The Week In Rankings
Several major MMA events took place in the past week: Bellator FC kicked off a new season with the first round of a welterweight tournament, and a new broadcast partner in MTV2. Strikeforce lightheavyweight and women’s bantamweight titles were put on the line, and UFC checked in with a third installment in the “UFC Live on Versus” series. I will also briefly cover UFC 127, the results of which were reflected in the previous ranking update.
Controversy on Versus
In the main event of ‘UFC Live 3’, a bloodied and swollen Diego Sanchez had his hand raised in a questionable unanimous decision win over Martin Kampmann. All three judges scored the bout 29-28 Sanchez, apparently choosing Diego’s relentless aggression over Martin’s effective counter-striking and takedown defense. Sanchez rises three spots to #9 WW, while Kampmann falls to #10.
In the middleweight division, UFC newcomer Chris Weidman made his debut on two weeks notice and with only 4 MMA bouts under his belt, and performed admirably in his decision win over Alessio Sakara. Weidman makes a huge jump in the rankings – 101 spots up to #22 MW, while Sakara falls to #30. In other middleweight bouts, Mark Munoz and Rousimar Palhares enter the Top 20: Munoz with a first-round TKO of C.B. Dollaway, and Palhares with a trademark heel hook submission over David Branch in an untelevised bout. Dollaway and Branch fall to #44 and #47, respectively.
WEC lightweights Shane Roller and Danny Castillo made a splash in their UFC debut and earned a Top 50 ranking, as Roller knocked out Thiago Tavares and Castillo outworked Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson to a unanimous decision. In both cases, the loser’s spot on the UFC roster may be in jeopardy: this marks the third consecutive loss for the Ultimate Fighter 2 welterweight winner Stevenson, and Tavares has been very inconsistent and plagued by injuries throughout his UFC career; a tough spot to be in for the ultra-competitive lightweight division.
Notable
Nearly a year after losing the WEC bantamweight title to Dominic Cruz in his very first defense, former champion [#4] Brian Bowles returned to action in a rematch with [#64] Damacio Page, putting Page to sleep with a guillotine choke at 3:30 of the first round – an outcome identical to their previous bout, down to the second. Both fighters’ rankings remain unchanged.
The Upcoming Week: Fights of Note
Friday – ADFC (Round 3)
Heavyweight
[#20] Shamil Abdurahimov vs. [#98] Marcos Oliveira
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Friday – Jewels 12
Women’s Flyweight
[#4] Ayaka Hamasaki vs. [#5 SFW] Jessica Aguilar
Non-title fight
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Friday – Shark Fights 14
Women’s Super Flyweight
[#1] Tara LaRosa vs. [#16] Carina Damm
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Saturday – Shooto (Shootor’s Legacy 2)
Flyweight
[#6] Kiyotaka Shimizu vs. [#32] Shinichi Hanawa
[#7] Yuki Shojo vs. [#28] Noboru Tahara
[#18] Masaaki Sugara vs. [#23] Junya Kudo
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MMA Rankings Updated: 3/6/2011
Notable Info
- Welterweight and Lightweight expanded to an unprecedented Top 500.
- New stat added to the “Records & Stats” page — Best (T)KO/Win ratio.
This Weekend: Fights of Note
Friday – Fresquez Promotions
Women’s Bantamweight
[#17] Christina Domke L-(TKO2) [*] Holly Holm
Holm’s debut. She is the #1 current Women’s P4P boxer and likely Top 5 in women’s boxing history.
Light Heavyweight
[#26] Keith Jardine W-(TKO1) [#252] Aron Lofton
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Saturday – Strikeforce
Light Heavyweight
[#7] Dan Henderson vs. [#10] Rafael Cavalcante
Henderson recently moved to #9 in our All-Time Absolute list.
Women’s Bantamweight
[#1] Marloes Coenen vs. [#4] Liz Carmouche
Carmouche was our 2010 Women’s Rookie of the Year.
Middleweight
[#20] Tim Kennedy vs. [#29 LHW] Melvin Manhoef
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Saturday – BellatorFC 35
Welterweight
[#21] Jay Hieron vs. [#74 MW] Anthony Lapsley
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Saturday – Chicago Cagefighting Championship
Featherweight (140lb)
[#56] Chase Beebe vs. [#274 LW] Steve Kinnisen
Featherweight
[#263] Jens Pulver vs. [#285 BW] Wade Choate
Thoughts on UFC 127 results vs. ratings
UFC Live (Sanchez/Kampmann): How they stack up
Welterweight
[#9] Martin Kampmann vs. [#12] Diego Sanchez
Middleweight
[#24] Mark Munoz vs. [#30] CB Dollaway
Middleweight
[#15] Alessio Sakara vs. [#123] Chris Weidman
Bantamweight
[#4] Brian Bowles vs. [#64] Damacio Page
Lightweight
[#50] Joe Stevenson vs. [#78] Danny Castillo
Light Heavyweight
[#35] Cyrille Diabate vs. [*] Steve Cantwell
Lightweight
[#49] Shane Roller vs. [#80] Thiago Tavares
Bantamweight
[#15] Takeya Mizugaki vs. [#49] Reuban Duran
Middleweight
[#126] Dong Yi Yang vs. [#178] Rob Kimmons
Middleweight
[#22] Rousimar Palhares vs. [#38] Dave Branch
Light Heavyweight
[#99] Igor Pokrajac vs. [#130] Todd Brown
Sherdog vs. FightMatrix Rankings
Top 5 Highest Ranked FightMatrix Fighters not on Sherdog Rankings
(#6 FW) Kazuyuki Miyata
(#6 LW) Clay Guida
(#8 WW) Paul Daley
(#8 LHW) Randy Couture
(#8 BW) Zach Makovsky
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Top 5 Largest Rank Difference between Sherdog Ranked and FightMatrix
(-16 HW) Roy Nelson
(-10 FW) Dustin Poirier
(-10 BW) Brad Pickett
(-10 LW) Sean Sherk
(-9 BW) Demetrious Johnson
We decided to exclude Rambaa Somdet, as he is technically a Mini-Flyweight fighter, Dan Henderson, who we rank in different divisions, and Wanderlei Silva, who was recently dropped off of Sherdog’s list for inactivity.
