Notable Info
- We got some Asian results in late this weekend, so not to be outdone, we decided to release another set of the rankings.
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 | ||
| Sunday, April 12th 2026: RIZIN LANDMARK 13 in FUKUOKA | |||
 [#24 W115] Natalia Kuziutina | [#6 W105] Ayaka Hamasaki | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 8/16/2025 [Ural Fighting Championship] Last Opponent: [#77 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 | ||
| Saturday, April 25th 2026: OKTAGON 87: Szabová vs. Fernandes | |||
 [#17 W135] Lucia Szabova |  [#25 W125] Leidiane Fernandes | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 8/09/2025 [Oktagon MMA] Last Opponent: [#96 W135] Cecilie Maria Bolander Last 5: W W W W W | Last Fight Date: 10/25/2025 [Jungle Fight] Last Opponent: [#44 W125] Brena Cardozo Last 5: W W L W W | ||
Featured Fighters
| [#12 MW] |  Israel Adesanya | [#262 WW] |  Rustambek Nurzhanov | |
| [#5 MW] |  Joe Pyfer | [#30 LW] |  Tofiq Musayev | |
| [#19 WW] | Michael Chiesa | [#5 W125] |  Alexa Grasso | |
| [#52 MW] |  Yousri Belgaroui | [NR] | Guy Mezger | |
| [#64 LW] | Terrance McKinney | [#834 LW] |  Daniel Holt |
MMA Rankings Updated: 6/29/2010
We have released an update to fix a data display bug related to the statistics shown on fighter mouse overs.
UFC 116: How they stack up
UFC Heavyweight Championship
[#1] Brock Lesnar vs. [#4] Shane Carwin
Middleweight
[#13] Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. [#25] Chris Leben
Welterweight
[#23] Chris Lytle vs. [#68] Matt Brown
Light Heavyweight
[#36] Krzysztof Soszynski vs. [#83] Stephan Bonnar
Lightweight
[#10] George Sotiropoulos vs. [#14] Kurt Pellegrino
Heavyweight
[#36] Chris Tuchscherer vs. [#131] Brendan Schaub
Light Heavyweight
[#73] Seth Petruzelli vs. [#77] Ricardo Romero
Middleweight
[#47] Kendall Grove vs. [#101] Goran Reljic
Middleweight
[#41] Gerald Harris vs. [#83] Dave Branch
Welterweight
[#66] Forrest Petz vs. [#145] Daniel Roberts
Heavyweight
[#101] Jon Madsen vs. [#144] Karlos Vemola
MMA Rankings Updated: 06/27/2010
Notable Info
- The unthinkable has happened. Werdum moves up to #2, while Fedor drops to #3.
- There is currently a display bug in the Quality Performance %. The numbers listed are incorrect and will be fixed upon the next update.
Opponent Strength: 2007-2009
It’s been a while since we had a post that was strictly based on analysis, so I thought it was a good time to provide one. I decided to take a look at average opponent strength between 2007 and 2009. We’ll look at which fighters have had the best average opponent strength, and although I wanted to also post who had the worst, it was really hard to filter the list in a way that did not only contain obscure fighters or those who just now reached their lofty ranking. Before consuming the lists, please consider the following qualifiers and notes:
- Fighters must have had at least four qualifying fights between 1/1/2007 and 12/31/2009, an average of one fight per nine months. I did not want to bring this to the current day due to the next point.
- The opponents’ current FightMatrix division dominance ratings are considered, not their pre-bout ratings or regular ratings. I wanted to use the current division normalized status of the opponents to show what they’ve become, not what they were, or what the rating system thought they were. So, to limit the direct effect of points gained by the opponents who beat the listed fighters, I stopped the date range short of this year.
- No contests are excluded as are female fighters.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s take a look at the list.
Top 10
1. Forrest Griffin
2. Matt Hughes
3. Chuck Liddell
MMA Rankings Updated: 6/21/2010
Notable Info
- A ton of fights and some data maintenance lead to quite a few changes in the rankings this week.
Peak Division Dominance added to All-Time Rankings
Further bolstering our All-Time rankings is the Peak Division Dominance list. This list works nearly identically to the current list, in that it ranks fighters based on their peak dominance in a respective division. The all-time version takes each fighter’s best dominance rating throughout their career, then ranks them in order. One difference about the all-time version is that the fighter must have been established in the division before being eligible for the list.
The monthly window is small, but this dominance list is about an absolute peak, not an extended period. Most of the names in the list you’ll expect, and a few you won’t. Be sure to hover over the fighters’ names to view the division and month/year that they were most dominant. And also remember, there is more to division dominance than just the fighter’s body of work. The divisional strength is also considered as well.
