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Match of the Day: Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Jorge Linares (May 12, 2018)

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Julianna Penya Simp

Lomachenko vs. Linares

Date: Saturday, May 12
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Location: Madison Square Garden — New York City

In front of 10,429 in attendance, Lomachenko survived a knockdown in round 6 to win via TKO in round 10 after a perfectly placed liver shot to claim the WBA (Super) and The Ring lightweight titles. In doing so he became the fastest fighter ever to win titles in 3 different weight classes (only 12 professional fights) shattering the previous record of 20 fights, which was held by Jeff Fenech.

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Pardon our dust…

Posted on April 28, 2018 by Oleg

Dear readers,

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we’ve upgraded our site layout to a more mobile friendly version. This is a work in progress and you will see some additional tweaks in the coming weeks. In the meanwhile, please let us know if you come across any problems: dead links, broken pages, usability issues on desktop or mobile devices, etc. Please leave your feedback in comments or use the Contact Us form and we will do our best to fix any bugs ASAP!

As always, thank you for visiting our site and please come back often – we’re looking to add some new features in 2018 and are open to your feedback about what you would like to see on Fight Matrix.

MMA and Online Gaming: What You Need to Know

Posted on April 16, 2018 by A. J. Riot

The Internet has had its impact on almost every industry out there. For gamers, it’s been a great way to experience gaming, allowing them to try out a different niche of gaming easily. With time, the concept of online gaming has changed too. We had those flash games around a decade back, taking up as little as a megabyte of space. Back in those times, internet speed was slow, and you couldn’t do much more.

Not anymore. And the games have changed as a result too. You could try out online gaming on all your favorite games, which includes the likes of PES, FIFA and even Counter-Strike. With download speeds often cross 50 Mbps, online gaming has taken on a new definition today.

Online gaming: Different Than Even Half a Decade Back!

The gaming sector has been largely influenced by the technological advancement all around. If you are into gaming, you must be aware how the online world has completely changed how people perceive gaming. First, gaming has become far more accessible than it ever was. You can sit on your drawing room sofa with your smartphone and play online till you are tired. You can play online pokies to your heart’s content, or try the more complex games. Either way, you will never be bored.

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One Championship – Weight Division Confusion

Posted on April 3, 2018 by Jason

Due to a weight cutting death, One Championship rolled out changes to their weigh-ins and divisional ranges at the start of 2016.

Although online literature suggests they still do weigh-ins, I can’t find any legitimate pre-event weigh-in results since they rolled out this new program. As far as I can tell, they come up with a fight-ready, perhaps slightly dehydrated weight for each fighter and put them in whatever division they fit.

What makes it more confusing is how they structure their ranges:

Division	OneFC Limit	Standard Limit
Heavyweight	265	265
Light Heavyweight	225	205
Middleweight	205	185
Welterweight	185	170
Lightweight	170	155
Featherweight	155	145
Bantamweight	145	135
Flyweight	135	125
Strawweight	125	115
Atomweight	115	105

The upper-limit of Heavyweight remains unchanged, while all of the other divisions are staggered by one, with the exception of Light Heavyweight, which basically equates to a “Light” Heavyweight. So, they tried to make the common naming convention “work” with their altered methods.

To incorporate a real-world example, Bibiano Fernandes is the promotion’s 145-pound champion. In a fight-ready, perhaps slightly dehydrated state, he probably is about 145 pounds and as far as I can tell, this is where he is expected to weigh under their strange conditions — so this is pretty clear so far.

To OneFC, he is a “Bantamweight”, but at where he’s expected to weigh, he’d be considered a “Featherweight” to the rest of the MMA world. However, in the rest of MMA, he would not be exempt from cutting an additional 10 or so pounds of water weight, so in all likelihood, he’d weigh-in at 135 prior to the event — a “true” Bantamweight.

As you may have noticed, our divisional limits are slightly higher than the standard limits, to accommodate for slight variances historically in organizations shifting things a bit, deciding to use the metric system and with another pound or two on top of that to allow for small weigh-in misses. However, they aren’t so much higher to allow for OneFC fighters to be slotted in their “true” MMA divisions without breaking our own rules and ignoring actual weigh-in results.

Hopefully this clears things up.

Project Spearhead, the newest “Fighter Association/Union” to pop up, shows a clear plan to better fighters

Posted on March 2, 2018 by Julianna Penya Simp

So here’s a bit of the the backstory, at the 2017 UFC Athlete Retreat the UFC had brought out special guest speakers to give their own little “Ted Talks”. One of those guests was Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, and one of the UFC athletes to attend was Leslie Smith (currently 2 fight win streak since fighting Cris Cyborg, exploded ear, 5 FOTN bonuses – 4 in Invicta – 1 in UFC). And Leslie Smith asked him about Unions.

