Other – Page 11 – Fight Matrix

Can you bet on WWE online?

Posted on March 10, 2016 by A. J. Riot

This question interests many fans of professional wrestling. Millions of people are watching WWE and never miss a Raw. Thousands of them dream of attending a live event, and each of them is a fan of a particular WWE star. Of course, men adore watching the Divas division. What can be more fascinating than scantily dressed ladies fighting? Many male wrestlers also have tremendous TV and movie careers and are popular as well. Although the match results seem pretty predictable, the popularity of the events is growing drastically. Over the past few years, WWE attracted as many gamblers as the info best Australian online casino sites. People are ready to give their money away placing insane bets on their favorite wrestlers.

Today anyone can bet on WWE online. Sounds crazy, but online sportsbooks offer WWE betting as a promotional technique. Reward programs and deposit bonuses do not bring as much result as this loophole. You are actually invited to win money from the sportsbooks for free. They give you a fast and easy way to get payout. What is the aim? To make you place a deposit and start betting on every other kind of sport they offer. This mechanism lets you win some cash and then lose twice as much, revealing your hidden passion for gambling. If you play only on WWE – it is quite a catch. But you will not make yourself a fortune here, as the sum you can win with it is limited. And the odds are enormously huge. For example, you have to place $500 to win $50.

It is hard to believe this type of betting has an increasing number of players. The main reason of its popularity is that this activity is completely unique and seems exotic. The sport was not available for gambling for a very long time. Many are aghast that fans would wager on a form of entertainment that has predetermined outcomes, however that is one of the reasons many people place these types of bets.

Michael Bisping looks to end struggles against Top 15 competition at UFC Fight Night 84

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Richard Mann

Michael Bisping has had an impressive career in the UFC since winning the third season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” His quarterly ranking peaked at #5 in middleweight division in 2013. He is currently listed as #21 all-time in the weight class. However, he has struggled when facing higher level competition. On Saturday, at UFC Fight Night 84, he faces Anderson Silva. The former champion might be nearing the end of his career, but he is still one of the 15 best middleweights on the planet.

In his last 18 fights, Bisping has faced nine fighters ranked in the top 15 and another nine ranked below. Against competition ranked below #15, he went 9-0. Against fighters in the top 15, he went only 3-6.

Bisping vs. Sub 15

Opponent	Date	Contemporary Fight Matrix Ranking	W/L
Day	6/7/2008	41	W
Leben	10/18/2008	17	W
Kang	11/14/2009	30	W
Dan Miller	5/29/2010	33	W
Akiyama	10/16/2010	36	W
Rivera	2/27/2011	27	W
Mayhem	12/3/2011	42	W
Belcher	4/27/2013	17	W
Le	8/23/2014	17	W

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Examining The Recent Bellator Signing Spree

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Richard Mann

Bellator MMA was able to move the needle last week with the signing of former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. They attempted to keep the momentum going by announcing the signing of heavyweight Sergei Kharitonov. Any time a promotion other than the UFC can sign a fighter inside the Fight Matrix top 20 it is a victory. However, Bellator still faces an up-hill battle when it comes to competing with the biggest promotion in the history over MMA.

Let’s compare the difference from the last Fight Matrix ranking to come out before the signing of Henderson and Kharitonov (1/31/2016) to the one published roughly one year previous (2/1/2015).

In the 1/31/2016 ranking, with the addition of Henderson (#10 welterweight) and Kharitonov (#20 heavyweight) Bellator has 21 fighters on their roster that are within the top 20 of their respective division (heavyweight through bantamweight). (This number includes fighters who are currently in odd contract situations like Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Vitaly Minakov.)

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Sage Northcutt vs. Bryan Barberena will be the lowest ranked fight ever on Fox

Posted on January 29, 2016 by Richard Mann

This Saturday night, the UFC’s most recent supposed wunderkind, Sage Northcutt, will fight for the first time on a Fox main card.

