Notable Info

• Ricco Rodriguez suffered a loss to unheralded Mario Rinaldi.  As a result, he finds himself outside the Top 50.
• Marius Zaromskis shocks everyone by taking the DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix.  He moves from #67 to #6 in the division.
• Shinya Aoki returns to the Lightweight division, ranked at #6.  Vitor Ribeiro loses even more relevance and falls to #40.
• The biggest upset of the week happened in the Flyweight division.  Longstanding #1 Flyweight Shinichi Kojima, falls to Jucie Formiga, who was just outside of the Top 25.  Due to Kojima’s dominance and the weakness of the division, Formiga moves into the top spot, while Kojima falls to #2.

UFC Heavyweight Championship
[#2] Frank Mir vs. [#3] Brock Lesnar

UFC Welterweight Championship
[#1] Georges St. Pierre vs. [#2] Thiago Alves

Welterweight
[#4] Jon Fitch vs. [#6] Paulo Thiago

Middleweight
[#7 LHW] Dan Henderson vs. [#12] Michael Bisping

Middleweight
[#13] Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. [#16] Alan Belcher

Light Heavyweight
[#26] Mark Coleman vs. [#56] Stephan Bonnar

Lightweight
[#18] Jim Miller vs. [#72] Mac Danzig

Light Heavyweight
[#25] Jon Jones vs. [#54] Jake O’Brien

Welterweight
[#23] TJ Grant vs. [#45] Dong Hyun Kim

Middleweight
[#58] CB Dollaway vs. [#375] Tom Lawlor

Lightweight
[#180] Shannon Gugerty vs. [#375] Matt Grice

Ranking Notes: Dark green 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.

Due to technical difficulties (on my end) the ratings have been re-posted.  FYI – A few more recent results were grabbed.

Notable Info

• Added new shows from the past week.
• Corrected the sanctioning status of hundreds of bouts (were pro, now amateur).  This will cause some minor fluctuations.

Lightweight
[#5] Diego Sanchez vs. [#15] Clay Guida

Welterweight
[#201] DaMarques Johnson vs. [#425] James Wilks

Lightweight
[#131] Ross Pearson vs. [#139] Andre Winner

Welterweight
[#29] Chris Lytle vs. [#65] Kevin Burns

Lightweight
[#29] Joe Stevenson vs. [#30] Nate Diaz

Lightweight
[#35] Gleison Tibau vs. [#97] Melvin Guillard

Welterweight
[#20] Brad Blackburn vs. [#73] Edgar Garcia

Light Heavyweight
[#34 HW] Mike Ciesnolevicz vs. [#81] Tomasz Drwal

Welterweight
[#300 LHW] Frank Lester vs. [#600] Nicholas Osipczak

Lightweight
[#63 WW] Jason Dent vs. [#425] Cameron Dollar

Ranking Notes: Dark green 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.

Season 9’s ranking was pretty successful, and an interesting experiment.. at least for myself.

Here is how the Season 10 candidates stack up in terms of FightMatrix rating points.

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Leader of the Pack

1. Roy Nelson (#31 HW)

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The Next Best Thing

2. Darrill Schoonover (#57 HW)

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Solid Underdog Picks

3. Abe Wagner (#84 HW)

4. Jim York (#92 HW)

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The B-Squad

5. Justin Wren (#114 HW)

6. Kimbo Slice (#118 HW)

7. Tom Blackledge (#160 LHW)

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Longshots

8. Mike Wessel (#143 HW)

9. Zak Jensen (#145 HW)

10. Scott Junk (#157 HW)

11. Brendan Schaub (#172 HW)

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The Filler

12. Wes Sims (~#300 HW)

13. Marcus Jones (~#310 HW)

14. Jon Madsen (~#500 HW)

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Unranked

UR. Wes Shivers

UR. Matt Mitrione

Notable Info

• Added a few new shows to the database.
• Past change regarding barnstorming “rookie” fighters got reverted somehow.  Re-inserted this.
• Minor adjustment regarding past opposition strength and knockout losses to much higher-rated fighters.

Notable Info

• Database updated with recent results.
• Bantamweight expanded to Top 100.

Other Comments

• “Interesting” results fill the landscape this week.  Ray Mercer is treated as a debuting juggernaut and is elevated into the Top 20 with his 10 second win over Tim Sylvia.  Cain Velasquez joins him in the bottom quarter of the Top 20.
• Two of the three fighters we’ve covered in our “ranked fighters you’ve never heard of” posts faced off last week.  Jordan Smith and Richard Hale, two fighters who were within 1/10th of a rating point of one another faced off.  The system had them pegged, as the end result was a draw.
• Rich Franklin was involved in his second consecutive questionable decision at Light Heavyweight.  Say what you will, he’s deserving of the Top 10 position we’ve had him at since his move from Middleweight.
• Dan Hardy further cements his case as a top welterweight with his win over Marcus Davis, reclaiming the #10 spot.
• Nick Cottone re-enters the top 25 Flyweights.  His re-entry means 4 Americans in the Top 25, a good stateside foundation should WEC decide to include this division.

Late Addition: Obviously the Sylvia/Mercer situation is an oddly unique event, so we will be taking a look at how it was handled in terms of numbers.

Light Heavyweight (195lbs)
[#7] Wanderlei Silva vs. [#8] Rich Franklin

Heavyweight
[#10] Cheick Kongo vs. [#33] Cain Velasquez

Welterweight
[#8] Mike Swick vs. [#67] Ben Saunders

Welterweight
[#11] Dan Hardy vs. [#22] Marcus Davis

Lightweight
[#16] Caol Uno vs. [#28] Spencer Fisher

Heavyweight
[#14] Mirko Filipovic vs. [#92] Mostapha Al-Turk

Lightweight
[#34] Terry Etim vs. [#278] Justin Buchholz

Lightweight
[#175] Dennis Siver vs. [#280] Dale Hartt

Welterweight
[#90] Paul Taylor vs. [#500] Peter Sobotta

Lightweight
[#118 WW] Paul Kelly vs. [#233] Rolando Delgado

Heavyweight
[#51] Stefan Struve vs. [#153] Denis Stojnic

Welterweight
[#41] Ricky Story vs. [#129] John Hathaway

Ranking Notes: Dark green 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.

Upon the next update, Bantamweight will be expanded to the Top 100.

Notable Info

• Aside from the recent shows, quite a few missing older bouts were added — more than the usual for the weekly update.
• We missed the 6/7 Shooto show (was also one on 6/6).  Daiji Takahashi and Fumihiro Kitahara will move into the Top 25 Flyweights, around #20.

Welterweight

8. James Wilks vs. 9B. Frank Lester*

The winner will face: 5. Damarques Johnson

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Lightweight

4. Andre Winner vs. 12. Cameron Dollar

1. Jason Dent vs. 3. Ross Pearson