Other – Page 15 – Fight Matrix

“Keep an Eye Out For…” Edinaldo Oliveira

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Jonathan

[#48HW] Edinaldo Oliveira (12 – 0 – 1) has yet to taste defeat. At 6’7″ and 238lbs, he is a very lanky fighter that has used his reach to secure 7 (T)KOs and 2 submissions out of his 12 victories. In the past 17 months, Oliveira has amassed a formidable list of victories over Brazilian heavyweights. The most notable victories in this time span are:

1st round TKO over [#151HW] Jair Goncalves (9 – 4 – 0) in September 2011
3rd round unanimous decision over [#167HW] Ubiratan Marinho Lima (13 – 6 – 0) in July 2011
2nd round TKO over [#230HW] Edson Franca (13 – 6 – 0) in May 2011
1st round TKO over [#192HW] Geronimo dos Santos (24 – 13 – 0) in December 2010
5th round unanimous decision over the one man to defeat [#3HW] Junior dos Santos, [#139HW] Joaquim Ferreira (11 – 6 – 0) in May 2010

Oliveira’s nickname is “Lula Molusco” or “Squidward” in English, due to his rangy physique. If he were so inclined, Oliveira could possibly fight at 205lbs. It would be interesting to see how Lula Molusco would fare against greater competition on bigger shows. Here’s to hoping we get the opportunity.

“Keep an Eye Out For…”

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Jonathan

[#87MW] Eddie Arizmendi (15 – 4 – 0) is on a 9 fight win streak (7 by stoppage). Not all of his victories have been over fighters with great records; however, 2 that stand out in this current streak are:

2nd round KO via punch over rising middleweight [#120MW] Jason Norwood (11 – 3 – 0) in July 2011
3rd round unanimous decision over [#64WW] David Hulett (18 – 9 – 0) in September 2009

Out of Arizmendi’s 15 victories, only 2 have gone to a decision. In fact, 17 of his 19 professional bouts have been stoppages. Arizmendi last lost in June 2008 to UFC fighter [#109WW] Seth Baczynski (14 – 6 – 0) via 2nd round submission (triangle choke). The 25 year old Tuscon, Arizona native will attempt to extend his win streak to 10 when he faces [#272MW] Arthur Guseinov (8 – 2 – 0) on October 14th at M-1 Challenge 27.

[#55LW] Alexander Sarnavskiy (15 – 0 – 0) is one of the hottest young prospects developing in Russia. Sarnavskiy, 22, has already racked up 15 consecutive wins (since his pro debut in December 2008). In 2011 alone, Sarnavskiy has won 3 bouts with choke based submissions. Within the last year, his victories include:

1st round rear naked choke on lightweight [*] Marcio Cesar (14 – 6 – 1) in August 2011
1st round triangle choke on featherweight [#114FW] Douglas Evans (13 – 9 – 0) in May 2011
2nd round rear naked choke over lightweight [#314LW] Beau Baker (8 – 5 – 0) in March 2011
Rear naked choke in 0:43 of round 1 over lightweight [*] Arsen Ubaidulaev (8 – 4 – 0) in December 2010.
TKO via spinning back fish and punches in 0:14 of round 1 over [*] Victor Kuku (8 – 8 – 1) in October 2010.

Sarnavskiy is a definite finisher, going to the cards only twice in 15 starts. Currently toiling on the Russian MMA scene, it is time for Sarnavskiy to come to the U.S. and ply his trade against higher caliber opponents. Can he continue his winning ways against tougher competition?

Lineal Championship Histories now a permanent feature

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Oleg

As promised, the MMA Lineal Championship Histories are now a permanent fixture at FightMatrix.com!

Check them out here:

Heavyweight

Light Heavyweight

Middleweight

Welterweight

Lightweight

Featherweight

Bantamweight

Flyweight

“What Ever Happened to…?” Alex Owen

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Jonathan

Bristol, England pugilist Alex Owen (19 – 1 – 0) (last ranking [#52FW] in July 2008) was going somewhere in MMA. From 2002 to 2007, Owen tore through the British featherweight ranks, scoring victories over top fighters such as [#50BW] Paul McVeigh (18 – 6 – 0) and WEC veteran [#27BW] Brad Pickett (20 – 5 – 0).

By then he was 19-0, 14 of those wins coming by stoppage. However, following his first loss to [*] Emmanuel Fernandez (9 – 4 – 1) (another talented yet inexplicably inactive fighter), everything changed. An excerpt from an article written by Chris Cork on mmahitpit.com gives some details on the situation:

“…Like most British fighters, Owen trained and competed part-time while holding down a full-time day job. For the past eight-and-a-half years he has paid the bills serving as a Police Constable with Avon & Somerset Constabulary – a job which permitted him to fight professional MMA. That was until July 2007 when, following a loss to Emmanuel Fernandez, Owen was told he would no longer be allowed to fight…”

Owen has not fought since.

Fighters who have the luxury to train full-time should feel fortunate. A story like this illustrates the harsh reality that only a select few will be truly successful in the fight game. If a talent like Alex Owen could be forced to leave the sport he loved (and did remarkably well in) due to financial issues, then it could happen to any fighter. We can hope that as MMA continues to grow as a global sport, less and less talented fighters will have to suffer similar fates as Owen.

