Tim Kennedy Ranking History
On Tuesday, Tim Kennedy announced his retirement from MMA with a lengthy Facebook post. Kennedy first entered the Fight Matrix rankings in 2003 as the #42 middleweight. The following chart shows his Quarterly Generated Historical Ranking for his career.
Significant dates:
Defeated Michael Bisping on April 16, 2014
Defeated Robbie Lawler on July 30, 2011
Strikeforce debut on June 19, 2009
IFL debut on Feb. 23, 2007
Fighters on the doorstep of the All-Time Absolute Rankings
In case you’ve been living in a hole, we have All-Time Rankings available.
Most of the lists can fluctuate wildly while fighters’ careers are still active, but there haven’t been many active fighters entering the “Absolute” Top 25 in quite some time. However, this may change in the very near future.
Soon to Come?
#26 – Demetrious Johnson
Johnson would’ve been on the list quite some time ago, IF he competed in a division with a larger population. Although the division is growing quickly, its past and even its current, still lag behind other divisions in the sport.
Tapology ranks Johnson at #11 All-Time, while ScoreCardMMA has him at #14.
Michael Chandler’s Ranking History
At this Saturday’s Bellator 165 show, lightweight champion Michael Chandler puts his belt on the line against former UFC and WEC champion Benson Henderson. Chandler has been ranked as high as the #3 lightweight, but Henderson would still be one of the biggest wins on his resume.
Chandler first entered the quarterly generated historical rankings in July 2010 as the #352 welterweight. After making his Bellator debut later that year, he jumped up to #281 welterweight.
In 2011, Chandler dropped down a division and entered the season-four lightweight tournament. In the finals, he defeated Patricky Freire. His ranking moved all the way up to #25 lightweight. Later that year, he upset Eddie Alvarez and took the promotion’s lightweight title and began 2012 at the #5 lightweight.
After three-consecutive losses, including a pair to Will Brooks, Chandler found himself ranked as low as #15. It was the first time he was ranked outside the top ten since 2011. He has fought his way back to the Bellator lightweight title, but he is still outside the top ten. In the most recent Fight Matrix rankings release he is #12. The good news for him is that a win over Henderson would likely propel him back into the top ten.
Looking Back at Shane Carwin’s Career
Rizin Fighting Federation has announced the signing of former UFC interim champion Shane Carwin. The 41-year-old fighter will return to action for the first time since 2011 in the second round of the Openweight Grand Prix on New Year’s Eve week. Carwin first earned a spot in the Quarterly Generated Historical Rankings 2006 and stayed there until his retirement. His peak ranking, #4 heavyweight, came in April 2010 after he defeated Frank Mir for the interim belt. Carwin was last ranked #6 heavyweight April 2011. Of the remaining fighters in the tournament, only Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Wanderlei Silva have higher peak rankings. However, Filipovic’s peak came in 2007 and Silva’s in 2005.
Comparison: Sherdog vs. Fight Matrix – All-Time Top Female Fighters
In case you missed it, Sherdog presented an article of the Top 10 Female MMA Fighters of All-Time
The names are similar, but they certainly differ from our All-Time Rankings
Sherdog #10 – Tara LaRosa (Fight Matrix – #6)
Although never officially fighting the UFC, LaRosa’s ledger is one of the most impressive in the history of the female side of the sport. She managed to catch on in many different organizations to get (mostly) quality fights and compile a 22-5 record in doing so. Her most recent fight against Modafferi was a disaster and she’s probably far beyond her prime, but she’s easily one of the very best few before the Rousey/Cyborg era.
FightMatrix #10 – Jessica Aguilar (Sherdog – Unranked)
Sherdog #9 – Amanda Nunes (Fight Matrix – #19)
She’s more than likely going to quickly rise up our list with time, but this seems a little premature. Champions who win a major belt and don’t successfully defend, seem like a group that grows with each UFC event. If she gets Rousey next, it could be a very short stay at the top of the division.
FightMatrix #9 – Jennifer Howe (Sherdog – Unranked)
All-Time MMA Rankings Updated (11-02-2015)
Notable Info
- Daniel Cormier‘s latest victory over Alexander Gustafson propelled him into the Top 15 at Light Heavyweight at #13. He’s still holding his Top 25 ranking at Heavyweight, so he is one of the few fighters being simultaneously ranked in multiple divisions.