What They Are Fighting For whether or not they unionize:

“The UFC can choose to either pay into our needs and respect us as employees with a say in all decisions affecting us.”

“Treat us like the independent contractors that we are being called and lighten up with the USADA supervision, uniforms and restrictions.”

“We need to have either the autonomy of being independent contractors like the UFC claims we are or we need to get benefits and a seat at the table as employees since the UFC treats us like employees.” – http://www.projectspearhead.com/

All this can be found on their website neatly under the “Why Associations” tab.

Next, is the process, which is also concisely explained and outlined on the website for Smith’s fellow fighters.

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What Are Fantasy Sports

Posted on February 16, 2018 by A. J. Riot

Although most people have heard of fantasy sports, millions of people actually play it. But you may be one of the few who has no idea what it really is, and that’s why we’re here today – to help you out in understanding the fantasy sports mania.

You may know that it involves putting together virtual teams that are based on real players. And then that you judge the performance on those imaginary teams based on how the real players do on the field. Sure, that’s the basics of it.

The entire thing began as a fun game that used to be played among friends. But nowadays, it’s turned into a multi-billion-dollar industry that even has influence on actual sports. And how it works is, the fans pick their favorite players in an online selection process, also known as a draft, in order to assemble a fantasy team. Then, the real-game statistics of those players are compiled and compared in order to see whose fantasy sports team has done the best job.

Since it involves payments and rewards, some deem it on par with actual sports betting, while others claim that fantasy sports require more skill than luck.

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The Best of MMA in 2017

Posted on January 8, 2018 by A. J. Riot

Looking back at 2017, it was definitely another great year for MMA fans and the various platforms in which the combat sport exists. The likes of the UFC all enjoyed great success, and it was another year in which they gained more fans, more popularity and more time in the media spotlight. We even saw an MMA fighter in Conor McGregor make his way into the boxing ring in order to fight Floyd Mayweather. This move also helped develop more interest in MMA, but which were the standout moments in 2017?

For a start, there were a whole host of great fights over the course of the year. Max Holloway put in a stunning performance against one of the all-time greats Jose Aldo at UFC 212. Holloway beat Aldo with a third round KO/TKO after some ground and pound. At UFC Fight Night 104 Jessica Andrade managed to show her class beating Angela Hill by unanimous decision, while heavy underdog Darren Elkins delivered a superb KO/TKO via head kicks and punches to take down the undefeated Mirsad Bektic. The best fights of the year though saw Sweden’s David Teymur defeat Lando Vannata by decision and Justin Gaethje’s devastating KO/TKO of Michael Johnson at Ultimate Fighter 25.

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2017 Awards: Men’s Fighters of the Year

Posted on January 3, 2018 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.

Winners (Tie): Demetrious Johnson, Max Holloway

A very tight call, too tight to call… so we’re going with co-winners for the first time. DJ gets the nod with the #1 ranking for all 365 days, while Holloway twice beat an all-time great, albeit the same fighter.

3rd Place: Tyron Woodley

Like DJ, Woodley keeps churning out the quality performances and reigns over an even deeper division. But this year, he takes a backseat to DJ and Holloway.

MMA Fun Facts

Posted on January 3, 2018 by A. J. Riot

Many people think they know MMA fighting inside and out. They watch tons of fights and remember lots of interesting details and facts about the sport. However, there are some MMA facts which only the most astute MMA enthusiasts have heard about and those are the types of trivia featured in our article.

These facts might win you the first prize in your Friday night pub quiz or they might be the reason you win an MMA inspired bet with a friend. If you are in luck you might even impress a lady or two. Speaking of luck, if you feel that fortune favors you, you may want to test yourself at Joreels at FeedBack Casino or wager on some of the games at Casino Lemonade rather than trying to impress a lady or have a wager with a friend. This is where the real money is, and once you win it, the ladies will come flocking in anyway.

The Octagon

The famous eight-sided cage is one of the most iconic images representing MMA, and the term ‘Octagon’ is a trademark held by the UFC. However, not many people know that the actual Octagon was inspired by a 1980 film bearing the same name. The film starred Chuck Norris as martial artists battling ninjas who try to create a worldwide training camp for terrorists.

Similarly to real life MMA fights, the last scenes in the film take place in an area known as “The Octagon”, in which needless to say, Chuck Norris’ character uses his martial arts skills to wreak havoc on his enemies.

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2017 Awards: Women’s Fighters of the Year

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Jason

Winner: Cristiane Justino

With her win over Holm, Cyborg is right on Rousey’s heels for the title of best female MMA fighter ever. For now, she’ll have to settle with being the best of 2017.

