Notable Info
- This will be the last set of current rankings featuring Cain Velasquez until he fights again. He will surpass the 450 day inactivity threshold this week.
Stat of the Day: Multiple UFC Events in the Same Calendar Month
In case you didn’t know, Donald Cerrone is now scheduled to fight again on UFC Fight Night (1/18) after fighting on UFC 182 (1/3).
This will only be the 4th occurrence of this happening:
Mike Thomas Brown | January 2011
(LOSS) – Diego Nunes – UFC 125 [2011-01-01]
(LOSS) – Rani Yahya – UFC – Fight for the Troops 2 [2011-01-22]
Lavar Johnson | May 2012
(WIN) – Pat Barry – UFC on Fox 3 [2012-05-05]
(LOSS) – Stefan Struve – UFC 146 [2012-05-26]
Dustin Pague | June 2012
(WIN) – Jared Papazian – UFC on FX 3 [2012-06-08]
(LOSS) – Ken Stone – UFC on FX 4 [2012-06-22]
Featured Upcoming Bouts (Outside of UFC)
| Monday, May 4th 2026: Deep 131 Impact: 25th Anniversary | |||
 [#2 SW] Sora Sugiyama | [#14 SW] Sukai China | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 12/14/2025 [DEEP] Last Opponent: [#6 SW] Haruo Ochi Last 5: - - W W W | Last Fight Date: 3/08/2026 [DEEP] Last Opponent: [NR] Musashi Musashi Last 5: W W W W W | ||
| Friday, March 20th 2026: PFL Madrid: Van Steenis vs. Edwards 2 | |||
 [#8 MW] Costello Van Steenis (-132) |  [#12 MW] Fabian Edwards (+107) | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 7/19/2025 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#13 MW] Johnny Eblen Last 5: W L W W W | Last Fight Date: 8/21/2025 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#27 MW] Dalton Rosta Last 5: W L W W W | ||
| Sunday, April 12th 2026: RIZIN LANDMARK 13 in FUKUOKA | |||
 [#24 W115] Natalia Kuziutina | [#7 W105] Ayaka Hamasaki | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 8/16/2025 [Ural Fighting Championship] Last Opponent: [#75 W115] Rose Conceicao Last 5: W W W W W | Last Fight Date: 11/23/2025 [DEEP] Last Opponent: [#14 W105] Ye Ji Lee Last 5: W L W L W | ||
Featured Fighters
| [#255 WW] |  Rustambek Nurzhanov | [#841 LW] | Daniel Holt | |
| [#80 FW] |  Marwan Rahiki | [#1 LW] |  Ilia Topuria | |
| [#26 LHW] |  Ion Cutelaba | [#40 LHW] |  Oumar Sy | |
| [#361 HW] |  Tony Lopez | [#90 HW] |  Jovan Leka | |
| [#2 LW] |  Charles Oliveira | [#1 MW] |  Khamzat Chimaev |
The Rise and Fall of Tim Sylvia
With the news that Tim Sylvia was unable to fight this weekend, because he failed his medicals — weighing in at 371 pounds probably didn’t help matters — I decided to use our Generated Historical Rankings to show the rise and fall of Tim Sylvia using his rank in the Heavyweight division through time.
The format of the horizontal series labels is Year – Fights – Age, as of the first and midpoint of the year (no contests excluded). The major gridlines represent the first and midpoints of the year.
Bang for Your Buck: UFC 182
Happy New Year, readers!
It’s 2015, and after a somewhat lackluster year in MMA, UFC closed out 2014 with a bang, following up one of the better cards of the year in UFC 181 with an equally solid Fox event. 2015 also looks to be starting off on the right note, with four events slated just for the month of January: an Fox Sports 1 Fight Night and a ‘Big Fox’ event sandwiched between two major Pay-Per-Views.
Speaking of those pesky PPV’s… UFC has not had a good year in terms of buy rates. With an abundance of MMA events on network TV, basic cable, and internet streaming services, shelling out $60 or so for the numbered UFC fight cards seems like less of a necessity. Especially when you consider that with the sheer number of shows the UFC puts on, even their large fight roster is not enough from keeping the cards stretched thin, and the PPV events are often not that much better than the free cards.
All in all, being an MMA fan can be a rather expensive hobby. Just how expensive? I aim to find out, with the new series of articles that we’ll publish before each UFC event in 2015 – evaluating the value of the event (in my humble opinion) versus it’s monetary cost.
So here we go with the first event of the year: UFC 182. It’s headlined by a huge, highly anticipated and long awaited match-up between the Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones , and the challenger Daniel Cormier. Beyond the main even, the quality of the fights drops off significantly. But is the card worth the sticker price, at least on paper? Keep on reading to find out.
