Fight Matrix

The Most Overrated MMA Fighter of All-Time

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Jason

#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 – 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.

Current MMA Rankings Updated (09-13-2015)

Posted on September 13, 2015 by Jason

Featured Upcoming Bouts (Outside of UFC)

Saturday, March 14th 2026: Pancrase - 361

[#4 SW] Yuta Miyazawa

[#9 SW] Kanji Funada

Last Fight Date: 11/09/2025 [Pancrase]
Last Opponent: [#33 SW] Tateo Iino
Last 5: W W L W W

Last Fight Date: 4/27/2025 [Pancrase]
Last Opponent: [#52 SW] Takafumi Ato
Last 5: W W W W W

Friday, March 6th 2026: RIZIN 52

[#5 W105] Saori Oshima

[#11 W105] Keito Oyama

Last Fight Date: 11/02/2025 [Rizin Fighting Federation]
Last Opponent: [#1 W105] Seika Izawa
Last 5: W L L W L

Last Fight Date: 11/02/2025 [Rizin Fighting Federation]
Last Opponent: [NR] Bo Mi Lee
Last 5: L W W W W

Sunday, March 8th 2026: Deep Osaka Impact 2026 1st Round

[#7 W105] Moeri Suda

[#10 W105] Namiko Kawabata

Last Fight Date: 9/15/2025 [DEEP]
Last Opponent: [#5 W105] Saori Oshima
Last 5: W W W W L

Last Fight Date: 5/25/2025 [DEEP]
Last Opponent: [#36 W105] Honoka Shigeta
Last 5: L L L W W

Featured Fighters

[#5 LW]	Justin Gaethje	[#11 LW]	Paddy Pimblett
[#1 LW]	Ilia Topuria	[#2 LW]	Arman Tsarukyan
[#1 WW]	Islam Makhachev	[NR]	Conor McGregor
[NR]	Khabib Nurmagomedov	[#1 FW]	Alexander Volkanovski
[#1 MW]	Khamzat Chimaev	[#7 LW]	Benoit St. Denis

The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 5

Posted on September 13, 2015 by Jason

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.

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The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 4

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Jason

#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.

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The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 3

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Jason

#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.

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Fight Matrix Program: Invicta FC 14 (09-12-2015)

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Jason

Women Bantamweight (135)
[#7] Tonya Evinger (16-5-0) vs. [#15] Pannie Kianzad (8-0-0)

Last 3 Fights: Tonya Evinger (3-0-0)
2015-07-09: W vs. [#25BW] Irene Aldana (5-2-0) via TKO (Punches) in 4:38 of round 4
2014-12-05: W vs. [#64BW] Cindy Dandois (5-2-0) via Submission (Armbar) in 1:23 of round 2
2014-09-06: W vs. [#50BW] Ediane Gomes (10-4-0) via Submission (Armbar) in 3:31 of round 1

Last 3 Fights: Pannie Kianzad (3-0-0)
2015-07-09: W vs. [#37BW] Jessica-Rose Clark (5-2-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
2014-11-15: W vs. [#95FLY] Eeva Siiskonen (3-3-1) via UD (50-45, 50-45, 49-46)
2014-08-22: W vs. [NA] Megan van Houtum (1-2-0) via TKO (Punches) in 2:17 of round 3

Days Since Last Pro Fight: Tonya Evinger 65, Pannie Kianzad 65
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: No common opposition or both are winless against common opposition.
.

Women Strawweight (115)
[#6] DeAnna Bennett (7-0-0) vs. [#18] Katja Kankaanpaa (10-2-1)

Last 3 Fights: DeAnna Bennett (3-0-0)
2015-02-27: W vs. [#65SW] Norma Rueda Center (3-2-0) via UD (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
2014-12-05: W vs. [#3FLY] Jennifer Maia (10-4-1) via UD (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
2014-09-06: W vs. [#53BW] Michelle Ould (7-4-0) via TKO (Kick to the Body and Punches) in 1:34 of round 2

Last 3 Fights: Katja Kankaanpaa (2-1-0)
2015-04-24: L vs. [#4SW] Livia Renata Souza (8-0-0) via Submission (Triangle Choke) in 3:58 of round 4
2014-09-06: W vs. [#53SW] Stephanie Eggink (4-2-0) via Submission (Brabo Choke) in 2:03 of round 5
2014-05-17: W vs. [#17AW] Alyona Rassohyna (10-4-0) via Submission (Armbar) in 0:49 of round 2

Days Since Last Pro Fight: DeAnna Bennett 197, Katja Kankaanpaa 141
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: No common opposition or both are winless against common opposition.
.

