.

10. Nicholas Osipczak beat 3. Mark Miller

An upset in this one… so the higher seed is now 11-5.

One of the benefits of having a computerized rating system with a mature and frequently updated database, is that it often brings unknown fighters to your attention.  I’d like to make a habit of this type of blog post, in which I mention a fighter in an obscure league who is doing well, that you may not have heard of.

This week, we have Richard Hale.

Notable Info

• 11 wins, 2 losses.
• Reigning and defending Rage in the Cage champion at Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight.
• Currently the FightMatrix #49 Heavyweight overall.
• 9th highest rated out of Heavyweights that have never fought in UFC, Strikeforce, EliteXC, or PRIDE.
• Only one of his wins has went the distance.
• Has avenged one of his two losses.

Due to the limited talent pool at RITC, especially in the LHW and HW divisions, he’s pretty much topped out his FightMatrix rating.

Notable Info

• Recent shows from UFC, Shooto, Bellator, Kingdom MMA,  and others added to the database.
• Some older shows have been added to the database.  This has caused some fluctuations.

Lightweights

1. Jason Dent beat UR. Rob Browning

Welterweights

9B. Frank Lester* beat UR. Kiel Reid

* – Added after the fact.  Assigned a “B” in order to signify their place in the ranking, without “throwing off” the initial 1-16 list.

So far, the higher seed is 11-4.  In one bout, both fighters were unranked.

UFC Middleweight Championship
[#1] Anderson Silva vs. [#11] Thales Leites

Light Heavyweight
[#9] Mauricio Rua vs. [#10] Chuck Liddell

Light Heavyweight
[#34] Krzysztof Soszynski vs. [#90] Brian Stann

Heavyweight
[#9] Cheick Kongo vs. [#35] Antoni Hardonk

Light Heavyweight
[#12] Luiz Cane vs. [#37] Steve Cantwell

Light Heavyweight
[#350] Eliot Marshall vs. [*] Vinny Magalhaes

Middleweight
[#30] Denis Kang vs. [#43] Xavier Foupa-Pokam

Middleweight
[#29] Jason MacDonald vs. [#62] Nate Quarry

Middleweight
[#34] David Loiseau vs. [#47] Ed Herman

Lightweight
[#59] Mark Bocek vs. [#92] David Bielkheden

Welterweight
[#28] TJ Grant vs. [#36] Ryo Chonan

Lightweight
[#53] Matt Wiman vs. [#60] Sam Stout

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.

Notable Info

• Recent shows from Beatdown, Shooto, Strike Force, and others added to the database.
• Some older shows from Asia have been added to the database.  This has caused some fluctuations.

Only one upset in Episode 2, and it was a minor one (#3 beat #2).



Lightweights

6. Richie Whitson beat 8. Paul Bird

7. Santino Defranco beat 9. Waylon Lowe

12. Cameron Dollar beat 15. Tom Hayden



Welterweights

3. Mark Miller beat 2. Kevin Knabjian

4. Jason Pierce beat 12. Ryan Biglar

5. Damarques Johnson beat 7. Ray Elbe



So far, the higher seed is 9-4.  In one bout, both fighters were unranked.

Since we posted the TUF 9 rankings, I figured it’d be interesting to follow the results… just to see how off (or on) we are. There have definitely been some “bracket busters” in the Welterweight division, but the Lightweights are performing as expected.

Lightweights

4. Andre Winner beat 13. Gary Kelly

2. Jeff Lawson beat 14. James Bryant

10. Martin Stapleton beat NR. Dan James

3. Ross Pearson beat 11. AJ Wenn

Welterweights

8. James Wilks beat 1. Che Mills

10. Nicholas Osipczak beat 6. Tommy Maguire

11. Dean Amasinger beat 9. Alex Reid

NR. David Falkner beat NR. James Bateman

All fighters are ranked using their FightMatrix rating points as of 4/6/09. Some of the bout histories for these obscure fighters are incomplete, especially those from the UK, but we decided to use the information that we have to provide a ranking of said fighters. There is some “grouping” of closely rated fighters, so we are presenting them in tiers.

Total Points

240 – 204

The Best of the Bunch

1. Jason Dent

2. Jeff Lawson

Worth Keeping an Eye On

3. Ross Pearson

4. Andre Winner

The Next Three

5. Josh Souder

6. Richie Whitson

7. Santino Defranco

On the Outside Looking In

8. Paul Bird

9. Waylon Lowe

10. Martin Stapleton

11. AJ Wenn

12. Cameron Dollar

Just Good Enough for a Rating

13. Gary Kelly

14. James Bryant

15. Tom Hayden

The Unranked

Dan James, Rob Browning*

* – Added after the fact, not included in main point total.

All fighters are ranked using their FightMatrix rating points as of 4/6/09. Some of the bout histories for these obscure fighters are incomplete, especially those from the UK, but we decided to use the information that we have to provide a ranking of said fighters. There is some “grouping” of closely rated fighters, so we are presenting them in tiers.

Total Points

235 – 172

The Best of the Bunch

1. Che Mills

2. Kevin Knabjian

3. Mark Miller

Worth Keeping an Eye On

4. Jason Pierce

5. Damarques Johnson

Rounding Out the Top 10

6. Tommy Maguire

7. Ray Elbe

8. James Wilks

9. Alex Reid

9B. Frank Lester*

10. Nicholas Osipczak

Here for the Ride

11. Dean Amasinger

12. Ryan Biglar

13. Christian Fulgium

The Unranked

Kiel Reid, David Falkner, James Bateman

* – Added after the fact, not included in main point total.

As mentioned over at BloodyElbow.com, USA Today will now be featuring the monthly BloodyElbow Meta-Rankings in their online and print versions.  As you may or may not know, the meta-rankings are essentially an averaged list of the better MMA ranking sites out there, with us being one of them.

In addition, I assisted BloodyElbow by creating the normalization scheme that is necessary to properly weight the various rankings, in order to allow sites that only offer Top 10s and Top 15s.  This allowed them to expand the rankings and create a more accurate picture.

The first published release will be on Thursday.

I think most of us would agree that this fight is happening too late, and an approximate ranking history would agree.  Rua/Chuck looked like it would have been at its peak as 2005 came to a close.

The Excel trendlines (Poly.) suggest potential trending for each fighter.  These are not very scientific, and only suggest possible trends.  However, I will note that all similar trends suggested a decline for Liddell, while Rua’s trend was varied.  Since they will face each other in a few weeks, the trends presented are the only logical ones, with the exception being a draw.

Notable Info

• Database updated with shows from the past 10 days.
• Bug that was mentioned in the previous update notes has been further flushed out.  Affected functions have been re-tuned.