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.
The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 3
#26 – #16: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 1
#15 – #11: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 2
If you missed the previous parts, you can visit w/ the links above.
#10 – #6
#10 – Mark Kerr (Rep Avg: #103.7 | Fight Matrix: #169)
Kerr, undoubtedly a credible heavyweight for a short period, simply doesn’t have the substance to justify a ranking at the threshold of the Top 100.
The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 2
#26 – #16: The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 1
If you missed the first part, you can visit it w/ the link above. It has all of the details about how this list came to be.
#15 – #11
#15 – Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Rep Avg: #80.0 | Fight Matrix: #117)
Not a huge leap from #117 to #80. To be at the 14 spot in this list and to only see this kind of gap, either speaks volumes about how representative our all-time rankings are, or vice versa. The area around #100 is REALLY crowded with “almost greats”.
The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 1
For those of you who do not know, in addition to our Current MMA Rankings, we also feature an All-Time MMA Rankings that is updated every month (usually on the 2nd).
In a previous post, I took a look at the most underrated fighters of all-time. At the time, I said I wouldn’t look at the most underrated — but what the hell? This list required some additional thought and rules to make sure fighters listed are notable, but here it is…
Not surprisingly, it is still tough to find (seemingly) reputable lists:
Crowd-sourcing Representative: Tapology Top 150 (2015-09-09)
“Peak” Mathematical Representative: MMA-ELO Top 100 (2015-09-09)
“Cumulative” Mathematical Representative: Sports-Ratings Top 250 (2015-01-03)
I would have loved to have added an “Expert” representative, but I could not find one readily available.
When compared to the last series, all of the lists above have since been updated — although the “Sports Ratings” list is still out of date. Furthermore, I went deeper on the Top X for two of the three sites and the All-Time Rankings here has seen (at least) two relatively major updates in order to increase the precision of some calculations.
Methodology & Notes
- I am taking the average of a fighter’s ranks in the above three lists. If a fighter is not in one of the lists, that rank is the list maximum + 1.
- I am then subtracting the above average from the Fight Matrix ranking as of the last run. A negative result = overrated.
- Finally, I am valuing “higher” ranks more than “lower” ranks. Example: A fighter with a representative average of #15 that we rank at #40, is a slightly more overrated fighter than one with a representative average of #90 that we rank at #230. The break-even point is close to this though.
- I removed women from the lists — men and women don’t belong in the same list.
- Sports-Ratings has a fighter named Jesper Hallberg at #217. Sherdog has him as having zero professional fights, so he is removed from contention.
- Fighters must be in the Top 250 at Fight Matrix and be in at least two representative lists to be considered.
Value Formula (How they are ranked): (502 / SumOf3RepRanks) * DiffOf3RepRanksAvgFromFM
502 = Max Sum of 3 Rep Positions seen in all fighters considered
An honorable mention…. well two.
Due to the minimum qualifications of the list, Rickson Gracie was left off. I felt it necessary to list him, as he easily would’ve made the top spot. Ironically, #2 would’ve been Renzo Gracie. Says a lot for name power, doesn’t it?
#26 – #15
#26 – Norifumi Yamamoto (Rep Avg: #118.7 | Fight Matrix: #152)
I had every intention of starting out the list with #25, but with Yamamoto at #26, I had to include him. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard gripes about him not being listed in one of our All-Time Top 25s. The answer is simple; the guy never accumulated much worth at a single division. Instead he bounced between 3 of them and didn’t do enough in any one.
Conor McGregor: Just how overrated is he?
I realize the UFC has to hype fights, but from a Fight Matrix rankings perspective, Conor McGregor may be one of the most overhyped fighters in MMA history.
He is basically even money with Jose Aldo for their fight.
From an All-Time perspective, McGregor ranks as the #49 Featherweight in history, sandwiched between Josh Grispi and Robbie Peralta. If you think this is harsh, please consider that approximately half of McGregor’s fights have taken place at Lightweight.
Despite having beaten the currently ranked #5 Featherweight, McGregor finds himself at #6 — you can argue that we should be performing adjustments based on events since two fighters matched up, but we don’t. Even if we did, he would probably find himself no higher than #5.
Recently, he got his poster hung from the ceiling at the TUF gym. While some may consider this a mecca of sorts for the UFC, it is certainly one or both of two things; foreshadowing, absurd.
Your thoughts?
All-Time Rankings: The Black Holes at #3 – Part 2: Middleweights
Middleweight
1 – Anderson Silva (23-5-0, 11*, 26)
2 – Chris Weidman (12-0-0, 3*, 6)
I know what you’re thinking… it is not a sure thing and perhaps way too premature to put Weidman at #2. Our All-Time Rankings suggest otherwise and even if you disagree, Weidman is the only fighter in the vicinity with a claim that is on the ascent.
Our #3 and #4 are tied. Nate Marquardt (25-8-2, 0*, 3) saw early and lengthy success, while Rich Franklin (6-3-0, 3*, 4) saw larger success later but spent much, much less time there. Dan Henderson (7-5-0, 1*, 2) is another popular choice, but he’s on a similar wavelength as Franklin. Some great performances, but not a lengthy tenure. Like Franklin, Henderson couldn’t quite decide on a division.
Fight Matrix #3 (tie) – Nate Marquardt, Rich Franklin
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Record/Status Legend
(W-L, A*, B)
W-L = Division Record
A = Major Title/Tourney Wins in Division
B = Quarterly #1 Rankings in Division