Women Flyweight (125)
[#35BW] Mariana Morais (9-2-0) vs. [#9] Roxanne Modafferi (17-12-0)
Roxanne Modafferi is the All-Time #13 ranked Women’s fighter.

Last 3 Fights: Mariana Morais (3-0-0)
2014-12-20: W vs. [#101FLY] Marta Souza (2-7-1) via Submission (Armbar) in 2:04 of round 2
2014-12-03: W vs. [NA] Cristina Mejia (1-4-0) via UD ()
2014-11-15: W vs. [#61BW] Stephanie Bragayrac (5-3-0) via Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) in ? of round 2

Last 3 Fights: Roxanne Modafferi (2-1-0)
2015-04-24: L vs. [#2FLY] Vanessa Porto (18-6-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
2014-12-05: W vs. [#51FLY] Andrea Lee (2-1-0) via SD (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
2014-09-06: W vs. [#14FLY] Tara LaRosa (22-5-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Days Since Last Pro Fight: Mariana Morais 266, Roxanne Modafferi 141
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: No common opposition or both are winless against common opposition.
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The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 2

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Jason

#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”.

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The Most Overrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 1

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Jason

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.

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John Dodson Vs. Demetrius Johnson

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Ked Becker

John Dodson is a happy, fun character, and I actually think this is exactly the attitude needed to beat Demetrius Johnson. Demetrius Johnson is a fighter who moves a lot, keeps an incredible pace and relies on volume and variety of attacks for controlling his opponents and making them vulnerable. He is very quick and elusive and that’s why it’s very hard to land a knock-out strike on him. The way to beat him, in my opinion, is to control the cage, limit his movements and take him down and control him on the ground if possible. John Dodson was presented to us again and again as the only guy who can match Johnson’s speed. This, together with his fun, animated attitude made me believe that this is exactly the approach he would take for this fight. In the first fight he knocked Johnson down three times, but wasn’t able to finish him or even really hurt him, so I thought it’s obvious he wouldn’t focus on trying to do this, and instead try use his natural speed and movement to control the cage and shut down Johnson’s movement.

So when I saw him walk to the cage with a serious “determined” look, it immediately seemed to me like the wrong kind of attitude he should be coming into this fight with. This kind of attitude is suited to a guy who is looking to go after their opponent, hunt them down, and hurt them. Not to a guy who should be moving all over the place, attacking from all directions but avoiding throwing too much into every shot in order to save energy to last the entire fight.

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MMA Rankings Updated (09-06-2015)

Posted on September 5, 2015 by Jason

Notable Info

Current Rankings updated as usual — note: I “retired” the wrong Nogueira, oops!
All-Time Rankings updated with UFC 191 results and with an improvement to a calculation (increased precision) that shows the effects of head-to-head results of neighboring fighters (by ranking).

Bang for Your Buck: UFC 191

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Oleg

For the tenth Pay-Per-View event of the year, the UFC has come up with a great main event and a very good co-main. Beyond that, the quality of the main card matchups drops very quickly. On the plus side, there are a couple of interesting fights on the Fox Sports 1 prelims. There is also Joe Riggs vs Ron Stallings on the Fight Pass prelims… if you’re into that kind of thing. Let’s get on with it:

Main Card (Pay-Per-View)

