As the system matures and the MMA scene changes, we must adapt the rating system to handle new challenges.
Recently, a point that has been brought to my attention is the system’s tendency to overrate Japanese fighters who stay in Japan, specifically the male fighters. In comparison to when the system was first created nearly four years ago, there are many more instances of Japanese fighters fighting in other countries. Now, the data is finally there to prove what we thought all along… the system IS in fact overrating the Japanese population. Not only that, but the problem is getting progressively worse and also affects foreigners fighting there.
The past data is there to prove this objectively. Furthermore, there are underlying causes for this that can be proved objectively. The Japanese MMA population itself is getting smaller in proportion to the rest of the world, as are the amount of fights taking place on Japanese soil — again, this is speaking proportionally. There are also reasons for this that cannot be proven objectively such as the rest of the world’s embrace of the “weight drain” concept versus the Japanese fighters, who seem to be way behind in doing so, and maybe that other countries are simply “stepping up their game”. Some potential reasons are in a gray area in that they cannot always be objectively proven in a consistent manner, such as those related to fight frequency, varying rules (Pancrase), different weight divisions, and so on.
Either way, the proof is clear. The current rankings you see are overrating Japanese fighters by about 15%, and when I say Japanese fighters, I mean those from Japan fighting mainly in Japan. Once fighters leave the country, this issue works its way out.
[#4 SW] 
