So, we ran the polls for a few days and the results are as follows. By the way, in case you missed the original post, it is here.
- The majority think that Michael Bisping’s FightMatrix ranking is a little harsh, but that it is more accurate than the #4 that Sherdog gives him. Although I didn’t give voters an option to say we overrated Bisping, 34% agreed with a ranking outside of the Top 10, and another 54% agreed that though our ranking was a bit too harsh, Sherdog’s was too kind. Only 12% thought that Sherdog was close or dead on. Given the results, I think the overall “happy medium” may be the #10 position.
- At a ratio of 3:1, voters think Hector Lombard should be higher-ranked than Bisping. Furthermore, almost 90% believe that Bisping’s ranking would suffer, were it not for the visibility of the UFC. I think this speaks to the intelligence of our readers — well done.
I hope to make this type of blog post a more frequent occurrence on our site. Although we strive for accuracy and consistency, our rankings will never completely agree with the overall consensus, and that’s fine — it is expected. In all mathematical systems there are outliers and this isn’t always necessarily a bad thing. The system can’t see bad decisions and fluke occurrences, but it also cannot see the imaginary things — like hype.
Objectively, using only real outcomes, Bisping is barely a Top 15 fighter. Though, in a purely subjective system, giving him additional credit for his close UD loss to Sonnen and boosting him up a few spots is something I’m not necessarily opposed to. I am opposed to ranking him in the Top 5 though, in any type of system.