March Madness: The Heavyweights

He doesn't look very dangerous, but Fedor would be the No. 1 overall seed in an MMA Heavyweight March Madness tournament.

It's that time of year again where the sports world stops for a few weeks and basks in all of college basketball's glory. The NCAA Tournament is one of the most exciting, well-run tournaments in all of sports and it should be the envy of every other sport.

I know it is the envy of this mixed martial arts fan, who would like to see a 16-man tournament in each division. So since that isn't happening anytime soon, I will present my dream MMA March Madness tourneys each day this week. The schedule will be as follows.

Monday: Heavyweights — Tuesday: Light Heavyweights — Wednesday: Middleweights — Thursday: — Welterweights — Friday: Lightweights

I will split the tournaments up into four pools of four fighters each. The champions of each pool would be the Final Four and a champion would be crowned. I present to you the heavyweight bracket.

Pool A
#1. Fedor Emelianenko
#2. Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic
#3. Sergei Kharitonov
#4. Ben Rothwell

Pool B
#1. Josh Barnett
#2. Antonio Nogueira
#3. Alistair Overeem
#4. Gabriel Gonzaga

Pool C
#1. Frank Mir
#2. Tim Sylvia
#3. Shane Carwin
#4. Cheick Kongo

Pool D
#1. Brock Lesnar
#2. Andrei Arlovski
#3. Cain Velasquez
#4. Randy Couture

If a fighter holds a title, there is a good chance they were going to get the No. 1 seed, which is why Lesnar landed a top spot. The best No. 1 seed went into Pool A, the best No. 2 seed went into Pool B, the best No. 3 seed back to Pool A and then the best No. 4 back to Pool B.

The first round pits the No. 1 seeds against the No. 4 seeds and the 2's against the 3's. The winners of those matchups fight for the Pool Championship. Pool A Champion would face Pool B champion and C would fight D.

The winners fight for the overall championship.

I did my best to include who I thought was the most deserving of the fighters, but just like in the real March Madness, fighters were snubbed. Barely missing the cut in the heavyweight division were Heath Herring, Fabricio Werdum and Junior Dos Santos.

Pool A is heavy on the European talent and full of good kickboxers. But anytime Fedor is in the mix, it's hard to think anyone has a chance.

Pool B is a showcase of men who have reached the pinnacles of their sport before entering MMA. Barnett is a world-class wrestler, Overeem is a tremendous kickboxer and Gonzaga and Nogueira are jujitsu aces.

Pool C is a mixed bag and a pretty wide open division in my estimation. All those men have had moments of glory and moments of mental lapses. Competitive pool for sure.

When I look at Pool D I think athleticism. Those four guys are some of the best athletes the heavyweight division has ever seen, and all of them are capable of five-round wars.

Take the time to make your own picks, and in a few short hours I will have my full tournament breakdown of how I think it would go.