Despite winning the French Open, Rafael Nadal will be seeded merely No. 5 at Wimbledon, opening the prospect of a quarterfinal with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray.
In the near 100 years of the Tour de France, almost nothing has changed. A victor is crowned and their lives forever changed with the distinction of being a Tour de France champion. Join us as we preview France’s great cycling spectacle.
Silva is still the top fighter in the world following his Rio domination. /
MMA Beat
By Ariel Helwani
NBCSports.com contributor
updated 12:23 p.m. ET Sept. 2, 2011
Welcome to NBCSports.com's latest mixed martial arts rankings.
There was lots of activity in August with the UFC holding three events over the span of three weeks.
Check out rankings below.
HEAVYWEIGHT 1. Cain Velasquez (9-0) – The champ is looking to return in November against Junior dos Santos. 2. Junior dos Santos (13-1) – Dominant win over Shane Carwin at UFC 131. Up next is Velasquez. 3. Alistair Overeem (35-11, 1 NC) – If I were to guess, I predict Overeem will be a UFC fighter by the end of the year. 4. Brock Lesnar (5-2) – Lesnar had surgery to remove 12 inches of his colon at the end of May. The UFC is hopeful he will return in January. 5. Fabricio Werdum (14-4-1) – No word on when he’ll return. 6. Antonio Silva (16-2) – Meets Daniel Cormier in the Strikeforce heavyweight GP semi-finals on Sept. 10. 7. Shane Carwin (12-1) – No word on his return yet. 8. Frank Mir (15-5) – Same as above. 9. Josh Barnett (30-5) – Will face Sergei Kharitonov in the GP semi-finals. 10. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (33-6-1, 1NC) – Welcome back, Big Nog. Here’s hoping you get that fight in Japan.
Honorable mention: Fedor Emelianenko, Sergei Kharitonov, Brendan Schaub, Cole Konrad, Roy Nelson.
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT 1. Jon Jones – (13-1) – Will meet Quinton Jackson at UFC 135 on Sept. 24. 2. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (20-5) – Huge win over Forrest Griffin at UFC 134. 3. Rashad Evans (16-1-1) – Will meet the winner of Jones-Rampage at a later date. 4. Quinton Jackson (32-8) – See #1. 5. Lyoto Machida (17-2) – No word just yet on his next opponent. 6. Dan Henderson (28-8) – Like Overeem, it says here he’ll be in the UFC before the year is out. 7. Forrest Griffin (18-7) – Not sure where Griffin goes from here after the loss to Rua. 8. Phil Davis (9-0) – Is he ready to fight the likes of Machida? 9. Vladimir Matyushenko (26-5) – Forced to pull out of UFC 133 due to an injury. 10. Gegard Mousasi (31-3-2) – Beat Hiroshi Izumi at DREAM: Fight for Japan in July.
Honorable Mention: Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante, Muhammed Lawal, Rich Franklin, Alexander Gustafsson.
MIDDLEWEIGHT 1. Anderson Silva (29-4) – There’s no denying it anymore: Anderson Silva is the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA. 2. Chael Sonnen (25-11-1) – Meets Brian Stann in his UFC return in October. 3. Yushin Okami (26-6) – Put on an uninspiring performance against Silva at UFC 134. 4. Nate Marquardt (31-10-2) – Signed a multi-fight deal with BAMMA in July. 5. Mark Munoz (11-2) – Meets Chris Leben at UFC 138 in November. 6. Demian Maia (14-3) – Faces Jorge Santiago at UFC 136. 7. Michael Bisping (21-3) – Will coach TUF opposite Jason “Mayhem” Miller and then they’ll fight in December. 8. Brian Stann (11-3) – See #2. 9. Ronaldo Souza (14-2, 1 NC) – Defends his Strikeforce title against Luke Rockhold Sept. 10. 10. Vitor Belfort (19-9) – Faces Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133 on Aug. 6.
Honorable Mention: Hector Lombard, Jorge Santiago, Alan Belcher, Chris Leben, Tim Kennedy.
WELTERWEIGHT 1. Georges St-Pierre (22-2) – Faces Nick Diaz for the UFC title in October. 2. Jon Fitch (23-3-1, 1 NC) – He’s hoping to return from shoulder surgery in November. 3. Jake Shields (26-5-1) – Faces Jake Ellenberger at “Battle on the Bayou” in September. 4. Nick Diaz (25-7, 1 ND) – See #1. 5. Carlos Condit (27-5) – Meets BJ Penn at UFC 136 in October. 6. Josh Koscheck (15-5) – Hopes to return by the end of the year as a middleweight. 7. BJ Penn (16-7-2) – See #5. 8. Charlie Brenneman (14-2) – Meets Anthony Johnson at UFC Live on Versus 6 in October. 9. Rick Story (13-5) – Meets Martin Kampmann at UFC 129. 10. Thiago Alves (18-9) – Welcomes newcomer Papy Abedi to the UFC in November.