Runner-Up: Rose Namajunas

Rose was looking like the winner, right until the last weekend of the year.

3rd Place: Livia Renata Souza

Winning more than once and being one of the best fighters outside of the UFC is good enough to earn Souza the third position.

2017 Awards: Rookies of the Year

Posted on January 1, 2018 by Jason

Men: Shamil Amirov

A 3-0-1 career record along with a draw against Rousimar Palhares, earns Amirov the award.

Honorable Mentions: Askhab Zulaev

Women: Liliya Shakirova

Soviet-based fighters tend to win these awards, due to their aggressive early matchmaking. Shakirova’s competition is suspect, but I could see her landing a Flyweight spot on a lackluster Asia/Europe UFC card.

Honorable Mention: Sunna Rannveig Davidsdottir

McGregor Keen on Diaz Rematch

Posted on December 21, 2017 by A. J. Riot

Source: Wikimedia

It’s the news we all wanted to hear: everyone’s favorite (or least favorite) Irishman is hoping for a third bout with Nate Diaz. We all know what happened in the previous two fights, so suffice to say, that a third meeting between the pair would bring closure to a lot of people. The news comes after McGregor’s assertion just a few days ago that he was uninterested in a second consecutive boxing match after losing to Mayweather last Summer. It’s no real surprise to fans of the Irishman who understand that while the big money is in the boxing ring, McGregor’s heart is in the octagon. He does love that cash money, though.

Despite BetStars offering odds on McGregor to fight both Manny Pacquiao and Paulie Malignaggi in March of next year, we’re still unsure as to whether The Notorious will ever step back inside the boxing ring. With McGregor, you just can’t tell, and according to Khabib Nurmagomedov, McGregor will be in no rush to jump back into the octagon.

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Ranking Points for Copa Combate

Posted on November 8, 2017 by Richard Mann

On Saturday Combate Americas will host their first “Copa Combate” tournament. The semifinals and finals of the one-night eight-man bantamweight tournament will air live on NBCSN. The following matches are set for the first round:

Michael Erosa vs. #215 FW Marcelo Rojo
Carlos Rivera vs. #365 FW Ricky Palacios
#62 BW John Castaneda vs. Kevin Moreyra
Marc Gomez vs. Andres Ayala

As you can see, Castaneda seems to be a pretty big favorite from a ranking perspective. Plus, he is coming off a victory over Cheyden Leialoha in Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. As you can seen in the following chart, he appears to have the most consistent upward career trajectory. Will he be able to keep this up and take the tournament title? The winner is expected to face newly signed UFC veteran #21 BW Erik Perez, who would be a step up in competition for all participants in this tournament.

Four Wrestling Moves in MMA after Jonno Mears’ Walls of Jericho

Posted on October 16, 2017 by A. J. Riot

Manchester native Jonno Mears recently stole the sporting headlines in his latest MMA outing by finishing a fight with a well-known wrestling move. With MMA being known more for its brutal one-punch finishes or choke-outs in the cage, the Englishman secured a stunning stoppage success in his last bout.

Mears’ original opponent, Jay Moogan, had to withdraw from their scheduled fight, leaving the eventual winner with a stand-in foe by the name of Aaron Jones, whom he knew he’d have a better chance of overcoming. It was against Jones that Mears produced the first-ever Walls of Jericho, or Boston Crab, wrestling finishing move to actually earn a proper professional MMA victory and take his record to 2-0.

Milan Chris Jericho.jpg by Andrea90 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Could You Qualify Online for the Official Strongman Games?

Posted on July 27, 2017 by A. J. Riot

Training Strongman recently announced that they will be hosting the Official Strongman Games in Raleigh, North Carolina. The event will take place at the Dorton Arena, and this year the majority of the spots will be given out in an online strongman competition. So, anybody with enough strength and basic equipment can take part.

The strongman news came earlier this month that there would be seven World’s Strongest divisions in this year’s games, along with a Giants Live qualifier, which offers a tour spot. The men’s divisions include the under 80kg, under 90kg, and under 105kg, while the women’s divisions are the under 64kg and under 82kg. The Giants Live is an open men’s competition.

The structure of the 2017 Official Strongman Games marks a major step forward for the inclusiveness of the sport. This will be the first time that all the weight divisions, as well as the men and women’s titles, will have contests on the same weekend at the same event.

The format serves lower weights well, and a couple of the competitions are open to those who wouldn’t usually consider it. Tennis superstar Andy Murray, for example, who currently has 4/1 odds on BetStars of winning the U.S. Open, has a pretty intense strength training regime. Could we see a rise of athletes who usually focus on other sports coming to the forefront of lighter divisions?

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