UFC 115: How they stack up
Light Heavyweight
[#12] Rich Franklin vs. [#20] Chuck Liddell
Heavyweight
[#18] Mirko Filipovic vs. [#48] Pat Barry
Welterweight
[#7] Paulo Thiago vs. [#21] Martin Kampmann
Heavyweight
[#26] Gilbert Yvel vs. [#33] Ben Rothwell
Welterweight
[#17] Carlos Condit vs. [#31] Rory MacDonald
Lightweight
[#12] Tyson Griffin vs. [#30] Evan Dunham
Lightweight
[#75] Matt Wiman vs. [#107] Mac Danzig
Middleweight
[#53 LHW] David Loiseau vs. [#129] Mario Miranda
Welterweight
[#307] James Wilks vs. [#537] Peter Sobotta
Welterweight
[#66] Claude Patrick vs. [#317] Ricardo Funch
Welterweight
[#45] Mike Pyle vs. [#63] Jesse Lennox
NOTE: This is the first event in quite some time where there have been 3 fighters outside of our current rankings (Wilks, Sobotta, and Funch).
Debuting the All-Time Rankings
We have just posted our initial release of the computerized All-Time MMA Rankings. These rankings consider fighters’ entire careers by division and also on an overall level. Please note, these are not peak dominance rankings.
There are some very important differences between the all-time rankings and the current rankings, so please read the information provided at the top of the page.
UFC 114 Review
Back at the UFC’s home base, the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, UFC 114 was headlined by a light-heavyweight number one contender bout between Rashad Evans and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. The fight was originally supposed to take place in 2009 when Jackson decided to place his MMA career on hiatus to play ‘Mr. T’ in a remake of The A Team. After many bitter words were exchanged between Jackson and UFC president Dana White, all parties finally came to an agreement, setting the stage for this long-awaited grudge match to finally take place at 114.
The co-main-event was slated to be a bout between Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Forrest Griffin – another light heavyweight fight with potential title implications. However, Griffin was forced to pull out of the fight with a shoulder injury, and his short notice replacement Jason Brilz was not deemed suitable for a featured bout. And so a lackadaisical middleweight matchup between Michael Bisping and Dan Miller was promoted to the co-main. The remainder of the undercard was a motley mixture of bouts with very little divisional significance.
Preliminary card (Spike TV)
Efrain Escudero vs. Dan Lauzon (155 lbs)
Round 1: The fighter circle and fire off strikes from a distance. Lauzon with head and body kicks, both blocked. Jabs from Escudero. Not much contact until Escudero grabs a clinch and lands a series of knees, most of which are blocked by Lauzon. Escudero lets up and they circle around each other with some sporadic strike exchanges. A cut opens on Escudero’s eyebrow. Slow round. Round 10-9 Escudero
Round 2: A few leg kicks from Escudero, then he rushes in with punches, backing Lauzon against the fence and firing off knees from the clinch. Lauzon absorbs the knees and remains standing and so Escudero backs off. Lauzon with a failed takedown attempt. Lauzon starting to gas. Escudero continues to work the leg kicks. Escudero grabs clinch again and lands more knees but still can’t finish. Escudero pushes Lauzon down but doesn’t follow him to the ground. Round 10-9 Escudero
Round 3: More leg kicks from Efrain to start the final round. Lauzon is more aggressive but doesn’t look to have much left in the tank. Both fighters land a few punches. Sporadic action, Escudero dances around and switches stances as the crowd boos. Another clinch attack from Escudero; knees land but Lauzon remains standing and they separate. A low kick catches Lauzon’s cup and he crumbles. A point is deducted from Escudero. They restart and both fighters flurry in the remaining few seconds. Round 9-9 draw
Efrain Escudero wins the unanimous decision, 29-27 on all scorecards.
Aftermath: This was not an impressive showing for either fighter. Escudero was successful in rebounding from the first loss of his career but failed to dazzle in his performance. He should next take on Aaron Riley, who took a unanimous decision over Joe Brammer on the undercard.
Lauzon remains winless in his three UFC bouts, and will likely be gone from the organization on the heels of back-to-back losses and his well publicized conflicts with his brother and training partners.
Ranking Impact: Efrain Escudero rises 35 spots to #103 LW. Dan Lauzon falls out of the LW Top 250.
Fight Grade: 2/5
UFC 114: How they stack up
Light Heavyweight
[#3] Rashad Evans vs. [#4] Quinton Jackson
Middleweight
[#15] Michael Bisping vs. [#32] Dan Miller
Heavyweight
[#30] Mike Russow vs. [#38] Todd Duffee
Light Heavyweight
[#9] Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. [#41] Jason Brilz
Welterweight
[#8 LW] Diego Sanchez vs. [#52] John Hathaway
Welterweight
[#28] Dong Hyun Kim vs. [#31] Amir Sadollah
Lightweight
[#138] Efrain Escudero vs. [#189] Dan Lauzon
Lightweight
[#51] Melvin Guillard vs. [#160] Waylon Lowe
Light Heavyweight
[#18] Luis Arthur Cane vs. [#38] Cyrille Diabate
Lightweight
[#147] Aaron Riley vs. [#256] Joe Brammer
Middleweight
[#108] Jesse Forbes vs. [#113] Ryan Jensen