Please share your thoughts in the Comments. If we missed someone, please let us know.
MMA Rankings Updated: 2/27/2011
Notable Info
- Welterweight and Lightweight expanded to Top 400.
This Weekend: Other Fights of Note
Friday – DEEP 52 Impact
DEEP Bantamweight Championship
[#16] Hiroshi Nakamura UD(3) [#6] Masakazu Imanari (C)
Women’s Flyweight
[#8] Seo Hee Ham UD(3) [#9] Saori Ishioka
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Friday – MFC 28 (HDNet)
Light Heavyweight
[#28] Ryan Jimmo vs. [#51] Dwayne Lewis
Light Heavyweight
[#48] Emanuel Newton vs. [#50] Rodney Wallace
Lightweight (160lb)
[#50] Drew Fickett vs. [#89] Matt Veach
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Saturday – BAMMA 5
Heavyweight (215lb Catch)
[#33] Ricco Rodriguez vs. [#161 LHW] James McSweeney
Rodriguez missed weight by 2 pounds.
Welterweight
[#8] Paul Daley vs. [#41] Yuyi Shirai
Daley missed weight by 0.4 pound.
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Saturday – G-Force Fights
Lightweight
[#6 FW] Luis Palomino vs. [*] John Robles
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Saturday – Cage Warriors FC 40
Women’s Super Flyweight
[#4 BW] Roxanne Modafferi vs. [#6] Rosi Sexton
Modafferi’s first fight below 130 lbs.
UFC 127: How they stack up
Welterweight
[#3] Jon Fitch vs. [#4] B.J. Penn
Middleweight
[#10] Michael Bisping vs. [#32] Jorge Rivera
Lightweight
[#8] George Sotiropoulos vs. [#41] Dennis Siver
Welterweight
[#11] Chris Lytle vs. [#82] Brian Ebersole
Middleweight
[#49] Kyle Noke vs. [#92] Chris Camozzi
Lightweight
[#68] Spencer Fisher vs. [#94] Ross Pearson
Light Heavyweight
[#26] Alexander Gustafsson vs. [#54] James Te Huna
Middleweight
[#21] Riki Fukuda vs. [*] Nick Ring
Light Heavyweight
[#191 HW] Anthony Perosh vs. [*] Tom Blackledge
Featherweight
[*] Zhang Tie Quan vs. [*] Jason Reinhardt
Heavyweight
[#67] Chris Tuchscherer vs. [#159] Mark Hunt
Lightweight
[#82] Maciej Jewtuszko vs. [#451] Curt Warburton
More Divisional Expansion Ahead
In our next release, we will be expanding the Welterweight and Lightweight divisions to the Top 400. After this expansion, we will re-evaluate the current limits of all divisions and possibly expand another time or two. However, this upcoming expansion may be the final one for the foreseeable future. We apologize for non-uniform expansions, but we are attempting to expand based on divisional strength alone, within the confines of the rating system’s optimal performance zone.
The Week In Rankings
It’s been a mostly uneventful week, with only one significant occurence in the rankings: former #1 ranked flyweight Jussier da Silva suffered the first defeat of his career when he lost a unanimous decision to the WEC veteran Ian McCall. McCall was formerly ranked at #95 bantamweight, and landed at #4 in the flyweight division, with Jussier falling to #6 and Yasuhiro Urushitani and Mamoru Yamaguchi in a virtual tie for the newly vacated #1.
Here’s what the flyweight Top 50 looks like after this weekend: Flyweight (Under 131 lbs) fighter ranks.
Ranking Expansion
Once again, we expanded our lightweight, welterweight, and middleweight rankings by 50. See who is in the Top 350’s:
MMA Rankings Updated: 2/20/2011
Notable Info
- Middleweight, Welterweight, and Lightweight expanded to Top 350.
- Slight modification to blocking routine which forgives those who lose to aggressively placed early career fighters.
Anderson Silva moves up to #2 on our All-Time Absolute Rankings
He is now only one spot away from taking the Absolute crown away from Fedor. With Fedor’s sudden sharp decline, this changing of the guard appears to be inevitable.