Welterweight

5. Damarques Johnson beat 10. Nicholas Osipczak

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The higher seed is now 18-6.

More frequently than not, when a new fighter creeps into the rankings, I’ll take a close look at our reported professional W-L-D record for the fighter.  Verifying the records sounds straightforward, right? Wrong.

Depending on the fighter’s background, you have to know where to go in order to verify the numbers.  This is quite an art.  Let’s take a look at an example fighter.

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Example 1:  Olly Bradstreet

Olly Bradstreet is a fighter out of Utah, who built his career based on fights from the Ultimate Combat Experience.  Never heard of them?  I’m not surprised, but they have had dozens of shows in Utah, all of which are considered professionally sanctioned (I verified this with the state).  MixedMartialArts and CombatRec seem like the second-tier verification, with Sherdog being the first.

Database records as of 6/2/09 11:00AM EST for Bradstreet are as follows:

FightMatrix: 36-11

Sherdog: 34-9

MixedMartialArts: 18-11

CombatRec: 29-4

MMAUniverse: 3-1

In this example, MixedMartialArts seems to have all of his losses, but only half of his wins. There are quite a few professional bouts classified as amateur as well.  CombatRec and Sherdog are just missing bouts here and there, while MMAUniverse obviously doesn’t care much about the American scene.

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Example 2: Jesse Taitano

Jesse (or Jess, not sure) Taitano is a Flyweight from Guam.  Local news sources have his record at 7-4-2, but even I cannot locate a couple of those bouts.  Taitano recently burst into the World Flyweight scene with draws against Shinichi Kojima, and Yasuhiro Urushitani, while accumulating a 1-1 record between those two draws.  There’s no real good sources for Pacific Rim results, so fighters from places like Guam are lacking coverage.

Database records as of 6/2/09 11:00AM EST for Taitano are as follows:

Fightmatrix: 5-4-2

Sherdog: 4-3-2

MixedMartialArts: 3-1-1

CombatRec: 1-1-1

MMAUniverse: 1-1-3

OK, now this is pretty sad… considering Taitano is Top 10 in his division.  MMAUniverse actually has Taitano drawing twice against Kojima in the same night.  Interesting.

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Although we’re not perfect, we like to think our database is one of the best, if not the best out there.  However, the MMA scene as a whole has a lot of work to do on keeping track of professional fighters’ records.

This week, the focus is on Rory MacDonald.

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Notable Info

• Ranked #61 at Welterweight.
• 19 years old.
• Undefeated at 8-0.
• Has finished all of his opponents within the distance.
• Recently defeated respectable journeyman Clay French in late 2008 for the KOTC Lightweight title.

.I have heard rumors that the UFC is scouting MacDonald and he may end up fighting for the organization in the near future.  A name to look out for, and the guy is only 19 years old.

Notable Info

• Featherweight rankings have been expanded to Top 150.

Next week, Featherweights will join the heavier weight classes by expanding to the Top 150.

Heavier weight classes will likely expand even further before the end of summer.

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Welterweights

9B. Frank Lester* beat UR. David Falkner
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The higher seed is now 17-6!

Notable Info

• Updates include effects from big shows such as UFC and DREAM, as well as several minor shows.
• As always, some older obscure shows have been added as well.

This update sparked some interesting changes due to divisional changes, upsets, etc.

UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
[#1] Rashad Evans vs. [#4] Lyoto Machida

Welterweight
[#8] Matt Serra vs. [#19] Matt Hughes

Middleweight
[#51] Drew McFedries vs. [#59] Xavier Foupa-Pokam

Middleweight
[#9] Chael Sonnen vs. [#20] Dan Miller

Lightweight
[#8] Sean Sherk vs. [#15] Frankie Edgar

Welterweight
[#20] Brock Larson vs. [#28] Chris Wilson [#25] Mike Pyle

Heavyweight
[#46] Tim Hague vs. [#89] Patrick Barry

Lightweight
[#261] Kyle Bradley vs. [#550] Phillipe Nover

Light Heavyweight
[#34] Krzysztof Soszynski vs. [#77] Andre Gusmao

Welterweight
[#31] Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. [#133] Brandon Wolff

Lightweight
[#400] George Roop vs. [*] Dave Kaplan

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.

Lightweights

1. Jason Dent beat 2. Jeff Lawson

.The higher seed is now 16-6!!

Notable Info

• Quite a few “mid-major” shows added from the past week.
• Dozens of previously missing American mid-west shows have been added.
• Heavyweight through Lightweight has been expanded to the Top 150.
• Divisions with over 50 rankings are now segmented.  Use the links beneath the rankings to switch between segments.

This is a pretty big update for us, and there will be a few growing pains (missing nationalities, flags, incorrect division assignments).  If you notice any of the above, please let us know in the forum.

Note: There will be a re-post on May 21, as the ranking spots for the release on 5/17 were not “stored”.

Lightweights

3. Ross Pearson beat 6. Richie Whitson

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The higher seed is now 15-6. Be on the lookout for a recap on who’s left.

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Lightweights Remaining

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 – Never fought

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*

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Welterweights Remaining

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 – Never fought

13. Christian Fulgium – Never fought

The Unranked

Kiel Reid, David Falkner, James Bateman

Let’s face it, without MMA databases and result sites, FightMatrix wouldn’t be possible.  Thanks to these sources, and countless hours of database input, I feel its pretty safe to say that we probably have the best MMA database known to man.  At the very least, we have the most bout division information, bar none, with nearly 13,000 bouts that have division classification.

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Databases

Sherdog – The best database for getting big show results in a timely fashion and is also an invaluable asset in researching past shows.  Probably tops in the all-around category.

MixedMartialArts – The best database for minor circuits, particularly those in the American midwest.  They are also very useful, although not always accurate, in determing the pro/am status of a bout.

MMAUniverse – Their forte is western European results, and they do it well.

FighterGirls – Their female results are by far the best.  They have no competition.

CombatRec – Useful only for the most obscure shows.  Their accuracy isn’t the best but they serve an important niche.

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Results

Sherdog – Again, their forte is posting the results of big shows, but they do surprise with obscure shows from time-to-time.

Japan-MMA – Super quick on posting results for Asian shows, big and small.

ShootoResults – An outstanding resource on everything Shooto.

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We also have love for the few athletic commissions and organizations that keep up on posting official results.  If anyone has any sites to add, please feel free to let us know.  On my wish list, are sites that keep up on results from eastern Europe, Brazil, Mexico, and the Pacific Rim.

Starting with the next update, we will be expanding Lightweight through Heavyweight to the Top 150!

Lightweights

12. Cameron Dollar beat 10. Martin Stapleton

Welterweights

8. James Wilks beat 9B. Frank Lester

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The higher seed is now 14-6