Notable Info
* Rankings updated with effects from recent shows from PalaceFC, UFC, and others.
January Archive Updated
Fightmatrix.com Mixed Martial Arts Rankings Archive has been updated with the rankings as of January 4, 2009.
Featured Upcoming Bouts (Outside of UFC)
| Saturday, March 14th 2026: Pancrase - 361 | |||
 [#4 SW] Yuta Miyazawa | [#9 SW] Kanji Funada | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 11/09/2025 [Pancrase] Last Opponent: [#32 SW] Tateo Iino Last 5: W W L W W | Last Fight Date: 4/27/2025 [Pancrase] Last Opponent: [#51 SW] Takafumi Ato Last 5: W W W W W | ||
| Friday, March 6th 2026: RIZIN 52 | |||
| [#5 W105] Saori Oshima | [#11 W105] Keito Oyama | ||
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| 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 | ||
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| 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
| [NR] |  Daniel Cormier | [NR] | Henry Cejudo | |
| [#1 LW] |  Ilia Topuria | [#1 WW] |  Islam Makhachev | |
| [NR] |  Conor McGregor | [NR] | B.J. Penn | |
| [#39 LHW] |  Aleksandar Ilic | [#20 BW] |  Farid Basharat | |
| [#1 LHW] |  Alex Pereira | [#26 W135] |  Klaudia Sygula |
The rise and fall of Drew Fickett
We’ve seen fighters decline tremendously in recent years, but the bottom has really fallen out of Drew Fickett’s FightMatrix rating. Below, you’ll find a graph of how Fickett’s rating hit an all-time high in early 2008, and has since dropped into journeyman status. On January 30th, Fickett was knocked out by Ferrid Kheder to cap off a 1-3 record in his last four fights.
What makes this drop even worse, is that these values were not time adjusted. With FightMatrix ratings, the value of a point has gotten increasingly lower through time as competition thickens.
UFC Fight Night 17: How they stack up
Lightweight
[#42] Joe Lauzon vs. [#44] Jeremy Stephens
Heavyweight
[#28] Cain Velasquez vs. [#146] Denis Stojnic
Lightweight
[#34] Josh Neer vs. [#49] Mac Danzig
Welterweight
[#34] Anthony Johnson vs. [#41] Luigi Fioravanti
Lightweight
[#61] Kurt Pellegrino vs. [#65] Rob Emerson
Middleweight
[#21] Dan Miller vs. [#106] Jake Rosholt
Lightweight
[#99] Matt Veach vs. [NR] Matt Grice
Lightweight
[#38] Rich Clementi vs. [#92] Gleison Tibau
Middleweight
[#84] Derek Downey vs. [#125 WW] Nick Catone
Welterweight
[#77] Steve Bruno vs. [#196 MW] Matt Riddle
Ranking Notes: Gray font represents an approximate ranking. An asterisk represents a fighter who is ranked, but too low for an approximation. These two scenarios will clear up slightly as we move forward. “NR” means the fighter is not ranked, due to inactivity, or due to a rating that is at or below the default starter rating.
UFC 94 Review
In the past, UFC has usually lined up a star-studded event for the Superbowl weekend. This year was no exception, with a mega-matchup between the welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and the lightweight champion BJ Penn in the main event, and the undefeated lightheavyweight contenders Thiago Silva and Lyoto Machida meeting in the co-main.
The remainder of the card was so evenly matched that all eight undercard bouts went to a decision; five of them a split decision. It turned out that the close matchups for most part did not make for exciting fights.
Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida (155 lbs)
In the opening bout of the broadcast, Guida’s wrestling made all the difference as he was able to control Diaz and maintain dominant position through most of the bout. Guida had Nate’s back very quickly in the first round, and alternated between back control and top guard for much of the fight, staying out of Diaz’s submissions though not inflicting much damage on his opponent. Diaz did a better job of keeping the fight on his feet in the third round, but outboxing Guida was not enough to win the fight for Nate. Guida took home the split decision victory.
Fight Grade: 2/5
Aftermath: The first loss on the record of the ‘Ultimate Fighter’ winner Nate Diaz shows that he needs to improve his wrestling to advance in the very deep decision. Guida earns a win but will not earn many fans with a grinding methodical style – a big change from Guida’s earlier UFC bouts where he was the exciting fan favorite who often walked away on the losing end of close decisions.
