In boxing and many other combat sports, the heavyweight division has traditionally produced the biggest stars and attracted the most attention.  Not so in mixed martial arts, where lightheavyweights have been the focal point of the sport ever since the inception of weight classes.  This has been especially true in UFC, where the biggest names have fought at 205 lbs while the heavyweight division suffered from the lack of talent and competition. 

Things were looking up for the heavyweights when Zuffa purchased Pride FC; however UFC failed to sign most of Pride’s biggest heavyweight stars in Fedor Emelianenko, Sergei Kharitonov, and the former UFC champion Josh Barnett; while Mirko ‘Cro-Cop’ Filipovic’s excursion into the Octagon ended with a whimper.  Of all the Pride heavys, only Antonio ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira thrived in the UFC.

In addition to the lack of quality contenders, UFC has also suffered from a string of bad luck with their heavyweight title holders: from Barnett’s and Tim Sylvia’s steroid scandals, to Frank Mir’s motorcycle accident, to Randy Couture’s resignation – they have been unable to establish a proper lineage, crowning interim champions on numerous occasions when the previous title holders left the organization without losing their belts.  After Couture resigned from his contract and former champions Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski left UFC for the new rival Affliction,  the heavyweight division was at its lowest point in a long time.

Recently, Couture announced that he will be returning to the UFC after a year-long legal battle.  Couture’s return, in addition to Brock Lesnar’s debut in the top 20 after defeating Heath Herring, shifted the balance of HW division slightly into UFC’s favor.  According to the latest Fightmatrix.com ranking, 3 of the Top 5, 5 of the Top 10, and 7 of the Top 20 heavyweights are currently competing in the UFC.

Here is an in-depth look at UFC’s heavyweight division:

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Since this past weekend has been relatively uneventful, the rankings update is being delayed until Thursday.  This update will reflect recent minor shows, newly added historical data, and Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night.

Notable Info

• Rankings updated w/ effects from UFC 88 and other minor database additions/updates.

Light Heavyweight
[#4] Chuck Liddell vs. [#9] Rashad Evans

Light Heavyweight
[#7] Rich Franklin vs. [#27] Matt Hamill

Welterweight
[#11] Karo Parisyan vs. [#15] Yoshiyuki Yoshida CANCELLED

Middleweight
[#4] Dan Henderson vs. [#33] Rousimar Palhares

Middleweight
[#14] Nate Marquardt vs. [#20] Martin Kampmann

Lightweight
[#72] Thiago Tavares vs. [#86] Kurt Pellegrino

Welterweight
[#40] Dong Hyun Kim vs. [#210] Matt Brown

Middleweight
[#28] Jason MacDonald vs. [#60] Jason Lambert

Welterweight
[#28] Ryo Chonan vs. [#63] Roan Carneiro

Light Heavyweight
[#48] Tim Boetsch vs. [#76] Michael Patt

Ranking Note: Gray 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.

Last week, we looked back at the Season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter series, and reviewed the progress of the lightheavyweight contenders.  Now, lets take a look at the middleweight participants of ‘TUF’ Season 3.

The middleweights as a group have not enjoyed much success since the show: Only three of the eight contestants are ranked in the Top 100 of their current weight class, and only the finalists Kendall Grove and Ed Herman are still employed by the UFC.

Fighters are listed in order of their current Fightmatrix.com ranking, regardless of the weight class. Fights that took place in the live finale are counted in the ‘After’ column.

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Notable Info

•  Rankings updated with effects from recent shows and some previously missing older shows.

After a very busy summer for MMA fans, there has been a temporary lull in major events.  As the UFC and Spike TV are getting ready to launch the eighth season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality series (premiering on September 17th), it is a good time to take a look back at the contestants of Season 3 and see how their fighting careers have progressed after the show.

The third season of ‘TUF’ featured lightheavyweight & middleweight contestants, and was coached by Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock.  The show focused heavily on the ongoing feud between coaches, sometimes at the expense of screen time for fighters.    The talent level on this season was rather weak compared to seasons 1 and 2:  not a single fighter from season 3 is currently ranked in the Top 10 in any weight class.  I will examine the lightheavyweight class first, and look at the middleweights next week.

