time of the bout) since his loss to Akihiro Gono in June 2006.  In fact, Shlemenko is ranked higher than Lombard thanks to the Bellator Middleweight tournament.  It should be interesting, because Lombard’s two losses, and draw, were to the only three higher ranked fighters (at the time of the bout) that Lombard has faced outside of his pro debut against a 1-0 fighter.

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5. Joe Doerksen (Current Rank: #25 vs. 9/1/08 Rank: #58 | [6-0-0 2yr])

After nearly 60 professional fights, I think we know what we’re getting with Doerksen.

Heavyweight
[#6 LHW] Randy Couture vs. [DEBUT] James Toney

Middleweight
[#8] Demian Maia vs. [#74] Mario Miranda

Lightweight
[#5] Kenny Florian vs. [#8] Gray Maynard

Welterweight
[#30] Nate Diaz vs. [#35] Marcus Davis

Lightweight
[#71] Joe Lauzon vs. [#114] Gabe Ruediger

Lightweight
[#63] Nik Lentz vs. [#82] Andre Winner

Middleweight
[#37] Dan Miller vs. [#48] John Salter

Welterweight
[#121] Nick Osipczak vs. [#174] Greg Soto

Welterweight
[#15] Mike Pierce vs. [#200] Amilcar Alves

Welterweight
[#3] Jon Fitch vs. [#5] Thiago Alves

Lightweight
[#25] Clay Guida vs. [#39] Rafael dos Anjos

Welterweight
[#9] Matt Hughes vs. [#10] Ricardo Almeida

Heavyweight
[#5] Junior dos Santos vs. [#26] Roy Nelson

Welterweight
[#38] Rick Story vs. [#55] Dustin Hazelett

Light Heavyweight
[#29] Phil Davis vs. [#64] Rodney Wallace

Light Heavyweight
[#40 HW] Tim Boetsch vs. [#97] Todd Brown

Welterweight
[#42] Johny Hendricks vs. [#61] Charlie Brenneman

Heavyweight
[#44] Stefan Struve vs. [#88] Christian Morecraft

Welterweight
[#33] Ben Saunders vs. [#142] Dennis Hallman