Main Event: (C) [#1 FLW] Demetrious Johnson vs [#4 FLW] John Dodson

Worth: $22.50

Why: Despite this being a rematch, it is undoubtedly the best flyweight fight you could ask for at the moment: John ‘The Magician’ Dodson gave Demetrious Johnson his toughest fight since ‘Mighty Mouse’ won the title, and even though Dodson lost a unanimous decision, he managed to do some damage – even scoring a couple of knockdowns on the champion. Dodson is the only fighter in the division who can match Johnson’s speed and athleticism, and holds an edge in striking power. The only thing stopping me from giving this fight the max valuation of $25 is the fact that Johnson has seemingly improved in every fight, racking up five additional title defenses since his first encounter with Dodson, and finishing four of his challengers. Meanwhile Dodson has been plagued by injuries, fought infrequently, and has not shown any signficant improvements in his game. Unless Dodson can hurt Demetrious early and capitalize on it unlike last time, I see the rematch going much like their first fight – with Mighty Mouse taking home another decision by being the more active fighter if nothing else.

Co-Main Event: [#4 HW] Andrei Arlovski vs [#10 HW] Frank Mir

Worth: $15

Why: The heavyweight division is in a weird state in 2015: there is not a single fighter in the Top 10 under 30 (30-year-old Junior dos Santos being the youngest), and most of the names near the top of the division are the same guys who ruled the roost ten years ago. With Fabricio Werdum winning the heavyweight title, and rumors of Fedor Emelianenko returning from retirement and signing a UFC contract afloat, this has truly been the year of comeback for aging heavyweights. Our co-main event competitors, both former UFC champions of the decade past, are prime examples of this heavyweight resurrection.

Andrei Arlovski’s name has been tossed around as one of the most likely contenders for Werdum’s title, but for some inexplicable reason UFC decided to give an immediate rematch to Cain Velasquez instead. While Werdum-Velasquez II is a nonsensical fight at this point in time, it still leaves room for some very interesting matchups in the division. It’s a bit of a surprise that Arlovski and Mir have not met in the Octagon before, but late is better than never, and with both fighter coming off impressive back-to-back knockout victories this is promising to be a great fight. Something is holding me back from valuing this fight a bit higher though: a few nagging memories in the back of my mind of the tentative versions of Arlovski and Mir, rather than the ‘swing for the fences’ version that we’ve seen in their recent fights. Past bouts like Arlovski vs Brendan Schaub, Werdum, or his third fight with Tim Sylvia… or Mir’s fights with Alistair Overeem, Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic, Dan Christison… all make me consider the remote but distinct possibility that we might be in for a dance contest rather than a fight. But I’m going to put away the ancient memories and hope for the best: two well-matured contenders colliding in a blaze of glory, with the winner perhaps getting another shot at the gold.

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Anthony Johnson Vs. Jimi Manuwa

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Ked Becker

Anthony Johnson Vs. Jimi Manuwa. Why?

What is the idea behind this match-up?

Anthony Johnson looked amazing in his last three victories, overcoming the high-level wrestling of Phil Davis and destroying Rogerio Nogueira and Alexander Gustafsson – all top level Light-Heavyweights, and then looked very good against Daniel Cormier, knocking him down in the first round before succumbing to his overall superior game. I think everybody is very interested in seeing him face some other top light-heavyweight at this point.

Jimi Manuwa has looked pretty good up until a few fights ago, but he hasn’t looked devastatingly good. He then lost to Gustafsson, and won a boring decision against top-20 (at the time) Blachowicz. What has he done to deserve such a highly ranked opponent as Johnson? And this is not the first time: Manuwa got Gustafsson when Gustafsson was the top contender slated to rematch Jon Jones after their close fight. It was a very strange match-up then, even though he was undefeated at the time, and it’s a stranger match-up now, after his last two unimpressive performances.

What will the MMA world gain from this fight? If Johnson would win, as he is expected to, everything would remain the same as it is now. Johnson would remain the number one contender; Manuwa would remain where he is ranked, and nothing would change. I suppose this could be a tune-up fight for Johnson for another shot at Daniel Cormier, but do we really want to see that rematch so quickly? Cormier beat him pretty definitively, and they both have many other top level opponents they haven’t faced, so why make this rematch now? This couldn’t be a tune-up fight for Johnson to face Jon Jones, because when ‘Bones’ returns he would obviously rematch Cormier for the undisputed title.

