With upsets of the year, we use pre-bout point totals and also put some exclusions into play — both fighters cannot be suffering from any inactivity penalty and the losing fighter must have a respectable rank — within the top 20. We also do the math two ways; proportional raw point difference and net point difference normalized by division.

Using both equations, the upset of the year was Robert Peralta SD(3) Hiroyuki Takaya

Honorable Mention: Jake Ellenberger KO(1) Jake Shields

Had this taken into account the actual outcome (Split vs. KO), you could certainly argue for these placements to be flip-flopped.

It’s probably no surprise to most, but our women’s rookie fighter of the year for 2011 is Ronda Rousey.

She fulfilled our basic requirements of debuting and fighting three times in the 2011 calendar year.  Furthermore, she has earned the #3 ranking in the 145 division, which may turn into the #2 ranking depending on Baszler who is likely to drop down to 135 or go inactive.  She has also finished all four of her opponents by submission, within a minute.  This was a no-brainer.

As for a follow-up on our 2010 winner, Liz Carmouche, she has not fared so well.  Although fighting against top opposition, she has went 0-2 on the year.

2011 Honorable Mention: Sara McMann

I just wanted to give everyone a glimpse of how dense some divisions are in comparison to others.  These counts are for fighters above the starter rating and have had a pro fight in the last 450 days that we know about.  The recorded count is what we currently have in the database, while the estimated count factors in data availability to give a more “true” count.  Nevertheless, journeymen with records like 1-7 are likely not going to be included.

Using this info, it’s fair to say that the average fighter weighs in at about 169 pounds — and probably walks around at about 195 :).

It should be interesting to see how this changes with the UFC bringing in Flyweights and also after they have the Featherweight and Bantamweight divisions for another year or two.

* Male fighters only

Season 14 of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality series came to a close this past weekend. This was the first season of ‘TUF’ to feature featherweight and bantamweight fighters, and the last season to be aired on Spike TV; future seasons will be broadcast on Fx network as UFC makes a transition to the FOX family of channels.

Over the fourteen seasons, TUF proved to be a formidable tool for building up UFC rosters and creating stars. While winning the TUF tournaments carried certain accolades, a number of other contestants from every season turned their appearance in the Ultimate Fighter house into a successful and lasting career in the UFC.

For example, Season 1 rivals Josh Koscheck and Chris Leben didn’t make it to the finals of the middleweight tournament. Nevertheless, both fighters received a UFC contract (with Koscheck dropping to welterweight following the season finale) and made the best of it, becoming two of the most active fighters in history of the organization.

With 19 bouts in the Octagon a piece, Leben and Koscheck share the #5 slot on the list of fighters with most UFC bouts. For a point of reference, that’s one fight ahead of the UFC veterans George St. Pierre, Rich Franklin, and Frank Mir! The only fighters with more Octagon experience than Koscheck and Leben are Matt Hughes, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, BJ Penn, and Chris Lytle. With most of these names either retired or on the verge or retirement, it’s very conceivable that in a couple of years Koscheck and Leben may top the list.

While Leben’s record is on hold as he begins serving a year-long suspension due to testing positive for banned painkillers after his most recent fight, Josh Koscheck’s upcoming bout with Carlos Condit will have him tied with Chris Lytle at 20 UFC appearances each.

Not only is Josh one of the most active UFC fighters in history, he is also one of the winningest: with 14 victories in the Octagon, he shares the #4 slot with Anderson Silva, and is only trailing behind Matt Hughes, George St. Pierre, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, and Tito Ortiz. A win over Condit will see Koscheck bypass ‘The Spider’ with 15 wins, only 3 behind Matt Hughes’ record of 18 Octagon victories!

MMAJunkie posted an article regarding Dustin Jacoby, who will go from his non-UFC pro debut to a UFC card in 11 months.

The quickest ever was Koji Kitao, who made his UFC debut at UFC 9, just 42 days after his non-UFC pro debut.  Since 2000, the record belongs to Frank Mir, who did so in 111 days.  Since 2010, John Salter just edges out Jacoby, having done so in 290 days.