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Notable Info

• Added recent shows from ZST, WVR, and minor organizations.
• Added older shows which were missing (yet again).

Notable Info

• Recent shows added, including DEEP: Gladiator, ShoXC, Pure Combat, etc.
• Older shows added to database.
• Bug fix regarding the placement of streaking early career fighters.

Early update this week as I’m leaving town, but its a somewhat dead weekend.

Recently I took a look at the top fighters in the UFC’s middleweight division.  Let’s now examine the top middleweights competing in other MMA promotions throughout the world. This is one of the most scattered weight classes in MMA, even though the UFC maintains a lead with the most top fighters at 185 lbs, which will only strengthen if Zuffa merges the WEC & UFC middleweight divisions as has been rumored.  Nevertheless, there are plenty of top-level fighters competing in various organizations, with Japan’s Dream coming the closes to giving UFC a run for its money.  Here are the top 15 middleweights outside of the UFC, according to the latest Fightmatrix.com ranking:

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Notable Info

• Rankings updated with effects from recent shows, most notably, UFC 87.

In 2002, the reigning UFC middleweight champion Murillo Bustamante left the organization in the midst of a contract dispute, throwing the 185-lbs weight class into disarray. UFC did not crown a new champion until 2005, when Evan Tanner defeated David Terrell at UFC 51 for the vacant belt. Tanner then lost the belt to Rich Franklin in his very first defense; Franklin held on to the title for over a year before succumbing to the current 185-lbs and P4P king, Anderson Silva.

The three-year long title hiatus really hurt the UFC’s middleweight division: in contrast to 170-lbs and 205-lbs where they are the home for the overwhelming majority of the top fighters, at 185 UFC only holds 3 of the Top 5, 4 of the Top 10, and and 10 of the Top 20 fighters in the world, according to the latest Fightmatrix.com ranking. Here is an in-depth look at the top middleweights in the UFC:

The Champion: [#1] Anderson Silva

MMA Record: 22-4 (7-0 UFC)

Last bout: Defeated James Irvin by KO at UFC ‘Silva vs. Irvin’ (205-lbs bout)

Next bout: A title defense against Patrick Cote at UFC 90

After a disappointing run in Pride FC, with submission losses to Ryo Chonan and Daiju Takase, Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva went on to win the Cage Rage middleweight title, then arrived in UFC, making his debut against Chris Leben in the main event of an Ultimate Fight Night.  Silva made short work of Leben, and received and immediate title shot, knocking out the champion Rich Franklin in under three minutes.  He has since reigned over the middleweight division with an iron fist, winning five more bouts – and stopping every opponent within two rounds.  After a brief foray into the lightheavyweight division, Silva will return to defend his middleweight crown against Patrick Cote at UFC 90 – a matchup that Silva is heavily favored to win, just like he would be against any other middleweight in today’s fight scene.

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UFC Welterweight Championship
[#1] Georges St. Pierre vs. [#3] Jon Fitch

Lightweight
[#7] Kenny Florian vs. [#10] Roger Huerta

Heavyweight
[#10] Heath Herring vs. [#160] Brock Lesnar

Lightweight
[#72] Rob Emerson vs. [#121] Manny Gamburyan

Middleweight
[#21] Damien Maia vs. [#22] Jason MacDonald

Heavyweight
[#11] Cheick Kongo vs. [#102] Dan Evensen

Welterweight
[#19] Chris Wilson vs. [NR] Steve Bruno

Welterweight
[#181] Ben Saunders vs. [#199] Ryan Thomas

Welterweight
[#77] Tamdan McCrory vs. [#95] Luke Cummo

Light Heavyweight
[#29] Andre Gusmao vs. [#175] Jon Jones

Ranking Note: Gray 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

• Rankings updated with effects from recent shows from DEEP, IconSport, Shooto, WEC, Rage in the Cage.
• Played catch-up and added some minor shows from July including those from GCM, RealFC, Max Fights, Sparstar, Total Fight Alliance, M-1, ,Warriors Collide, VictoryFC, etc.
• Expanded Featherweight to Top 100.

Notable Info

• Rankings updated with recent shows from EliteXC and MaximumFC.

Sherdog is still experiencing major issues with their database and with doing updates, so we are likely missing the results of some minor shows that occurred last week.