With the big Welterweight Championship fight approaching, I thought I would do a repeat of our Light Heavyweight analysis from yesterday, but for the Welterweight division.
The noise and fluctuations in this division are minimal in comparison. Furthermore, the gaps seen in this list between #2-#3, and #3-#4 are quite comical.
Notable Info
Dan Henderson has recently become the first fighter to reach the Top 50 in three divisions: Heavyweight (#46), Light Heavyweight (#8), and Middleweight (#4). There are 46 fighters (including Dan) who are on two divisional Top 50s.
Norifumi Yamamoto is his closest, active competitor as he is in three Top 55s. A good streak at Bantamweight would see him join Dan. However Yamamoto is not in any Top 25 (or 30). Evan Tanner also shares Yamamoto’s feat, but is in a Top 25 @ Middleweight (#20).
When expanding to Top 60 as the qualifier, Jeremy Horn and Akihiro Gono make the cut. Expanding to Top 75 adds four more fighters (Vitor Belfort, Jeff Curran, BJ Penn, Anderson Silva).
In case you are unfamiliar with our All-Time Rankings, check them out here.
Bantamweight (135)
[#22] Eduardo Dantas (11-2-0) vs. [#39] Ed West (17-5-0)
Eduardo Dantas is the All-Time #22 ranked Bantamweight fighter.
Last 3 Fights: Eduardo Dantas (3-0-0)
2011-09-24: W vs. [#32BW] Wilson Reis (12-4-0) via KO (Flying Knee and Punches) in 1:02 of round 2
2010-12-11: W vs. [NA] Samuel de Souza (1-2-0) via Submission (Armbar) in 0:20 of round 1
2010-05-30: W vs. [#122BW] Hiromasa Ogikubo (8-2-2) via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 1:21 of round 3
Last 3 Fights: Ed West (2-1-0)
2011-09-24: W vs. [#80BW] Luis Alberto Nogueira (12-2-0) via UD (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
2011-03-18: W vs. [NA] Sam Rodriguez (4-3-0) via Submission (Armbar) in 1:22 of round 1
2010-10-14: L vs. [#7BW] Zach Makovsky (14-2-0) via UD (50-45, 50-45, 49-46)
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Even: Both have 1 win(s) against common opposition.
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Bantamweight (135)
[#6] Alexis Vila (10-0-0) vs. [#21] Marcos Galvao (10-4-1)
Marcos Galvao is the All-Time #25 ranked Bantamweight fighter.
Last 3 Fights: Alexis Vila (3-0-0)
2011-09-24: W vs. [#10BW] Joe Warren (7-2-0) via KO (Punch) in 1:04 of round 1
2011-02-12: W vs. [#31FLY] Lewis McKenzie (12-7-0) via TKO (Punches) in 3:26 of round 2
2010-06-25: W vs. [*] Omar Choudhury (13-7-0) via TKO (Punches) in 2:50 of round 3
Last 3 Fights: Marcos Galvao (2-1-0)
2011-09-24: W vs. [#23BW] Chase Beebe (18-8-0) via SD (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
2011-04-16: L vs. [#10BW] Joe Warren (7-2-0) via UD (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
2010-12-03: W vs. [NA] Ryan Vaccaro (4-3-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Alexis Vila leads 1-0
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Light Heavyweight (205)
[#28] Christian MPumbu (18-3-1) vs. [#44HW+] Travis Wiuff (64-14-0)
Last 3 Fights: Christian MPumbu (3-0-0)
2011-05-21: W vs. [#55LHW] Richard Hale (17-4-1) via TKO (Punches) in 4:17 of round 3
2011-04-23: W vs. [#100LHW] Tim Carpenter (8-1-0) via TKO (Punches) in 2:08 of round 1
2011-03-26: W vs. [#138LHW] Chris Davis (10-3-0) via TKO (Punches) in 3:34 of round 3
Last 3 Fights: Travis Wiuff (2-1-0)
2011-05-14: W vs. [NA] Nick Baker (1-4-0) via TKO (Punches) in 2:11 of round 1
2010-12-11: W vs. [#341HW+] Richard White (15-10-0) via Submission (Punches) in 3:20 of round 1
2010-10-01: L vs. [#40HW+] Tim Hague (13-5-0) via KO (Punch) in 1:50 of round 1
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: No common opposition.
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Keep Reading
We’re on a roll with new features today – thanks forum member kedbecker for this suggestion!
In our fighter search, you can now quickly look up the highest a fighter has been ever ranked in our generated historical ranking sets. For example, if you search for ‘Sakuraba’ you can quickly see the highest ranking for one of MMA’s pioneers: Kazushi Sakuraba was ranked #1 Middleweight in October of 1998 (in case of ties, the heaviest weight class and the most recent ranking set are shown).
First, a run-down of the particulars:
Your current lineal Heavyweight champion is Alistair Overeem
The full history is below. Note, the colored backgrounds indicate a title change.
MMA Heavyweight Lineal Championship History