Of course, this statistic excludes fighters like Matt Mitrione, who had the benefit of “The Ultimate Fighter”.

Last night’s fight between Ryan Jimmo and Sokoudjou was the closest unanimous decision in MMA history (that I know of) which didn’t include an even scorecard — yes, this has happened in Japan.  The scoring used a half-point system that some commissions outside of the USA have already adapted in boxing.

The scores were for Jimmo: 49-48.5, 49-48.5, and 49-48.  For the record, I thought Sokoudjou edged it by about 1.5 points — man, that was weird to type.

On April 1st, I made the initial blog post: Click Here For That

In summary, we started tracking weigh-in weights, and I wanted to see if the heavier fighters won more often than lighter fighters.  Using the same ideals as before, with a much larger data set:

• In 506 non-draw official fights where both fighters weighed in at different weights, but above 210 (our Light Heavyweight limit), 259 were won by the lighter fighter, and 247 won by the heavier fighter (48.9%).
• When you allow for mismatches and include matches in which only one fighter had to weigh above 210, the total tally increases to 642 and the gap widens, with the heavier fighter only winning 302 (47.0%).
• For the record, across the board, the heavier fighter has won 52.4% of the time.

The results are nearly identical as before, though the heavier fighter gained ground in all three statistics.  There are a few possibilities to explain this and it could be a combination: Keep Reading

• He is the current #1 in the current Division Dominance rankings and Middleweight rankings.  He has been at the top of the Middleweight division for more than 4 years.  He has been ranked in our division dominance rankings since we started them in February 2008.
• He is #1 All-Time in our Absolute and Middleweight rankings.
• When we update our All-Time Rankings in September, he will likely take back the most “dominant period” from GSP.
• He has won 15 consecutive fights, 14 in the UFC (all-time record).
• He has the 6th most UFC wins in history.
• He has 10 UFC title wins (1st all-time) and would have 11 if not for Lutter missing weight.  All 10 were consecutive and this is an active streak.
• He has never lost by KO or TKO.  He is one of only 13 active fighters with at least 35 fights who can make claim to this.  Only two others can say this and also have at least 30 wins (Mousasi, Gomi).
• Our rating system projects that he is about 50/50 with Jon Jones in a fight at 205.

As it stands though, he is 36 years old, with GSP right on his heels at age 30.  If Silva fades in a year or two, and GSP stays at the top until his late 30s, GSP may become the eventual #1 all-time fighter.

Recently, we uncovered historical data which revealed that Hideo Tokoro competed in a 165lb fight early in his career.  This is a Welterweight fight, and marks Tokoro’s 6th weight division that he has competed in.  He is the only fighter (so far, that we know of) who has competed in more than 5 weight divisions at the professional MMA level.  He needs only to compete at Flyweight and Light Heavyweight to complete the cycle.

Check out our Records & Statistics page to see the full list for this statistic, as well as many others.

According to Sherdog, Murilo Bustamante, 44, will fight on, making his debut in the Welterweight division against [#70] Yuyi Shirai on July 20th.  Bustamante currently holds the “longest career” record for active (and probably all) fighters, and this next fight will stretch his career length to nearly 20 years.  Bustamante is currently ranked in the Middleweight division (albeit very low) and is also our #7 All-Time Middleweight.

To see more records, check out our MMA Records & Stats page.

We’re not quite halfway through the year, but I wanted to post about this in case I forgot.  Just in case you did not know (or forgot), we have an awards page that we will populate after the end of each year that covers a wide array of categories.  For more particulars, please visit that page.

Mid-Year Awards

Fighter of the Year (Male): Jon Jones

Fighter of the Year (Female): No qualifiers yet

Rookie of the Year (Male): Mansour Barnaoui

Rookie of the Year (Female): No qualifiers yet

Most Noteworthy Match: Georges St. Pierre UD(5) Jake Shields

Most Lopsided Upset: Robert Peralta SD(3) Hiroyuki Takaya

Most Noteworthy Upset: Antonio Silva TKO(2) Fedor Emelianenko