MANILA, Philippines - Fil-Am Mark Muñoz, boosted by his recent victory over Chris Leben, has moved up to No. 4 in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship ranking currently paced by Brazilian Anderson “The Spider” Silva.
In the December rankings of Sports Illustrated, Muñoz, dubbed “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” in the UFC, is now behind the world’s mixed martial arts’ best pound-for-pound fighter Silva, Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfort.
“If it were possible for you to see beyond the 1-2-3 of the division, you’d notice that there’s someone closing in on Belfort, so much so that he’s as much a No. 3 as he is a No. 4 and rising or at least with an opportunity to do so,” said SI’s resident MMA writer Jeff Wagenheim.
“I’m talking about Mark Muñoz, who beat up a pretty tough guy, Chris Leben, a month ago,” he added.
Muñoz, fighting out of Vallejo, California and a former two-time All-American wrestler, made good impression when he overpowered Leben in UFC 138 in Birmingham, England that hiked his record to 12-2 (win-loss) and boosted his stock in middleweight’s pecking order.
It also set up Muñoz against Sonnen, the No. 1 contender in the division, in an interesting showdown early next year.
“He’s 12-2, winner of four straight, and next on his dance card is a meeting with Sonnen as part of the second UFC on Fox telecast next month, that’s a bold step up for “The Filipino Wrecking Machine,” said Wagenheim.
Interestingly, Muñoz’s picture now appears for the first time in UFC’s official website www.ufc.com as one of the middleweight contenders alongside Sonnen, Belfort, Michael “The Count” Bispin, Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva, Japanese Yoshin Okami, Brian Stann and Jason “Mayhem” Miller.
Muñoz was actually one of the few Fil-Ams competing in the UFC including close buddy light heavyweight Brandon “The Truth” Vera.