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

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.

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.

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)

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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.

• 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.