This event will be the 18th UFC event on the network. Northcutt, who is currently ranked #133 at lightweight, will not be the lowest ranked fighter to ever compete on the network. That distinction belongs to Bobby Voelker who came in ranked #152 for UFC on Fox 8 in 2013. However, Northcutt’s fight against Bryan Barberena (#109 at lightweight) will be the lowest ranked bout to ever be part of a UFC on Fox main card.

The following table shows the ten lowest ranked bouts to appear on the main card of a UFC on Fox show. Average rank is simply the average of the fighter’s rankings taken from that event’s Fight Matrix Program.

Fighter 1	Fighter 2	Average Rank	Event	Date
Bryan Barberena	Sage Northcutt	121	UFC on Fox 18	1/30/2016
Akira Corassani	Sam Sicilia	91.5	UFC on Fox 14	1/24/2015
Bobby Voelker	Robbie Lawler	81.5	UFC on Fox 8	7/27/2013
Matt Brown	Mike Swick	60.5	UFC on Fox 5	12/8/2012
Joe Lauzon	Mac Danzig	60	UFC on Fox 9	12/14/2013
Lavar Johnson	Pat Barry	48.5	UFC on Fox 3	5/5/2012
Joe Lauzon	Takanori Gomi	35	UFC on Fox 16	7/25/2015
Felice Herrig	Paige VanZant	32.5	UFC on Fox 15	4/18/2015
Jamie Varner	Joe Lauzon	30.5	UFC on Fox 4	8/4/2012
Edson Barboza	Paul Felder	28	UFC on Fox 16	7/25/2015

As you can see, it is not particularly close. Saturday’s fight will be the first Fox bout to feature two fighters with triple-digit rankings. In fact, Northcutt and Barberena are two of the four lowest ranked fighters to ever grace a Fox main card.
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Comparing Mike Jackson, Mickey Gall and CM Punk to the 2015 UFC Rookie Class

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Richard Mann

During an appearance on “Off the Record” with Michael Landsberg on Wednesday, UFC President Dana White finally released some details about Phil “CM Punk” Brooks’ debut opponent. White indicated that Mickey Gall, who was recently featured on the UFC’s “Looking for a Fight” series, will face Mike Jackson at UFC 196. With a victory, he will be Punk’s first opponent.

Punk and Jackson will make their debuts with 0-0 professional records. Gall is 1-0. In 2015, the UFC put on more shows than any other year. To compensate, the UFC signed a vast number of new fighters. The term “UFC veteran” had already lost a lot of its luster, and after 2015 it holds less weight than ever before. Fighters have made their professional debut in the modern UFC before such as TUF veterans like Amir Sadollah, Matt Riddle and Matt Mitrione or as special attractions like James Toney. Although all of them either had amateur fights or experience in another combat sport.

With all that being said, in 2015 no fighter made their UFC debut without at least one professional win. If you are curious to see how Jackson, Gall and Punk stacks up with recent signees, the following is a by-the-numbers look at 2015 UFC rookie class.
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2015 Awards: Men’s Fighters of the Year

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Jason

As a recap, most “Fighter of the Year” awards on other sites are really “Breakout Fighter of the Year” awards in that fighters who win, were usually not top fighters in the beginning of the year, but became so by the end of the year.

A fighter like this can and has won our FotY awards, but our award is more about maintaining a high standing during the award year by performing well a sufficient number of times and against a sufficient quality of opponents. It is more comparable to a season MVP in major team sports, not a playoffs/surprise MVP.

Winner: Conor McGregor

For us, it was a very tight call this year. But having fought three times, two of which involving some form of the Featherweight title. It’s hard to deny that McGregor is the fighter of the year for 2015.

Runner-Up: Rafael dos Anjos

The reign of Rafael dos Anjos at Lightweight is starting to look like one that can last a very long time. Although he only fought twice in 2015 — which is usually the case once a fighter gains a major belt, his presence as a top fighter in the sport is one that sees him as high as #2 on some pound-for-pound lists and #3 on ours.

