Out of all of the major ranking sites — and by “major” ranking sites, I am referencing the list used by the USA Today/SB Nation rankings, we rank Roy Nelson the lowest, by far. Yes, some of those sites listed are questionable, proven so by their rankings themselves, or their lack of timeliness, but as it stands, it is an unbiased and convenient comparison. We alone, are likely the reason that Nelson slipped one spot behind Schaub on these meta-rankings.
In fact, the average ranking for Roy Nelson for all of the other sites who rank him (10), is #12.5. We have him all the way down at #24. In fact, 6 of those 10 sites still rank Nelson above Schaub — while Schaub has been having all of the success, these sites have been handcuffing Nelson to him, and all Nelson has done since is go 1-2. Schaub, has since went 4-0. Even the Struve win was not a great win by Nelson. By the way, when was Nelson’s last great win prior to his win over a pre-prime Schaub? Has he ever had a great win? In case you were wondering, our ranking of Schaub is right in line with the average.
This type of scenario is one of the most interesting debates when it relates to MMA rankings. Who is in the “right” here? Even though Nelson has the head-to-head edge over Schaub, Nelson/Schaub happened over 20 months ago. Schaub has clearly advanced, while Nelson has seemingly declined. With this type of argument, Arlovski should still be ranked above Nelson.
What do you think?