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
Notable Info