UFC 182: Stat of the Day
The match-up between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier is the first UFC title fight where the fighters have 35 or more combined wins with only 1 or fewer combined losses.
When throwing in non-title fights, this has only occurred once, when Brock Larson (21-1) faced Keita Nakamura (15-0) back in 2006.
2014 Awards: Men’s Fighters of the Year
As a recap, most “Fighter of the Year” awards on other sites are really “Breakout Fighter of the Year” awards in that fighters who win, were usually not top fighters in the beginning of the year, but became so by the end of the year.
A fighter like this can and has won our FotY awards, but our award is more about maintaining a high standing during the award year by performing well a sufficient number of times and against sufficient quality of opponents. It is more comparable to a season MVP, not a playoffs/surprise MVP.
Winner: Jose Aldo
It was a quiet year for elite fighters, but Aldo held steady, again, defending his UFC title twice in the same year. As low as twice sounds, try finding better in 2014.
Runner-Up: Demetrious Johnson
After winning the award in 2013, Aldo edges him out for 2014. Like Aldo, he defended his UFC title twice but against lesser competition.
3rd Place: Robbie Lawler
Surely the pick for FotY from a “breakthrough” perspective, Lawler finally made it to the top of the Welterweight mountain just before the year ended. After going 3-1 in 2014, it will be interesting to see if Lawler can stay at the top of the heap.
2014 Awards: Women’s Fighters of the Year
As a recap, most “Fighter of the Year” awards on other sites are really “Breakout Fighter of the Year” awards in that fighters who win, were usually not top fighters in the beginning of the year, but became so by the end of the year.
A fighter like this can and has won our FotY awards, but our award is more about maintaining a high standing during the award year by performing well a sufficient number of times and against sufficient quality of opponents. It is more comparable to a season MVP, not a playoffs/surprise MVP.
Winner: Ronda Rousey
This is the 3rd straight win for Rousey, who maintains “status quo” as the best female fighter in the sport. She again, remained #1 all year, beating two quality opponents within the first round to further cement her dominance within the sport.
Runner-Up: Jessica Aguilar
Those dubbing Carla Esparza as the top Strawweight, may have forgotten about Aguilar. In 2014, she defended her lesser regarded WSOF championship three times against respectable, but not elite competition. She has not lost a fight in over 4 years.
3rd Place: Herica Tiburcio
In her first fight away from Brazil, she found success in her first fight at 105,which is probably the best weight class for her. She throttled the “Karate Hottie” in 2014 to gain the only 105lb title belt that really matters. Her options in this division are limited, with a rematch against Waterson and a fight against Hamasaki as the only two fights that make sense unless a ranked Strawweight drops down.
2014 Awards: Rookies of the Year
Men: Chris de la Rocha
Ending his year with a win over the respectable DJ Linderman, the Heavyweight from the northwest is 3-0 heading into 2015 with a ranking well inside of the Top 100 in the Heavyweight division.
Honorable Mentions: Alvaro Correa, Zelimkhan Umiev, Chris Padilla
Women: Jessica Miele
Getting into the Top 5 at 3-1 speaks partially for her triumphs and partially for being in what is likely the weakest division in the entire sport. Nevertheless, her latest two wins were over a previously 5-0 fighter that was once ranked in the Top 15. Our honorable mentions may be the fighters to watch moving forward as they have undefeated records in a division that the UFC observes, but I would not be surprised to see Miele on a major card (Invicta) before Santos and Moroz.
Honorable Mentions: Marilia Santos, Maryna Moroz
Current MMA Rankings Updated (12-31-2014)
Notable Info
- End-of-the-year ranking update.
2014 Awards: Most Improved Fighter
Most Improved Fighter of the Year: Tom Gallicchio
Tom Gallicchio went 1-3 in 2011, took off 2012 entirely, and had something of a tune-up bout in 2013 — which left him toward the bottom of the Welterweight division. Whether it was improvement, or finding his optimal weight class, he has since moved to Lightweight and reeled off two wins over Kurt Southern in 2014. This boosted Gallicchio well into the Top 100.
Honorable Mention: Bubba Jenkins
2014 Awards: Upsets of the Year
Note: We have two ways that we derive biggest “upsets” based on points difference between winner and loser.
“Most Noteworthy” (X minus Y)
“Most Lopsided” (X divided by Y)
Most Noteworthy: Andrei Arlovski KO(1) Antonio Silva
Arlovski turned back the clock in an unbelievably unexpected win against Silva. I’m not sure Arlovski himself saw this one coming.