MMA Rankings Updated: 2/1/09 (Again)
Notable Info
- Rankings updated with effects from recent shows from Shooto, UFC, and others.
- Some older shows have been updated and/or added for increased accuracy.
- Slightly optimized the ranking pages. Should now load about 3% faster.
Update: O’Brien/Wellisch was not assigned to the proper division, plus I forgot about the Pancrase card so I re-ran the ratings.
UFC 94: How they stack up
Welterweight
[#1] Georges St. Pierre vs. [#1 LW] B.J. Penn
Light Heavyweight
[#4] Lyoto Machida vs. [#14] Thiago Silva
Light Heavyweight
[NR] Stephan Bonnar vs. [#57] Jon Jones
Welterweight
[#11] Karo Parisyan vs. [#45] Dong Hyun Kim
Lightweight
[#18] Clay Guida vs. [#28] Nathan Diaz
Welterweight
[#4] Jon Fitch vs. [#15] Akihiro Gono
Lightweight
[#102] Thiago Tavares vs. [#215] Manvel Gamburyan
Welterweight
[#20] Chris Wilson vs. [#130] John Howard
Heavyweight
[#43] Jake O’Brien vs. [#92] Christian Wellisch
Welterweight
[#500] Matt Arroyo vs. [NR] Dan Cramer
Ranking Notes: Gray font represents an approximate ranking. An asterisk represents a fighter who is ranked, but too low for an approximation. These two scenarios will clear up slightly as we move forward. “NR” means the fighter is not ranked, due to inactivity, or due to a rating that is at or below the default starter rating.
Fightmatrix.com Website Redesigned
The new look of Fightmatrix.com is just the first of many improvements we will be making in 2009! Please bear with us as we iron out the minor kinks in the new site, and let us know in our forum what you think of the new design!
WEC 38 Review
Only a day after the impressive Affliction ‘Day of Reckoning’ event, the fans were treated to another MMA show: WEC 38, broadcast live from San Diego, featured the WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner defending his title against Donald Cerrone in the main event. The other big matchup on the card was the rematch between the former featherweight champion Urijah Faber and the UFC veteran and former champion Jens Pulver.
Jose Aldo vs. Rolando Perez (145 lbs)
In the first televised bout, both featherweights came out swinging from the opening bell. Aldo quickly took control of the bout with crisp punches and body kicks. Perez fired back with combinations of his own but was outgunned by Aldo. As Perez stepped forward, Aldo fired a knee up the middle that knocked Perez on his back. Aldo jumped on top of Perez for a quick TKO finish.
Fight Grade: 4/5
Affliction ‘Day of Reckoning’ Review
Affliction’s second MMA event revolved around the headlining bout: a return to action by the top-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, in a long awaited matchup with former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski. The main event was scheduled to be a five-round title bout, with Fedor’s dubious WAMMA title belt on the line. The remainder of the card was filled with names familiar to most long time MMA fans, including Josh Barnett taking on Gilbert Yvel in a matchup that was touted to produce the next challenger to the winner of the Emelianenko-Arlovski bout. Also of note was the presence of Tito Ortiz, in the role of a color commentator.
The broadcast began with a bout that had a last-minute substitution, as Bobby Green stepped in on a day’s notice to replace the injured Chris Horodecki:
Bobby Green vs. Dan Lauzon (155 lbs)
A little-known fighter, Bobby Green had a chance to make a big impression in this bout, but came out with mixed results. Green took the fight to the more experienced Lauzon, winning the striking exchanges and scrambling well on takedown attempts. However an errant kick to the groin caused a halt to the action. Lauzon took his time to recover – and the foul was repeated two more times in the round: first a knee then a glancing kick both landing to the groin area. Two points were deducted from Green by the ref Herb Dean after the third low blow, and the fans grew restless watching Lauzon massage his injured crotch for the third time. Green did not use any kicks or knees after the final restart to avoid a disqualification. After a scramble Lauzon was finally able to achieve a dominant position on the ground, and took Green’s back sinking in a rear naked choke. Green tapped out with only seconds left in the round.
