Introducing a minor new feature on our ranking pages: You can now use the ‘Last Fought In’ filter to quickly view all the ranked fighters in a weight class whose last fight was not in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

For example, here are all the ranked welterweights who last fought outside of the UFC:

http://www.fightmatrix.com/mma-ranks/welterweight/?OrgFilter=-1

Thanks to our reader GLF for the suggestion!

Brian Cobb (19-6-0) , #11 ranked Lightweight, has long been the topic of debate as being perhaps the most controversial ranking in the history of the FightMatrix ranking system — right next to Ray Mercer.

Although on a five fight win streak, he lost his two fights prior to that to fighters who have since fallen off the relevancy radar.  Cobb also had the benefit of facing off against fighters who were momentarily peaking, like Drew Fickett, and Kazunori Yokota.  Still, he has earned his FightMatrix ranking the traditional way, by earning points.  His points though, will be on the line Friday against [#36 LW] Antonio McKee (26-4-2) in a five round MFC Lightweight title bout.

McKee is no slouch and a dominant win over McKee in his home organization would speak volumes.  McKee fought nearly even with Jacob Volkmann just over a year ago and prior to that, hadn’t lost since 2003, with that loss being in a Welterweight fight.

We’ll be posting a “FightMatrix Program” for this card later in the week.  Maybe we can also lure in a comment from Brian prior to the match-up.

Lightweight (156)
[#12] Jim Miller (20-3-0, 155.0lb) vs. [#24] Melvin Guillard (27-10-2, 156.0lb)
Jim Miller is the All-Time #24 ranked Lightweight fighter.

Last 3 Fights: Jim Miller (2-1-0)
2011-08-14: L vs. [#3LW] Ben Henderson (15-2-0) via UD (30-27, 30-26, 29-28)
2011-03-19: W vs. [#53LW] Kamal Shalorus (7-1-2) via TKO (Punches) in 2:15 of round 3
2010-12-11: W vs. [#100LW] Charles Oliveira (14-2-0) via Submission (Kneebar) in 1:59 of round 1

Last 3 Fights: Melvin Guillard (2-1-0)
2011-10-08: L vs. [#11LW] Joe Lauzon (21-6-0) via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 0:47 of round 1
2011-07-02: W vs. [#54LW] Shane Roller (10-5-0) via KO (Punches) in 2:12 of round 1
2011-01-22: W vs. [#37LW] Evan Dunham (12-2-0) via TKO (Knees) in 2:58 of round 1

Days Since Last Pro Fight: Jim Miller 159, Melvin Guillard 104
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Even: Both have 1 win(s) against common opposition.
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Welterweight (170)
[#35] Josh Neer (32-10-1, 171.0lb) vs. [#53] Duane Ludwig (21-11-0, 170.5lb)

Last 3 Fights: Josh Neer (3-0-0)
2011-10-01: W vs. [#114WW] Keith Wisniewski (28-13-1) via TKO (Doctor Stoppage) in 5:00 of round 2
2011-08-20: W vs. [#736WW] Blas Avena (7-6-0) via TKO (Punches and Elbows) in 2:54 of round 1
2011-06-25: W vs. [#73WW] Jesse Juarez (17-7-0) via TKO (Injury) in 5:00 of round 1

Last 3 Fights: Duane Ludwig (2-1-0)
2011-08-14: W vs. [#60WW] Amir Sadollah (5-3-0) via UD (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
2010-11-13: W vs. [#211WW] Nick Osipczak (5-3-0) via SD (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
2010-03-21: L vs. [#27FW] Darren Elkins (13-2-0) via TKO (Ankle Injury) in 0:44 of round 1

Days Since Last Pro Fight: Josh Neer 111, Duane Ludwig 159
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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Bantamweight (135)
[#49] Jared Papazian (14-6-0, 135.5lb) vs. [#65] Mike Easton (10-1-0, 135.0lb)

Last 3 Fights: Jared Papazian (3-0-0)
2011-09-15: W vs. [#296BW] Marvin Garcia (7-1-0) via UD (50-45, 48-47, 48-47)
2011-06-24: W vs. [#90BW] Abel Cullum (19-6-0) via UD (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
2011-03-27: W vs. [#129BW] Kana Hyatt (9-10-0) via UD (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Last 3 Fights: Mike Easton (3-0-0)
2011-10-01: W vs. [#252BW] Byron Bloodworth (6-2-0) via TKO (Knees and Punches) in 4:52 of round 2
2009-10-03: W vs. [#48FW] Chase Beebe (18-8-1) via SD (49-46, 46-49, 48-47)
2009-04-25: W vs. [#415BW] Josh Ferguson (8-4-0) via Submission (Guillotine Choke) in 4:06 of round 1

Days Since Last Pro Fight: Jared Papazian 127, Mike Easton 111
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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Notable Info

• This release includes rating modification with regard to community adjustments, so there will be fluctuations throughout.

Notable Info

• This is strictly a maintenance update to get some small shows and fixes in before the holidays.  Our next release will come in the first days of 2012.  This inaugural 2012 release will also include community adjustments made in reaction to 2011 observations.  Once again, the Japanese community proved itself to be overrated, as did the Brazilian community, albeit at a much lesser level.

Our men’s rookie fighter of the year for 2011 is Sultan Aliev Levan Razmadze.

So far, this Light Heavyweight has gone 4-0 in Russia and has a combined opponent record of 19-6-1.

He is currently ranked #69 at Light Heavyweight.

2011 Honorable Mentions: Levan Razmadze, Ben Reiter, Aljamain Sterling, Mansour Barnaoui