Light Heavyweight
[#7] Rich Franklin vs. [#27] Matt Hamill

Welterweight
[#11] Karo Parisyan vs. [#15] Yoshiyuki Yoshida CANCELLED

Middleweight
[#4] Dan Henderson vs. [#33] Rousimar Palhares

Middleweight
[#14] Nate Marquardt vs. [#20] Martin Kampmann

Lightweight
[#72] Thiago Tavares vs. [#86] Kurt Pellegrino

Welterweight
[#40] Dong Hyun Kim vs. [#210] Matt Brown

Middleweight
[#28] Jason MacDonald vs. [#60] Jason Lambert

Welterweight
[#28] Ryo Chonan vs. [#63] Roan Carneiro

Light Heavyweight
[#48] Tim Boetsch vs. [#76] Michael Patt

Ranking Note: Gray font represents an approximate ranking. An asterisk represents a fighter who is ranked, but too low for an approximation. These two scenarios will clear up slightly as we move forward. “NR” means the fighter is not ranked, due to inactivity, or due to a rating that is at or below the default starter rating.

The middleweights as a group have not enjoyed much success since the show: Only three of the eight contestants are ranked in the Top 100 of their current weight class, and only the finalists Kendall Grove and Ed Herman are still employed by the UFC.

Fighters are listed in order of their current Fightmatrix.com ranking, regardless of the weight class. Fights that took place in the live finale are counted in the ‘After’ column.

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•  Rankings updated with effects from recent shows and some previously missing older shows.

The third season of ‘TUF’ featured lightheavyweight & middleweight contestants, and was coached by Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock.  The show focused heavily on the ongoing feud between coaches, sometimes at the expense of screen time for fighters.    The talent level on this season was rather weak compared to seasons 1 and 2:  not a single fighter from season 3 is currently ranked in the Top 10 in any weight class.  I will examine the lightheavyweight class first, and look at the middleweights next week.

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• Added recent shows from ZST, WVR, and minor organizations.
• Added older shows which were missing (yet again).

• Recent shows added, including DEEP: Gladiator, ShoXC, Pure Combat, etc.
• Older shows added to database.
• Bug fix regarding the placement of streaking early career fighters.

Early update this week as I’m leaving town, but its a somewhat dead weekend.

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The fact of the matter is, people pay to see De La Hoya.  In his match-up with Mayweather, the combined purse was just over $75 million, with Mayweather receiving approximately 1/3rd of the total amount.

De La Hoya’s draw is in my opinion, finally beginning to wain, but this will likely be his final bout.  And although Pacquiao’s popularity is apparent in the western and southwestern areas of the United States, the pay-per-view amount would likely not reach the 2.4 million buys that De La Hoya and Mayweather did.  Still, it was probably a safe bet that it would challenge 1.5 million buys, which would still net Pacquiao well over $15 million at 30% of the share.

At that kind of money, what’s 10%?  Realistically, Pacquiao could not earn anywhere close to that fighting someone else (excluding Hatton in England).  My bet, is that Pacquiao and his team were overly concerned with the height and reach advantages held by De La Hoya.

• Rankings updated with effects from recent shows, most notably, UFC 87.