This one is for those of you who harbor a vast interest in the analytical side of the sport. Here at FightMatrix, the software behind the scenes considers the participants and outcomes of professional MMA matches to come up with divisional rankings.

Not only does FightMetric look at the fight basics, but they hand select particular fights, and dig down into every intricacy of those fights, no matter how small, to come up with various metrics and statistics, including those which challenge the decisions of the judges. Furthermore, for UFC 81, they posted a “Total Performance Report” which offers a basic summary of each participating fighter’s individual performances.

To view these reports and gain a better understanding of their methodology, feel free to visit @ http://www.fightmetric.com

A very small update has been released.  Josh Rave, has blasted onto the extremely thin Flyweight (130 and under) rankings with a defeat over the previously ranked #9 fighter, Omar Chowdury.  Rave likely should have been ranked before this, but we did not know his division.  Also, some bout results have been updated and applied, causing one of Anthony Lapsley’s wins to be overturned, dropping him like a stone in the Welterweight division.  Set #6 will be released after the WEC show on 2/13.

Please remember to visit the forums and give us your feedback!

This update includes consideration of the Misaki/Akiyama result fix, about 100 old bouts, and some divisional corrections.

I’m sure this happened weeks ago, but someone just brought it to my attention.  As a result, Middleweight will shake up a bit upon the next rankings update.  The next official update will occur this week.  The update will feature this change and some very minor bout additions/updates.

Official Set #3 has been released today and there are a fair amount of changes throughout the divisions, as well as the pages involved.  Some things to consider.

• New show results include those from Pancrase, UFC,  HCF,  X-1 Hawaii, Shooto, etc.
• The results of some recent minor bouts are not yet available.  This will be a continuing trend.
• Some old bouts have been added, which may account for minor shakeups unrelated to results.
• Top 50s have been expanded to Top 60s.  Top 25s have been expanded to Top 30s.
• If a fighter had a bout recently, the “Last Bout” line is color coded.  Right now, only bouts that have taken place since, and on the day of the last official set are color coded.  This policy may change, as well as the actual color used.

Interim Heavyweight Championship
[#3] Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. [#6] Tim Sylvia

Heavyweights
[#21] Frank Mir vs. [*] Brock Lesnar

Middleweights
[*] Rob Yundt vs. [NR] Ricardo Almeida

Middleweights
[#10] Nathan Marquardt vs. [#27] Jeremy Horn

Lightweights
[#17] Tyson Griffin vs. [#41] Gleison Tibau

Welterweights
[#49] Chris Lytle vs. [#76] Kyle Bradley

Middleweights
[#38] Marvin Eastman vs. [#31] Terry Martin

Lightweights
[#85] Keita Nakamura vs. [#67] Rob Emerson

Light Heavyweights
[#33] David Heath vs. [#85] Tim Boetsch

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.

Official Set #3 will debut on 2/3/08, on the morning after UFC 81.  In the future, we are going to release official updates directly after the major shows.  If there is a sizable break between major shows, we will provide periodic updates during these breaks.

Set #3 will show the effects of UFC 81, some Shooto cards, as well as a plethora of minor bouts.  As always, we continue to add shows from past years, so expect minor fluctuations throughout, especially in the Heavyweight division.

Furthermore, the Top 25s will be expanded to Top 30s, while the Top 50s will be expanded to Top 60s!  This is just another “baby step” in the pursuit of global MMA rating domination.  To keep moving forward, we need help with the unknown division list.

With the release of Official Set #2, we now display the movement tracker that shows a fighter’s movement since the last released set. This will enable you to see movement that has taken place due to the recent UFC Fight Night and other minor cards. Please note that there are widespread minor fluctuations due to newfound historical bouts.

On a side note, some of the weight ranges for the lower weight classes have been adjusted in order to better handle “catchweight” bouts.

UFC 80 had the most notable effect on the ranking of the following fighters:

• BJ Penn moves from #6 to #3 in the Lightweight division after his victory over Joe Stevenson.  Stevenson drops from #10 to #16.
• Fabricio Werdum moves from #9 to #4 with his victory over Gabriel Gonzaga.  Gonzaga drops from #4 to #7.

Check out the complete, updated rankings!  We now rank the Top 50 in Lightweight and above; Top 25 in Bantamweight, Featherweight, and Women’s Openweight; and Top 10 in Flyweight.

Latest Rankings:

Heavyweight (206+ lbs)

Light Heavyweight (188-205 lbs)

Middleweight (176-187 lbs)

Welterweight (162-175 lbs)

Lightweight (146-161 lbs)

Featherweight (136-145 lbs)

Bantamweight (126-135 lbs)

Flyweight (under 126 lbs)

Women (Open Weight)

The first official release of the rankings have been released today. In future releases, the ranking pages will contain a movement tracker, displaying a fighter’s movement between the previous release and the present one. As for frequency of updates… we are still giving this some thought.

There is now a ranking page that will list the highest-ranked fighters without a division assignment.  If you would like to help us tackle this list and determine divisions for these fighters, we invite you to please help us out!!  If your investigation turns up anything, please e-mail jcs at fightmatrix.com with your findings, and information source, with this source preferably being weigh-in and/or organization profile information.

Lightweight and above have been expanded to Top 50.

UFC Lightweight Championship
[#6] BJ Penn vs. [#10] Joe Stevenson

Heavyweights
[#4] Gabriel Gonzaga vs. [#9] Fabricio Werdum

Welterweights
[#18] Marcus Davis vs. [#30] Jess Liaudin

Light Heavyweights
[#13] Jason Lambert vs. [#44] Wilson Gouveia

Middleweights
[#54] Kendall Grove vs. [#89] Jorge Rivera

Heavyweights
[#100] Antoni Hardonk vs. [*] Colin Robinson

Welterweights
[#115] Paul Kelly vs. [#150] Paul Taylor

Light Heavyweights
[#33] James Lee vs. [#65] Alessio Sakara

Lightweights
[#32] Sam Stout vs. [#49] Per Eklund

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.

– Due to some overly aggressive initial placements for recently debuting fighters, pre-bout calculation bonuses for quality performances in debuts have been reduced by 25-50% depending on the specific scenario.

In other words, debuting fighters who break onto the scene with a quality performance, are not given as much of a bonus as they were before. This will have small changes throughout the divisions.

– Heavyweight through Lightweight rankings have been expanded to Top 40s.

– Bantamweight, Featherweight, and Women rankings have been expanded to Top 25s.