Notable Info
- Rankings updated with effects from recent shows and some previously missing older shows.
Tracking the progress of The Ultimate Fighter 3 contestants – Part I
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.
MMA Rankings Updated: 8/25/08
Notable Info
- Added recent shows from ZST, WVR, and minor organizations.
- Added older shows which were missing (yet again).
MMA Rankings Updated: 8/17/08
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.
Top Middleweights outside of UFC
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:
MMA Rankings Updated: 8/11/08
Notable Info
- Rankings updated with effects from recent shows, most notably, UFC 87.
UFC’s Middleweight Division
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.
UFC 87: How they stack up
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.
MMA Rankings Updated: 8/3/08
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.
MMA Rankings Updated: 7/27/08
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.