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All-Time MMA Rankings Updated (09-02-2015)

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Jason

Fight Matrix Program: UFC 191 (09-05-2015)

Posted on August 30, 2015 by Jason

Flyweight Championship (125)
[#1/#6DD/#4P4P] Demetrious Johnson (22-2-1) vs. [#4] John Dodson (17-6-0)
Demetrious Johnson is the All-Time #2 ranked Flyweight fighter.
John Dodson is the All-Time #8 ranked Flyweight fighter.

Last 3 Fights: Demetrious Johnson (3-0-0)
2015-04-25: W vs. [#11FLY] Kyoji Horiguchi (15-2-0) via Submission (Armbar) in 4:59 of round 5
2014-09-27: W vs. [#26FLY] Chris Cariaso (17-8-0) via Submission (Kimura) in 2:29 of round 2
2014-06-14: W vs. [#14FLY] Ali Bagautinov (13-3-0) via UD (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)

Last 3 Fights: John Dodson (3-0-0)
2015-05-23: W vs. [#6FLY] Zach Makovsky (19-6-0) via UD (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
2014-06-07: W vs. [#12FLY] John Moraga (16-4-0) via TKO (Doctor Stoppage) in 5:00 of round 2
2013-10-19: W vs. [#119FLY] Darrell Montague (13-5-0) via KO (Punch) in 4:13 of round 1

Days Since Last Pro Fight: Demetrious Johnson 133, John Dodson 105
Previous Match-up Record: Demetrious Johnson leads 1-0-0
Wins Against Common Opposition: John Dodson leads 2-1
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Heavyweight (265)
[#4] Andrei Arlovski (24-10-0) vs. [#10] Frank Mir (18-9-0)
Andrei Arlovski is the All-Time #12 ranked Heavyweight fighter.
Frank Mir is the All-Time #13 ranked Heavyweight fighter.

Last 3 Fights: Andrei Arlovski (3-0-0)
2015-05-23: W vs. [#7HW+] Travis Browne (17-3-1) via TKO (Punches) in 4:41 of round 1
2014-09-13: W vs. [#11HW+] Antonio Silva (19-7-1) via KO (Punches) in 2:59 of round 1
2014-06-14: W vs. [#24HW+] Brendan Schaub (10-5-0) via SD (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Last 3 Fights: Frank Mir (2-1-0)
2015-07-15: W vs. [#34HW+] Todd Duffee (9-3-0) via KO (Punch) in 1:13 of round 1
2015-02-22: W vs. [#11HW+] Antonio Silva (19-7-1) via KO (Elbows) in 1:40 of round 1
2014-02-01: L vs. [#8HW+] Alistair Overeem (39-14-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Days Since Last Pro Fight: Andrei Arlovski 105, Frank Mir 52
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Andrei Arlovski leads 5-3
.

Light Heavyweight (205)
[#3] Anthony Johnson (19-5-0) vs. [#13] Jimi Manuwa (15-1-0)
Anthony Johnson is the All-Time #19 ranked Light Heavyweight fighter.

Last 3 Fights: Anthony Johnson (2-1-0)
2015-05-23: L vs. [#2LHW/#8DD/#7P4P] Daniel Cormier (16-1-0) via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 2:39 of round 3
2015-01-24: W vs. [#6LHW] Alexander Gustafsson (16-3-0) via TKO (Punches) in 2:15 of round 1
2014-07-26: W vs. [#16LHW] Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (21-7-0) via KO (Punches) in 0:44 of round 1

Last 3 Fights: Jimi Manuwa (2-1-0)
2015-04-11: W vs. [#21LHW] Jan Blachowicz (18-4-0) via UD (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
2014-03-08: L vs. [#6LHW] Alexander Gustafsson (16-3-0) via TKO (Knee and Punches) in 1:18 of round 2
2013-10-26: W vs. [#35LHW] Ryan Jimmo (19-5-0) via TKO (Leg Injury) in 4:41 of round 2

Days Since Last Pro Fight: Anthony Johnson 105, Jimi Manuwa 147
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Anthony Johnson leads 1-0
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Current MMA Rankings Updated (08-30-2015)

Posted on August 30, 2015 by Jason