3rd Place: Demetrious Johnson

Like “Cyborg”, the #3 for Women’s Fighter of the Year, DJ did nothing overly impressive this year, but defended his belt twice in dominant fashion. He still owns the Flyweight division and lingers toward the top of the pound-for-pound lists.

2015 Awards: Women’s Fighters of the Year

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Jason

Winner: Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Won the UFC Strawweight championship and defended it twice. Not much else to say here as she runs away with the award.

Runner-Up: Holly Holm

A 3-0 year, capped off by stopping Ronda Rousey, winning the championship and (perhaps) cementing herself as the greatest woman in combat sports history.

3rd Place: Cristiane Justino

A relatively dull year, but status quo for her. Her potential is obviously limited by the division she fights in, but Holm’s comments about considering the idea of fighting Cyborg leaves us hopeful.

2015 Awards: Rookies of the Year

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Jason

Men: Sergey Pavlovich

An impressive 2015 that saw Pavlovich run his record up to 6-0 (all knockouts) and get into the Top 50 at Heavyweight earns him the award. Take notice that the three honorable mentions are also from Russia.

Honorable Mentions: Vladimir Mineev, Petr Yan, Velimurad Alhasov

Women: Cristina Stanciu

After starting at Bantamweight, she’s now fighting in the “wrong” division (Flyweight) to make waves in the UFC. Though, it appears likely she can make 115. She also has the “look” so it if she keeps winning, it may not be too long until she’s in the UFC — maybe on a European card.

Honorable Mention: Kanna Asakura

2015 Awards: Most Improved Fighter

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Jason

Most Improved Fighter of the Year: Alex Morono

Morono bursted onto the scene with a perfect 4-0 record in 2015, skyrocketing up the rankings and earning himself a spot on UFC 195.

2015 Awards: Upsets of the Year

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Jason

Note: We have two ways that we derive biggest “upsets” based on points difference between winner and loser.

“Most Noteworthy” (X minus Y)
“Most Lopsided” (X divided by Y)

Most Noteworthy: Luke Rockhold TKO(4) Chris Weidman

While not a huge upset by betting odds, Weidman had amassed nearly a 1,000 point lead over Rockhold in the rankings.

Honorable Mentions: Alistair Overeem TKO(2) Junior dos Santos, Uriah Hall TKO(2) Gegard Mousasi, Frank Mir TKO(1) Antonio Silva

Most Lopsided: Uriah Hall TKO(2) Gegard Mousasi

This fight is more truer to the definition of an actual “upset” than the one above, but this is why we slice this award in two different ways.

Honorable Mentions: Frank Mir TKO(1) Antonio Silva, Tony Johnson SD(3) Alexander Volkov, Frankie Saenz UD(3) Iuri Alcantara

2015 Awards: Most Noteworthy Match of the Year

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Jason

Most Noteworthy Match of the Year:

Luke Rockhold TKO(4) Chris Weidman

The “most noteworthy” match of the year is a pretty basic calculation — a sum of quality if you will, taking a look back at the fights within the calendar year using the standing of the fighters involved at the end of the year. In this case, it wasn’t close. What more can you say? The twice conquerer of Anderson Silva against the current Middleweight champion and top P4P fighter. Not much else to say.

2015 Awards: Comeback Fighter of the Year

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Jason

As a refresher, our “Comeback” award is about coming back from inactivity or major injury (that we know about) and in doing so, really impressing. You can see more details at the bottom of the post about specific qualifiers.

In this category, it was fairly slim pickings this year…

Comeback Fighter of the Year: Sergio Moraes

Nearly two years off from the sport, he had two UFC fights in the calendar year of 2015 and was victorious in both of them. Now ranked within the Top 50 in his division, it’s tough to argue against Moraes as the top selection for this award.

