Notable Info
- Effects from UFC 85, Sengoku 3, TKO 34, and other recent events.
UFC 85: How they stack up
Back by popular demand!
There are quite a few tough calls to make this week. FightMatrix was not created to be a prediction-based system, but its accuracy at the elite level is great, so it should be interesting to see how it fares in match-ups where both fighters are highly ranked. Although, in Bisping/Day and Swick/Davis, we have two fighters who are still getting accustomed to their new divisions. For entertainment purposes only, I have colored the betting favorites in GREEN where odds are available. The system’s calls are on the left.
Welterweight
[#4] Thiago Alves vs. [#6] Matt Hughes
Middleweight
[#22] Jason Day vs. [#31] Michael Bisping
Welterweight
[#15] Mike Swick vs. [#17] Marcus Davis
Heavyweight
[#4] Fabricio Werdum vs. [#20] Brandon Vera
Middleweight
[#9] Nathan Marquardt vs. [#25] Thales Leites
Middleweight
[NR] Martin Kampmann vs. [#57] Jorge Rivera
Lightweight
[#47] Thiago Tavares vs. [#66] Matt Wiman
Light Heavyweight
[#19] Jason Lambert vs. [#165] Luis Cane
Welterweight
[#38] Roan Carneiro vs. [#113] Kevin Burns
Welterweight
[#55] Jess Liaudin vs. [#159] Paul Taylor
Heavyweight
[#48] Eddie Sanchez vs. [#56] Antoni Hardonk
Ranking Note: 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.
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: [#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 20th 2026: PFL Madrid: Van Steenis vs. Edwards 2 | |||
 [#8 MW] Costello Van Steenis |  [#12 MW] Fabian Edwards | ||
|
| |||
| 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 | |||
 [#25 W115] Natalia Kuziutina | [#7 W105] Ayaka Hamasaki | ||
|
| |||
| 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 | ||
Featured Fighters
| [#242 LW] |  Rustambek Nurzhanov | [#2 LW] |  Charles Oliveira | |
| [#18 FW] | Kyoma Akimoto | [#840 LW] | Daniel Holt | |
| [#5 LW] |  Max Holloway | [#1 LW] |  Ilia Topuria | |
| [NR] | Markwayne Mullin | [#43 LW] | Drew Dober | |
| [#1 WW] | Islam Makhachev | [#46 FW] | Patrick Mix |
MMA Rankings Updated: 6/2/08
Notable Info
- Effects from WEC 34 and Pancrase 6/1.
Miguel Torres and Urijah Faber both rocketed up the Division Dominance list due to their quality title defenses. Torres now sits at #4 and Faber at #6. Mike Thomas Brown took the moderately high point total he accumulated at Lightweight back down to a much weaker Featherweight division and ranks as 2nd to Faber. Could we see this match-up in the near future?
Elite XC & WEC Reviews
The past weekend was a important one for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts in the United States. On Saturday, the fledgling Elite XC made history with their CBS debut: the first MMA event broadcast live on a major US television network. And on Sunday, Zuffa-owned WEC held what was their most heavily hyped card to date, with 145-lbs champion Urijah Faber defending his belt against former UFC 155-lbs title holder Jens Pulver, and Miguel Torres defending his 135-lbs title against Yoshiro Maeda.
While both events had several exciting, action-packed bouts, the Elite XC broadcast suffered from one huge problem: all of the televised fights were stopped by either the referee, or the ringside doctor; and the stoppages ranged from mildly questionable to completely mind-boggling. Fights need to be decided by fighters, not the New Jersey Athletic Comission officials! That said, here’s how it all went down:
MMA Rankings Updated: 6/1/08
Notable Info
- Effects from newly added historical shows and recent shows such as EliteXC, AFL, PrimetimeFC, etc.
I just realized that I totally forgot about the WEC show tonight! There will be another update in the early part of the upcoming week.
Fighter DQ’d for losing bowel control!
I just had to share this one.
In Saturday’s match against Corey Wethey, Mitchell struck his opponent so hard that Wethey lost control of his bowels. The incident required a 10-minute intermission while officials scrubbed down the ring. Mitchell went on to win the fight by Wethey’s disqualification.
The fight — the seventh of the night – began like any other. Mitchell and Wethey left their corners, tapped gloves and traded punches. After landing a knee to Wethey’s body, Mitchell said he began to smell something foul.
As the fight prolonged, Mitchell said the smell continued to worsen. Eventually, he removed his mouth piece and expressed his concerns to the ring official.
“He s— himself,” Mitchell said repeatedly.
It was at that point Wethey gained the advantage and locked Mitchell’s head between his thighs.
As the round progressed, news about Wethey’s intestinal difficulties slowly made its way to the ring officials, who were at a loss of what to do.
Once the round ended, Wethey told his corner what happened and quickly was evacuated from the ring.
After Mitchell’s win was announced, he took the microphone and proclaimed to the crowd, “You can say I beat the crap out of him.”
Tito Ortiz sets a new record
Though Tito Ortiz lost his UFC 84 bout to Lyoto Machida, he still managed to get a one-up on his long time rival Chuck Liddell. In what Ortiz claimed to be his last UFC fight, he became the only man with 21 bouts inside the Octagon. Liddell is not far behind with 20 bouts, and Matt Hughes will also be at 20 after UFC 85.