Honorable Mentions: Anthony Johnson UD(3) Phil Davis, Ben Rothwell TKO(1) Alistair Overeem
Most Lopsided: T.J Dillashaw TKO(5) Renan Barao
When you’re roughly a 9.5-to-1 favorite as Barao was, you’re just expected to go out there and take care of business. Well, that didn’t happen and hopefully the sequel is on tap for early-mid 2015 as Cruz has again proven to be weak in the knees.
Honorable Mentions: Andrei Arlovski KO(1) Antonio Silva, Ben Rothwell TKO(1) Alistair Overeem
Fight Matrix Program: UFC 182 (01-03-2015)
Light Heavyweight Championship (205)
[#1/#4DD/#1P4P] Jon Jones (20-1-0, -164) vs. [#2/#10P4P] Daniel Cormier (15-0-0, +136)
Jon Jones is the All-Time #1 ranked Light Heavyweight and #6 ranked Absolute fighter.
Last 3 Fights: Jon Jones (3-0-0)
2014-04-26: W vs. [#8LHW] Glover Teixeira (22-4-0) via UD (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
2013-09-21: W vs. [#6LHW] Alexander Gustafsson (16-2-0) via UD (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)
2013-04-27: W vs. [*] Chael Sonnen (28-14-1) via TKO (Elbows and Punches) in 4:33 of round 1
Last 3 Fights: Daniel Cormier (3-0-0)
2014-05-24: W vs. [#7LHW] Dan Henderson (30-12-0) via Technical Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 3:53 of round 3
2014-02-22: W vs. [#49LHW] Patrick Cummins (7-1-0) via TKO (Punches) in 1:19 of round 1
2013-10-19: W vs. [#13HW+] Roy Nelson (20-10-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Jon Jones 252, Daniel Cormier 224
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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Lightweight (155)
[#3] Donald Cerrone (25-6-0, -200) vs. [#8] Myles Jury (15-0-0, +164)
Donald Cerrone is the All-Time #20 ranked Lightweight fighter.
Last 3 Fights: Donald Cerrone (3-0-0)
2014-09-27: W vs. [#9LW] Eddie Alvarez (25-4-0) via UD (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
2014-07-16: W vs. [#29LW] Jim Miller (24-5-0) via KO (Head Kick and Punches) in 3:31 of round 2
2014-04-19: W vs. [#10LW] Edson Barboza (15-2-0) via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 3:15 of round 1
Last 3 Fights: Myles Jury (3-0-0)
2014-09-20: W vs. [#42LW] Takanori Gomi (35-10-0) via TKO (Punches) in 1:32 of round 1
2014-03-15: W vs. [#22LW] Diego Sanchez (25-7-0) via UD (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
2013-09-21: W vs. [#61LW] Mike Ricci (10-4-0) via SD (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Donald Cerrone 98, Myles Jury 105
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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Middleweight (185)
[#22] Nate Marquardt (33-13-2, -136) vs. [#28] Brad Tavares (12-3-0, +111)
Nate Marquardt is the All-Time #3 ranked Middleweight fighter.
Last 3 Fights: Nate Marquardt (1-2-0)
2014-06-28: W vs. [#87MW] James Te Huna (16-8-0) via Submission (Armbar) in 4:34 of round 1
2013-10-19: L vs. [#5WW] Hector Lombard (34-4-1) via KO (Punches) in 1:48 of round 1
2013-03-16: L vs. [#19WW] Jake Ellenberger (29-9-0) via KO (Punches) in 3:00 of round 1
Last 3 Fights: Brad Tavares (1-2-0)
2014-08-16: L vs. [#14MW] Tim Boetsch (18-7-0) via TKO (Punches) in 3:18 of round 2
2014-04-19: L vs. [#7MW] Yoel Romero (9-1-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
2014-01-15: W vs. [#39MW] Lorenz Larkin (14-4-0) via UD (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Nate Marquardt 189, Brad Tavares 140
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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Keep Reading
2014 Awards: Most Noteworthy Match of the Year
Most Noteworthy Match of the Year: Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida
Weidman is on the winning side of the equation for two years straight. There’s not much to say here. This award is about combined relevance and this was a UFC Title Match featuring the undefeated champion and one of the best fighters in history.
Honorable Mentions: Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo vs. Ricardo Lamas
2014 Awards: Comeback Fighter of the Year
As a refresher, our “Comeback” award is about coming back from inactivity or major injury (that we know about) and in doing so, really impressing. You can see more details at the bottom of the post about specific qualifiers.
Comeback Fighter of the Year: Tito Ortiz
The award was wrapped and already assigned to Dominick Cruz, but it just doesn’t feel right giving him the award, as he once again tore his ACL. This is something of a disqualification as he is on the shelf again.
So, with a dominant win over the undersized, though huge favorite Alexander Shlemenko and a decision win over Stephan Bonnar, Tito Ortiz wins the award on a technicality.
Honorable Mention: Thiago Alves