At the end of the article, Owen talks about his possible return to the cage, but unfortunately the article was written in May 2010. Perhaps (and hopefully) we have not seen the last of Alex Owen in MMA.

Full Article: http://www.mmahitpit.com/news/alexowenonhiswayback

“Keep an Eye Out For…” Daniel Pineda

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Jonathan

[#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.

He 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.

What will you be watching on Saturday?

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Jason

[poll id=”3″]

Follow us on Twitter!

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Jason

We’re a little late to the game, but we’ve recently registered a Twitter name – Fight_Matrix (someone took fightmatrix). Even more timely goodness than the web site, and maybe some off-topic stuff from time-to-time. Add us, now (click the image below or the link above)!

Anderson Silva gains two more wins, moves to 30-4

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Jason

Jordan Breen of Sherdog, discovered two of Anderson Silva’s “missing wins” from 1997 which evidently took place in an 8-man tournament at 165 pounds (in which the final never happened). This bumps Silva’s win total from 28, to 30, and will be reflected in our ratings upon the next update.

It will be interesting to see if the UFC acknowledges this record change.

UFC 111 Analysis: Shane Carwin vs Frank Mir

Posted on March 26, 2010 by A. J. Riot

The stage is set this Saturday from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey for the co-main event at UFC 111: St. Pierre VS Hardy as Shane Carwin battles Frank Mir for the UFC interim heavyweight title. More importantly, on the line is a shot at Brock Lesnar and you have to know that is the real prize for the winner. Sports betting fans need all the analysis they can get on this match-up as Mir and Carwin are pretty evenly matched.

Both men are just itching to get their shot at the former WWE star who has been away from the octagon for what seems like an eternity due to medical reasons. Carwin was slated to challenge Lesnar for his belt at UFC 106 in November, and then again at UFC 108, but the champ pulled out due to a severe case of diverticulitis, leaving Carwin in limbo for almost a year.

Most MMA fans know the history between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar, but if you’re new to this sport, I’ll give you a little history lesson. These two heavyweights met at UFC 81 and early it was Lesnar dominating the action before Mir, the experienced jiu-jitsu fighter, caught Lesnar’s leg and submitted him via knee-bar. These two met again at UFC 100 and it was an utter destruction of Frank Mir.

But it wasn’t so much the loss that people were talking about after, but how Lesnar humiliated him and wiped it in everyone’s face afterwards. Since the loss, Mir has been a man possessed and is on a crusade to get redemption for what Lesnar did to him.

He has fully dedicated himself to the gym and has packed-on some 20 pounds of muscle to try and match Lesnar’s size. Fans got to see his new frame on display in a fight with Cheick Kongo, as he choked out the French fighter with ease at UFC 107.

Carwin is a man that has always been dedicated to the gym, and is quite the specimen himself. “The Engineer” comes into this fight with a perfect 11-0 record, with all his wins coming via knockout. Fans got to see just how powerful this guy is in his last outing at UFC 96, where Carwin put Gabriel Gonzaga to sleep in the 1st Round after connecting with a short-right hook. When I say short right hook, I mean a punch that most people would toss at their buddy’s shoulder but he has so much power that it knocked Gonzaga out cold.

The problem with Carwin is that he is unpolished and was losing that fight to Gonzaga badly before connecting with the one big shot. Having that power is nice, but you’re not always going to get lucky and Frank Mir isn’t a guy you want to expect to get lucky against.

Mir’s only blemish lately was that loss to Lesnar at UFC 100 last July, and has won four of his last five fights. With that rubber match on the line, I just don’t see how Mir can lose this. At -155, I’ll take Frank Mir and sit and wait for what is going to be the most legendary fight in the UFC history, Mir vs. Lesnar III.

Fighter Search Feature added!

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Oleg

Our readers have been asking for this for a long time – and as we expanded to ranking 250 fighters in most divisions, it has become a necessity. Introducing the fighter search feature – now you can search our current ranking database for every fighter in the published lists, instead of having to look through countless pages to find a certain fighter.

Have you ever wondered how many Millers are ranked by Fight Matrix? Apparently 8 at the moment:

http://www.fightmatrix.com/fighter-search/?fName=Miller

Of course, Silvas have them beat:

http://www.fightmatrix.com/fighter-search/?fName=Silva

This means we are one step closer to making our entire ranking database searchable. In the coming weeks, we will be working on some additional improvements – soon we will have the ability to search for historical rankings, and eventually to track a fighter’s progress in rankings over time. As we are busy working on the new features, there will be no ranking release this weekend. The next release will be published after the ‘UFC on Versus’ event.

Interview with Rashad Evans

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Oleg

Another MMA tidbit from Deminski & Doyle – an interview with former UFC champion and Fightmatrix #3 ranked lightheavyweight, Michigan native Rashad Evans. Evans talks about UFC 108, Rampage, Dana White and more.

http://podcast.wcsx.com/?p=5027

Steven Seagal’s thoughts on UFC

Posted on December 16, 2009 by Oleg

Actor Steven Seagal was interviewed by Deminski & Doyle (a Detroit radio talk show) today. He was asked about his feelings on the UFC. Here’s what he had to say:

http://podcast.wcsx.com/?p=5013