Check out more UFC records:
Most Consecutive Wins in the UFC
UFC 84 Review
Headlined by the long-awaited and much hyped lightweight title bout between BJ Penn and Sean Sherk, UFC 84 ‘Ill Will’ was the most anticipated MMA event of the year, to date. Other than the main event, this card was all about the UFC’s elite 205-lbs division, with five lightheavyweight matchups that all made the televised broadcast. Here is how it went down:
Thiago Silva vs Antonio Mendes
Mendes starts out aggressive, and quickly knocks Silva down with a partially blocked high kick. Silva pops back up and is knocked down again – this time with a body kick. Thiago scrambles up again, Mendes attempts a throw from clinch but lands on the bottom. Thiago quickly passes Antonio’s guard and pounds away from mount; Mendes is unable to escape and the bout is stopped.
MMA Rankings Update: 5/25/08 (12 PM EDT)
MMA Rankings to be updated today, 5/25/08 @ 12PM EDT
Notable Info
- Effects from newly added historical shows and recent shows such as UFC 84, DEEP 35.
- Bugfix for situations in which a huge upset occurs. This affects a core dynamic of the system and will cause minor fluctuations in various places.
Overall, the system performed well with UFC 84. In only 3 of the 11 matches, the lower ranked fighter won. In 2 of those, the winner was a relatively unknown up-and-comer who took a step up in class, with 1 of those being a toss-up in the rankings. The other 1 of the 3 mentioned was Jardine/Silva, in which a true FightMatrix upset occurred.
In other notable news, BJ Penn takes the #1 Lightweight spot and enters the Division Dominance list at #10.
FightMatrix UFC 84 Predictions (Main Card + 1)
Since this is such a large event, we figured we would air our predictions out there for all to see. As a statistical based site, we’re going to analyze this based more on statistics and trends versus style analysis. So, enjoy!
+1
Light Heavyweight
[#7] Sokoudjou vs. [#17] Kazuhiro Nakamura
FightMatrix Comments: Kind of disappointed this didn’t make the main card (per Wikipedia). Statistically, these two are hard to get a read on. Nakamura tends to lose decisively against top-notch competition, but win decisively versus the rest. Sokoudjou on the other hand, took the scene by storm with two dominant wins over two Top 10 Light Heavyweights, before putting on an embarrassing performance against Machida. Some would like to say those wins against Nogueira and Arona are flukes, but we’re not foolish enough to dismiss two back-to-back quality wins. Sokoudjou regroups and batters Nakamura for the stoppage. Sokoudjou wins by (T)KO
Main Card
Keep Reading
UFC 84: How they stack up
What a card!!
UFC Lightweight Championship
[#3] BJ Penn vs. [#4] Sean Sherk
Light Heavyweight
[#2] Lyoto Machida vs. [#9] Tito Ortiz
Light Heavyweight
[#4] Keith Jardine vs. [#12] Wanderlei Silva
Light Heavyweight
[#13] Thiago Silva vs. [#40] Antonio Mendes
Light Heavyweight
[#18] Wilson Gouveia vs. [#200] Goran Reljic
Light Heavyweight
[#7] Sokoudjou vs. [#17] Kazuhiro Nakamura
Welterweight
[#16] Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. [#209] Jon Koppenhaver
Lightweight
[#26] Rich Clementi vs. [#130] Terry Etim
Middleweight
[#42] Rosimar Palhares vs. [#64] Ivan Salaverry
Welterweight
[#59] Dong Hyun Kim vs. [#105] Jason Tan
Heavyweight
[#54] Christian Wellisch vs. [#57] Shane Carwin
Ranking Note: 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.
MMA Rankings Updated: 5/18/08
Notable Info
- A plethora of recent shows from organizations such as WVR, Shooto, GFS, NAAFS, IFL, and KOTC have been added and changes can be observed in nearly all of the divisions.
Absolute Top Ten
Just for fun, I put together a list of the ten fighters with the highest overall point totals in our ranking system. As expected, most of the fighters on the list are heavyweights or light-heavyweights; the only fighters below 205 to make the Top 10 are Anderson Silva & Georges St. Pierre.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Points | |
| 1 |  Fedor EmelianenkoLast Fight: 12/31/2007 [Yarennoka] |
27-1-0 |
|
|
| 2 |  Quinton JacksonLast Fight: 9/8/2007 [UFC] |
28-6-0 |
|
|
| 3 |  Anderson SilvaLast Fight: 3/1/2008 [UFC] |
21-4-0 |
|
|
| 4 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Last Fight: 2/2/2008 [UFC] |
31-4-1 |
|
|
| 5 | Randy Couture Last Fight: 8/25/2007 [UFC] |
16-8-0 |
|
|
| 6 |  Georges St. PierreLast Fight: 4/19/2008 [UFC] |
16-2-0 |
|
|
| 7 | Lyoto Machida Last Fight: 12/29/2007 [UFC] |
12-0-0 |
|
|
| 8/ | Fabricio Werdum Last Fight: 1/19/2008 [UFC] |
10-3-1 |
|
|
| 8/ | Chuck Liddell Last Fight: 12/29/2007 [UFC] |
21-5-0 |
|
|
| 10 | Keith Jardine Last Fight: 9/22/2007 [UFC] |
13-4-1 |
|
What did you think of this list? Let us know in our forum!
Rankings Archive Updated
Fightmatrix.com MMA ranks archive has been updated with the rankings as of May 3, 2008.
MMA Rankings Updated: 5/11/08
Notable Info
- Effects from recent and newly added shows. Notable changes stem from DREAM, PalaceFC, Cage Rage, and other shows.
Shinya Aoki officially takes the #1 Lightweight spot from Takanori Gomi.