Notable Info
A software fix was implemented which will correct under-penalization of fighters in very specific circumstances. This will mainly affect fighters who lose multiple close decisions in a short time period to opponents close to, or below their own rating. The current ratings show the result of this change and it will be propagated to the historical and all-time rankings within the next few weeks.
By popular demand, we expanded our men’s pound-for-pound ranking to Top 15 instead of Top 10.
Check it out, and be on the lookout for more expansion and updates coming soon!
As promised, here’s our first attempt at a traditional pound-for-pound ranking of top MMA fighters. Take a look and let us know what you think!
For years, we’ve featured the Division Dominance rankings for Men and Women. Although similar to “pound-for-pound” rankings, these were not and are not the same thing.
Even though the posted definition at the top of the pages clearly states this, it seems many of our viewers cannot understand this or refuse to read it. As some of you know, these rankings are very mathematical in nature and only reflect the proportional point differences that top fighters possess over fighters considered to be their divisional peers. Throughout time, we added some conditional logic to eliminate outliers, but these lists continue to be mathematically specific and straightforward.
Within the next two weeks, we plan on launching “pound-for-pound” ranking lists for both genders. These lists will feature separate point ratings that are calculated side-by-side, chronologically, alongside the typical ratings you see on our site. However, the goal in mind is to make the rating points value the same factors that the fan and media lists do — but to do so consistently, accurately and timely. Eventually, we will expand this to our Generated Ranking Sets to allow for a “lookback” in time.
Region
Home State
Last Fought In
Another special update for the mid-week UFC card.
Light Heavyweight (205)
[#9] Glover Teixeira (21-2-0, 206.0lb, -418) vs. [#10] Ryan Bader (15-3-0, 205.0lb, +375)
Ryan Bader is the All-Time #23 ranked Light Heavyweight fighter.
Last 3 Fights: Glover Teixeira (3-0-0)
2013-05-25: W vs. [#21LHW] James Te Huna (16-6-0) via Submission (Guillotine Choke) in 2:38 of round 1
2013-01-26: W vs. [#14LHW] Quinton Jackson (32-11-0) via UD (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
2012-10-13: W vs. [#49LHW] Fabio Maldonado (19-6-0) via TKO (Doctor Stoppage) in 5:00 of round 2
Last 3 Fights: Ryan Bader (2-1-0)
2013-01-26: W vs. [#38LHW] Vladimir Matyushenko (26-7-0) via Submission (Guillotine Choke) in 0:50 of round 1
2012-08-04: L vs. [#3LHW] Lyoto Machida (19-4-0) via KO (Punches) in 1:32 of round 2
2012-02-26: W vs. [#14LHW] Quinton Jackson (32-11-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Glover Teixeira 102, Ryan Bader 221
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Even: Both have 2 win(s) against common opposition.
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Middleweight (185)
[#4] Yushin Okami (29-7-0, 185.0lb, +236) vs. [#6] Ronaldo Souza (18-3-0, 186.0lb, -240)
Yushin Okami is the All-Time #7 ranked Middleweight fighter.
Ronaldo Souza is the All-Time #20 ranked Middleweight fighter.
Last 3 Fights: Yushin Okami (3-0-0)
2013-03-03: W vs. [#5MW] Hector Lombard (32-4-1) via SD (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
2012-12-29: W vs. [#17MW] Alan Belcher (18-8-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
2012-08-11: W vs. [#68MW] Buddy Roberts (12-3-0) via TKO (Punches) in 3:09 of round 2
Last 3 Fights: Ronaldo Souza (3-0-0)
2013-05-18: W vs. [#31MW] Chris Camozzi (19-6-0) via Technical Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) in 3:37 of round 1
2013-01-12: W vs. [#38MW] Ed Herman (21-9-0) via Submission (Kimura) in 3:10 of round 1
2012-08-18: W vs. [#24MW] Derek Brunson (10-2-0) via KO (Punches) in 0:41 of round 1
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Yushin Okami 185, Ronaldo Souza 109
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: No common opposition or both are winless against common opposition.
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Flyweight (125)
[#2/#8DD] Joseph Benavidez (18-3-0, 126.0lb, -500) vs. [#10] Jussier da Silva (15-2-0, 126.0lb, +444)
Joseph Benavidez is the All-Time #19 ranked Flyweight fighter.
Jussier da Silva is the All-Time #4 ranked Flyweight fighter.
Last 3 Fights: Joseph Benavidez (2-1-0)
2013-04-20: W vs. [#11FLY] Darren Uyenoyama (8-4-0) via KO (Punch to the Body) in 4:50 of round 2
2013-02-02: W vs. [#5FLY] Ian McCall (12-4-1) via UD (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
2012-09-22: L vs. [#1FLY/#6DD] Demetrious Johnson (18-2-1) via SD (48-47, 47-48, 49-46)
Last 3 Fights: Jussier da Silva (2-1-0)
2013-05-18: W vs. [#26FLY] Chris Cariaso (14-6-0) via UD (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
2012-10-05: L vs. [#6FLY] John Dodson (14-6-0) via TKO (Punches) in 4:35 of round 2
2012-06-29: W vs. [#75FLY] Sidney Lessa de Oliveira (9-5-0) via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 2:45 of round 1
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Joseph Benavidez 137, Jussier da Silva 109
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Joseph Benavidez leads 2-1
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Keep Reading
In the past two years (and one week), we’ve seen 8 UFC shows take place in Brazil, with this amount steadily increasing — 1 in 2011, 3 in 2012, 7 in 2013 (3 still to come).
Given that a large majority of UFC shows and their fighter population reside outside of Brazil, how “fair” is it to these fighters that so many of their fights take place in Brazil against Brazilian opponents? When we say “fair”, we refer to two things — the “hometown advantage” and the matchmaking.
The “hometown advantage” is something we looked at very briefly a couple of years ago, when some bookmakers like Bwin started to claimed that in sports such as Poker, it can give you what you need to win. We found just under a 2% advantage for the home fighter (a hometown fighter with say… 98 rating points would have a 50/50 chance versus an outsider with 100 rating points). However, this included a slew of contests that involved neighboring entities (example — US vs. Canada) and I think we can all agree a United States vs. Brazil or even more extreme, Japan vs. Brazil at Brazil is a far cry from the aforementioned border wars. Plus, the database is much, much more mature now. A detailed re-visit of this analysis of this is better saved for another day.
Using the fighter “nationality” setting you see on our ranking pages, I isolated 60 fights from the 8 previously mentioned UFC shows that involved a Brazil vs. non-Brazil fighter in Brazil, that resulted in non-draw, non-no contest outcomes. Brazilian fighters won 47 of these fights, a win rate of 78.33%. If we expand this window back to 1/1/2010 and include all organizations where we know the nationalities of both fighters (399 fights), this win rate drops significantly to 62.15% — though is still sizable.
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| So, how much of this is the mysterious “hometown advantage” and how much of this is matchmaking? |
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