Current Top 5 Prospects by Division (Issue #3)
BloodyElbow analyzes and follows prospects around the sport. They don’t use criteria quite as strict as ours, but it is interesting to see which fighters crossover on both lists. This is issue #3 and will show changes from the second issue of our rankings (Summer 2011).
The listed prospects fulfilled the following criteria:
- Have not fought in any of the “Big 15” organizations. Please see the FAQ for more info.
- Have no more than one defeat.
- Have five wins or more.
- Have fought in the last 450 days.
Sorted by current rating [2011+2012 BloodyElbow ranking in brackets]
Heavyweight+
- (NEW) Magomed Malikov (6-1-0) [BE 2012 #1 HW]
- (=) Guram Gughenishvili (11-0-0) [BE 2011 #1 HW]
- (=) Chris Barnett (7-1-0)
- (NEW) Ben Reiter (5-0-0)
- (NEW) Beau Tribolet (7-1-0)
Dropped out: (#1) Shamil Abdurahimov [2nd Loss], (#4) Stipe Miocic [Fought in “Big 15”], (#5) Edinaldo Oliveira [Fought in “Big 15”]
FightMatrix Program: UFC on Fuel TV (02-15-2012)
Welterweight (170)
[#3] Jake Ellenberger (25-5-0) vs. [#10] Diego Sanchez (23-4-0)
Diego Sanchez is the All-Time #7 ranked Welterweight fighter.
Last 3 Fights: Jake Ellenberger (3-0-0)
2011-09-17: W vs. [#5WW] Jake Shields (26-6-1) via TKO (Knee and Punches) in 0:53 of round 1
2011-04-30: W vs. [#102WW] Sean Pierson (11-6-0) via KO (Punch) in 2:42 of round 1
2011-02-05: W vs. [#72WW] Carlos Eduardo Rocha (9-1-0) via SD (29-28, 29-28, 27-30)
Last 3 Fights: Diego Sanchez (2-1-0)
2011-03-03: W vs. [#11WW] Martin Kampmann (18-5-0) via UD (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
2010-10-23: W vs. [#30WW] Paulo Thiago (14-3-0) via UD (30-26, 29-28, 29-28)
2010-05-29: L vs. [#40WW] John Hathaway (15-1-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Jake Ellenberger 151, Diego Sanchez 349
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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Heavyweight (265)
[#24] Dave Herman (22-2-0) vs. [#30] Stefan Struve (22-5-0)
Last 3 Fights: Dave Herman (3-0-0)
2011-06-11: W vs. [#391HW+] John Olav Einemo (6-3-0) via TKO (Punches) in 3:19 of round 2
2010-12-30: W vs. [#94HW+] Yoshihiro Nakao (9-3-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-28)
2010-09-30: W vs. [#60HW+] Michal Kita (11-6-0) via Submission (Omoplata) in 3:16 of round 1
Last 3 Fights: Stefan Struve (2-1-0)
2011-10-01: W vs. [#48HW+] Pat Barry (7-4-0) via Submission (Triangle Choke) in 3:22 of round 2
2011-05-28: L vs. [#18HW+] Travis Browne (12-0-1) via KO (Punch) in 4:11 of round 1
2010-12-11: W vs. [#124HW+] Sean McCorkle (15-2-0) via TKO (Punches) in 3:55 of round 1
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Dave Herman 249, Stefan Struve 137
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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Middleweight (185)
[#36] Aaron Simpson (11-2-0) vs. [#42LHW] Ronny Markes (12-1-0)
Last 3 Fights: Aaron Simpson (3-0-0)
2011-10-08: W vs. [#175MW] Eric Schafer (12-7-2) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
2011-07-02: W vs. [#220MW] Brad Tavares (7-1-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
2011-03-26: W vs. [#59MW] Mario Miranda (13-3-0) via UD (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
Last 3 Fights: Ronny Markes (3-0-0)
2011-08-14: W vs. [#121LHW] Karlos Vemola (8-2-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
2011-04-29: W vs. [#63LHW] Paulo Filho (22-4-2) via UD ()
2011-04-01: W vs. [#671LHW] Diogo Osama (3-2-0) via TKO (Punches) in 0:45 of round 1
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Aaron Simpson 130, Ronny Markes 185
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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All-Time MMA Rankings Updated: 2/3/2012
Notable Info
- With Jose Aldo’s latest victory, he takes a big leap from #21 to #16 in the Absolute rankings. He is also much closer to taking the #1 spot at Featherweight.
- Chael Sonnen’s latest victory inches him past Paulo Filho to enter the Top 5 All-Time Middleweight list.
- Ben Henderson finally breaks into the Top 25 at Lightweight, filling the last position on the list.
- Megumi Fujii moves past Tara LaRosa and Yuka Tsuji, to claim the #1 Women’s position. Fujii’s continued elite position coupled with LaRosa’s lack of tough opposition caused this shift, though the three are still very close.
New Feature: ‘Outside of UFC’ filter
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!
No Pressure Brian Cobb. On Friday, he puts his ranking up to the test.
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.
“Keep an Eye Out For…” UPDATE: Daniel Pineda
On 9/19/11, I wrote this “Keep an Eye Out For…” article:
“[#35FW] Daniel Pineda (14 – 7 – 0) has rattled off 4 stoppage wins, after losing via kneebar to [*] Chas Skelly (7 – 0 – 0) at Bellator 19 in May 2010. These wins include
- 1st round rear naked choke on lightweight [*] Reynaldo Trujillo (8 – 7 – 0) in July 2010
- 1st round heel hook on lightweight prospect [#332LW] Levi Forrest (6 – 1 – 0) in January 2011
- KO in under 1:00 of the 1st round over lightweight [*] Ray Blodgett (5 – 1 – 0) in April 2011
- 3rd round rear naked choke on WEC veteran [#141FW] Frank Gomez (10 – 4 – 0) in July 2011.
Pineda has won every one of his victories via stoppage, and he has only gone to a decision once in his career. These aren’t 0-1 fighters he is beating, they are legit prospects and tough veterans. At 26 years old, the Houston, Texas native has a lot of time to hone his skills and make it to the big show.”
Pineda is now ranked [#40FW] and sports a (15 – 7 – 0) record with a 5th stoppage win in a row in December 2011 over featherweight [*] Gilbert Jiminez (5 – 4 – 1). He will be making his UFC debut this friday at UFC on FX 1 against undefeated St. Paul, Minnesota fighter [#227FW] Pat Schilling (5 – 0 – 0). Pineda has the edge in experience, but Schilling is a finisher. In fact, 4 of Schilling’s 5 wins come by way of submission, while Pineda has lost 6 times by submission. With both of these guys being relatively unknown to the general UFC audience at this point, this could be either fighter’s coming out party.
Twitter – @Jonathan_Grand
FightMatrix Program: UFC on FX (01-20-2011)
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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