To qualify, fighters must be in an active status at the end of the award year and did not have a fight in the previous calendar year or are coming off of a known major injury that caused an inactive period of 15+ months.

Examining Josh Thomson’s Rehab Tour in Bellator

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Richard Mann

This Friday night Josh Thomson will face off against Pablo Villaseca in the main event of Bellator 147. The bout will mark the second time Thomson has fought in the round cage of Bellator. It is also only the second time in his career that he has faced fighters with a highest quarterly ranking above 100 in back-to-back fights.

The former Strikeforce champion is a heavy favorite against Villaseca. Thomson’s Chilean opponent is 10-1 as a professional, but his highest quarterly ranking for Fight Matrix is 266. Thomson’s previous opponent in Bellator, Mike Bronzoulis, has a highest quarterly ranking of 103. Based on strength of schedule, this fight appears to be less about competition and more about setting up Thomson to face one of Bellator’s handful of high-caliber combatants with some semblance of a win streak to his credit.

Looking at Thomson’s overall MMA resume further highlights the gap between he and Villaseca but could prove useful in predicting how Thomson stacks up with the rest of the Bellator lightweight division. Prior to joining Bellator, he spent the majority of his career in Strikeforce and the UFC. While both promotions experienced success until the UFC purchased their competitor, there was always a significant difference in match making style. Is the difference a fundamental difference in philosophy or dictated by access to highly ranked fighters? The answer is most likely both.

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What´s a Few Molecules Between Friends? Another take on Nick Diaz and the NAC.

Posted on November 29, 2015 by MariaNBAstatsGirl

Nick Diaz uses marijuana. He tells everyone that will listen to him that he uses marijuana. He has a mild disability that marijuana helps him with. Never mind that pills are probably better for him, and who knows which is best for getting hit in the head. California and Nevada have very liberal medical marijuana use laws. The UFC formerly used the expensive test that was ungodly accurate. Under the former test Diaz could have easily passed the test pre-fight, then flunked the test post-fight. Heavy marijuana users tend to store marijuana metabolites in their fat cells, and sweat them back out under stressful situations. He claimed that he stopped using marijuana eight days before his fight. His score was so low that detection should have made someone´s momma proud. That is what got Diaz a one year suspension. After the UFC got wind of the facts, [from yours truly] they started using the cheaper, less accurate test. For some reason Diaz was tested three times for a later fight. This created conflicting evidence. Big surprise.

Marijuana metabolites have a half-life. The amount of metabolites in the blood diminishes on an exponential scale. That means that it goes away really fast. Again, Diaz had low scores. Diaz was his usual disrespectful self. As is also usual, men in a position to make discretionary decisions look for a way to abuse that power. So after collecting conflicting evidence, the Nevada Athletic Commission suspends Nick Diaz for five years. Both times he opted to hire in-your-face lawyers to advocate for him. Both lawyers caused long delays when they should have asked for justice tempered with mercy. Hotly contested cases have to be prepared for, and later appealed. His license to fight has been suspended since his last fight, Jan 31 2015.

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Help Wanted

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Oleg

Dear readers:

We are looking for someone to help us with direct marketing – in other words, selling advertisement space on FightMatrix.com to sports apparel & supplements manufacturers, or any other company that may be interested in reaching thousands of MMA fans who visit our site daily. This is a commission-based position: help us make money, and you will make some for yourself. No experience necessary – just internet access and ambition. If you think you have what it takes, email advertise@fightmatrix.com for more details.

We’re also always looking for volunteer bloggers – if you have an opinion on anything pertaining to MMA, boxing, or any other combat sports or martial arts, you can make it heard here. We’re in no position to pay for content, but this could be a great opportunity to get your name out there if you’re looking for a career in sports writing. Dallas Winston, a highly respected contributor to sites like Bloody Elbow and Cage Potato, got his start as a guest blogger for Fight Matrix. Do you want to be the next Dallas Winston? If so, please email the address above or just drop us a note in our forum!