Fight Grade: 5 3/5 2 point deduction for the low blows
MMA Rankings Updated: 1/26/09
Notable Info
- Ratings updated with recent shows from Affliction, WEC, Extreme Challenge, Beast of the East, ZST, and others.
Affliction 2: How they stack up
Heavyweight
[#1] Fedor Emelianenko vs. [#5] Andrei Arlovski
Heavyweight
[#6] Josh Barnett vs. [#30] Gilbert Yvel
Light Heavyweight
[#12] Sokoudjou vs. [#13] Renato Sobral
Middleweight
[#15] Vitor Belfort vs. [#20] Matt Lindland
Lightweight
[#40] Dan Lauzon vs. [#100] Bobby Green
Heavyweight
[#43] Paul Buentello vs. [#180] Kirill Sidelnikov
Light Heavyweight
[#16] Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. [#17] Vladimir Matyushenko
Welterweight
[#12] Jay Hieron vs. [#140] Jason High
Featherweight
[#8 BW] Bao Quach vs. [#29] LC Davis
Featherweight
[#32 BW] Antonio Duarte vs. [#52 BW] Albert Rios
Welterweight
[#33] Brett Cooper vs. [#206] Patrick Speight
Ranking Notes: Gray font represents an approximate ranking. An asterisk represents a fighter who is ranked, but too low for an approximation. These two scenarios will clear up slightly as we move forward. “NR” means the fighter is not ranked, due to inactivity, or due to a rating that is at or below the default starter rating.
UFC 93 Review
UFC 93 took place in Dublin, Ireland; and as it has been the case with many of the overseas UFC events, it did not feature a very strong card. In the main event, Rich Franklin took on Dan Henderson for a chance to coach the upcoming season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ opposite of Michael Bisping. Strangely enough, the Franklin-Henderson fight was at 205 lbs, despite the fact that the winner would face Bisping at 185.
The co-main event was a rematch between Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Mark Coleman – both men making a return to action after a long layoff. The only other notable bouts on the card were the UFC debut of Denis Kang (facing Alan Belcher) and a bout between two gatekeepers of the welterweight division – Marcus Davis and Chris Lytle. Let’s see how it all turned out:
MMA Rankings Updated: 1/18/09
Notable Info
- Ratings updated with recent shows from UFC, Shooto, and others.
Other interesting notes…
- Rich Franklin proves that he belongs near the top of the Light Heavyweight division, nearly taking a decision from Dan Henderson. Henderson re-enters Light Heavy at #5, while Franklin drops to #6.
- In a disappointing performance against Coleman, Rua re-enters Light Heavy at #8. Coleman enters the list just outside of the Top 20.
- Martin Kampmann makes a successful debut at Welterweight, entering at #23. Though, in the UFC, there’s a tough road to climb to the top of the Welterweight division.
- Although he is the Shooto Flyweight champion, Shinichi Kojima nearly lost the top spot at Flyweight with a draw against (4-4-2) Jess Taitano. Taitano shoots back into the Top 10, where he was before we discovered and entered some unreported losses on his record.
UFC 93: How they stack up
Light Heavyweight
[#3 MW] Dan Henderson vs. [#5] Rich Franklin
Light Heavyweight
[NR] Mauricio Rua vs. [NR] Mark Coleman
Middleweight
[#18] Denis Kang vs. [#43] Alan Belcher
Welterweight
[#22] Marcus Davis vs. [#26] Chris Lytle
Middleweight
[#37] Rousimar Palhares vs. [#59] Jeremy Horn
Welterweight
[#34 MW] Martin Kampmann vs. [#123] Alexandre Barros
Light Heavyweight
[#34] Eric Schafer vs. [#60] Antonio Mendes
Light Heavyweight
[NR] Tomasz Drwal vs. [#134] Ivan Serati
Welterweight
[#162 MW] John Hathaway vs. [#300] Thomas Egan
Lightweight
[#210] Dennis Siver vs. [*] Nate Mohr
Ranking Notes: Rankings are projected when a fighter is fighting in a new weight class. Gray font represents an approximate ranking. An asterisk represents a fighter who is ranked, but too low for an approximation. These two scenarios will clear up slightly as we move forward. “NR” means the fighter is not ranked, due to inactivity, or due to a rating that is at or below the default starter rating.