- Renan Barao somewhat mysteriously re-claims his #1 spot at Bantamweight from Miguel Torres — which he should’ve had in last month’s set, but did not due to a technical snafu. This month, he actually owns it for real, but it is very, very tight. Barao has 2528 points compared to 2518 for Torres. This list is yearning for either Dominick Cruz (2188) or T.J. Dillashaw (1587) to go on a real run and separate themselves from the pack.
Generated Historical Rankings Expansion
- We’re adding the years 1990-1993 to the Generated Historical Rankings. Although this period was mainly dominated by Shooto, it is a valid part of MMA history. As a result, the rankings will be updating over the next several hours.
Stat Fun with the Generated Historical Rankings
In case you didn’t know, every week or so we re-compile the Generated Historical Rankings with the latest version of the ranking system and the latest data. This is a quarterly ranking since 1/1/1994 to the latest quarter beginning. We may eventually expand this to an earlier date, but prior to the last quarter of 1993, there was only Shooto and independent events.
There -is- some funny business in the early quarterlies, where some weight classes weren’t “recognized”, so they’re filled with fighters based on where they weighed in assuming we even have this data. There’s also some quarterly sets where there just wasn’t enough data to provide a Top X. There’s more about this latter issue in the description at the top of the rankings pages.
Anyway, I thought it’d be interesting to run some statistics based on the latest run, so here it is:
Most Quarters at #1 (By Division)
| Pound-4-Pound | Fedor Emelianenko | 25 |
| Division Dominance | Georges St. Pierre | 14 |
| (W) Pound-4-Pound | Tara LaRosa | 17 |
| (W) Division Dominance | Ronda Rousey | 12 |
| Heavyweight+ | Fedor Emelianenko | 29 |
| Light Heavyweight | Jon Jones | 19 |
| Middleweight | Anderson Silva | 26 |
| Welterweight | Georges St. Pierre | 25 |
| Lightweight | Takanori Gomi | 12 |
| Featherweight | Jose Aldo | 24 |
| Bantamweight | Miguel Torres | 19 |
| Flyweight | Mamoru Yamaguchi | 17 |
| Strawweight | Rambaa Somdet | 17 |
| (W) Featherweight+ | Cristiane Justino | 21 |
| (W) Bantamweight | Jennifer Howe | 21 |
| (W) Flyweight | Tara LaRosa | 19 |
| (W) Strawweight | Yuka Tsuji | 18 |
| (W) Atomweight | Satoko Shinashi | 13 |
The Most Overrated MMA Fighter of All-Time
#26 – #16: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 1
#15 – #11: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 2
#10 – #6: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 3
#5 – #4: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 4
#3 – #2: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 5
If you missed the previous parts, you can visit w/ the links above.
#1
#1 – Kazushi Sakuraba (Rep Avg: #96.7 | Fight Matrix: #269)
But.. he beat Rampage Jackson! Yes, at a point when he was supposed to. But he beat Vitor Belfort.. true, although he was only 6-1. But he beat Ken Shamrock.. when he was over the hill. He beat lots of Gracies — most of which, get him props for the name and not necessarily the MMA value. I could go on forever. How many times did he not have the home advantage? Yes, Sakuraba was often out-sized and yes, his record is full of name power… most of whom are in the win column against him. In hindsight, the first half of his career (other than the ass kickings) was probably one of the best managed portions of a fighter career in history.
The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 5
#26 – #16: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 1
#15 – #11: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 2
#10 – #6: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 3
#5 – #4: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 4
If you missed the previous parts, you can visit w/ the links above.
#3 – #2
#3 – Renato Sobral (Rep Avg: #83.3 | Fight Matrix: #139)
As we hit Babalu, I am surprised the gap is quite as wide as it is. He does have some solid wins, but in the end, no major titles is an unfortunate stain on a very solid career.
EDIT: Sobral got inserted too high into the list. He should actually be in the bottom of the Top 10.
The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 4
#26 – #16: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 1
#15 – #11: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 2
#10 – #6: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 3
If you missed the previous parts, you can visit w/ the links above.
#5 – #4
#5 – Dan Severn (Rep Avg: #63.3 | Fight Matrix: #120)
Nostalgia is respectable, but it doesn’t necessarily equate to super stardom. While 101 wins is nothing to downplay, the last 90 wins or so were of far lesser quality than the first 10. In some ways it is like Severn gave up the high profile fights and was then OK with mediocrity.