Honorable Mention: Jake Ellenberger, Diego Sanchez, Dong Hyun Kim, Martin Kampmann, Johny Hendricks, Ben Askren, Anthony Johnson.
LIGHTWEIGHT 1. Frankie Edgar (13-1-1) – Meets Gray Maynard for a third time at UFC 136 in October. 2. Gray Maynard (10-0-1) - See above. 3. BJ Penn (16-7-1) - I still think Penn is one of the best lightweights in the world. 4. Gilbert Melendez (19-2) – Will probably face Jorge Masvidal by the end of the year. 5. Shinya Aoki (28-5, 1 NC) – Meets former WEC champ “Razor” Rob McCullough at DREAM.17 in September. 6. Eddie Alvarez (22-2) – Defends his Bellator title against Mike Chandler on Oct. 15. 7. Ben Henderson (14-2) – Time to give “Bendo” his due. Here’s hoping we see him against Clay Guida next. 8. Jim Miller (20-3) – Major setback for Miller losing to Henderson. 9. Clay Guida (29-11) – No word just yet on his return. 10. Melvin Guillard (29-8-2, 1 NC) – Meets Joe Lauzon at UFC 136 in October.
Honorable Mention: Anthony Pettis, Dennis Siver, Sean Sherk, Evan Dunham, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Josh Thomson, Jorge Masvidal, "JZ" Cavalcante.
FEATHERWEIGHT 1. Jose Aldo (19-1) – Defends his title against Kenny Florian at UFC 136. 2. Hatsu Hioki (24-4-2) – Meets George Roop in his Octagon debut at UFC 137. 3. Chad Mendes (11-0) – Likely faces the winner of Aldo-Florian. 4. Kenny Florian (14-5) – See #1. 5. Pat Curran (15-4) – His win over Sandro proved that Jeff Curran’s little cousin is for real. 6. Diego Nunes (16-1) – Planned UFC 135 fight against Manny Gamburyan scratched due to injuries suffered by both fighters. 7. Mark Hominick (20-9) – No word on what’s next for him yet. 8. Erik Koch (12-1) – Faces Jonathan Brookins on Sept. 17. 9. Marlon Sandro (18-3) – Lost to Curran in the Bellator featherweight semi-finals. 10. Joe Warren (7-1) – Meets Alexis Vila in the first round of the Bellator 135-pound tournament on Sept. 24.
Honorable Mention: Dustin Poirier, Patricio Freire, Javier Vazquez, Darren Elkins, Hiroyuki Takaya, Raphael Assuncao, Rani Yahya, Chan Sung Jung.
BANTAMWEIGHT 1. Dominick Cruz (18-1) – Successfully defended his bantamweight title at UFC 132 against Urijah Faber; defends his title next against Demetrious Johnson at UFC Live on Versus 6. 2. Brian Bowles (10-1) – Meets Urijah Faber at UFC 139 in November. 3. Joseph Benavidez (15-2) – Benavidez continues to be in a holding pattern as long as Cruz is the champ. How about Ivan Menjivar next? 4. Urijah Faber (25-5) – See #2. 5. Demetrious Johnson (10-1) – See #1. 6. Miguel Torres (39-4) – Word is he won’t be back until the end of the year. 7. Scott Jorgensen (12-4) – Meets Jeff Curran at UFC 137 in October. 8. Brad Pickett (20-5) – Meets Renan Barao at UFC 138 in November. 9. Eddie Wineland (17-8-1) – Lost to Benavidez at UFC on Versus 5. 10. Renan Barao (26-1, 1 NC) – See #8.
Honorable Mention: Takeya Mizugaki, Masakatsu Ueda, Michael McDonald, Cole Escovedo, Antonio Banuelos, Ivan Menjivar, Wagnney Fabiano.
MALE POUND-FOR-POUND: 1. Anderson Silva (Brazil) 2. Georges St-Pierre (Canada) 3. Jon Jones (USA) 4. Jose Aldo (Brazil) 5. Frankie Edgar (USA) 6. Dominick Cruz (USA) 7. Jon Fitch (USA) 8. Cain Velasquez (USA) 9. Jake Shields (USA) 10. BJ Penn (USA)
UFC President Dana White (above) embarrassed after Gray Maynard beat Clay Guida by split decision to win a lightweight bout and the main event of the UFC card in Atlantic City.
