Lightweights
4. 
Andre Winner beat 7. 
Santino Defranco
Welterweights
5. Damarques Johnson beat 11. Dean Amasinger
A FightMatrix-ranked fighter you may not have heard of… #2
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This week, the focus is on Victor O’Donnell.
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Notable Info
- Ranked #37 at Welterweight, although he has often fought at Middleweight.
- Undefeated at 7-0 (Sherdog’s record is incomplete).
- Has finished all of his opponents by submission.
- Recently defeated UFC veteran, Forrest Petz in a match at 175 lbs.
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O’Donnell has done a decent job of amassing points outside of a major organization. The win over Petz was a major boost to his rating (as was building upon Sherdog’s incomplete copy of his record). I’ll double check his record, and his opponents’ records for completeness in the near future. This may, or may not change his ranking.
EDIT: It looks like it will change his ranking. He will fall several spots in the next update. Aahh, the problems with MMA databases.
Featured Upcoming Bouts (Outside of UFC)
| Saturday, July 18th 2026: Professional Fighters League PFL Austin: Van Steenis vs. Eblen 2 | |||
 [#6 MW] Costello Van Steenis | [#12 MW] Johnny Eblen | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 3/20/2026 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#16 MW] Fabian Edwards Last 5: L W W W W | Last Fight Date: 3/28/2026 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#51 MW] Bryan Battle Last 5: W W W L W | ||
| Saturday, June 27th 2026: Professional Fighters League PFL San Diego: McKee vs. Isbulaev | |||
| [#7 W125] Liz Carmouche |  [#13 W125] Viviane Araujo | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 8/15/2025 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#16 W125] Jena Bishop Last 5: W L W W W | Last Fight Date: 4/11/2026 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#62 W125] Shanna Young Last 5: W L W L W | ||
| Sunday, May 31st 2026: Shooto Professional Shooto 2026 Vol. 4 | |||
 [#11 SW] Koyuru Tanoue | [#12 SW] Kazusa Kurobe | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 11/16/2025 [Shooto] Last Opponent: [#243 FLW] Jo Arai Last 5: W W W W L | Last Fight Date: 1/18/2026 [Shooto] Last Opponent: [#38 SW] Ken Asahina Last 5: W W W W W | ||
Featured Fighters
| [#1 MW] | Sean Strickland | [#175 FW] |  George Mangos | |
| [#29 LW] |  Salahdine Parnasse | [#34 FW] |  Doo Ho Choi | |
| [#78 FW] | Juan Archuleta | [#186 MW] |  Christian Eckerlin | |
| [NR] |  Conor McGregor | [NR] |  Matt Marriot | |
| [NR] | Suzu Ooi | [#58 WW] | Mike Perry |
MMA Rankings Updated: 4/26/09
Notable Info
- Recent shows from GCM, XFC, UWC, Bellator, and others added to the database.
- Some older shows have been added to the database. This has caused some fluctuations.
It has become increasingly apparent that the MMA database providers have become more lazy in their efforts to update their databases with suitable accuracy and timeliness. If you determine from the rankings that we are missing some results, please let us know in the forum.
TUF Season 9 – Episode 4 Results
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10. 
Nicholas Osipczak beat 3. 
Mark Miller
An upset in this one… so the higher seed is now 11-5.
UFC 97 Review
UFC 97 took place in Montreal, Canada. Several milestones were on the line in the main event: the middleweight champion Anderson Silva was looking to defend his title for the fifth time, and add an unprecedented ninth consecutive UFC win to his career record. In the second featured matchup, the former lightheavyweight champion Chuck Liddell faced off with Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua in a bout where the winner would be propelled into title contention, while the loser would likely be looking at the end of his UFC career. The historic event broke the North American MMA attendance record. Here’s how it all went down:
A FightMatrix-ranked fighter you may not have heard of…
One of the benefits of having a computerized rating system with a mature and frequently updated database, is that it often brings unknown fighters to your attention. I’d like to make a habit of this type of blog post, in which I mention a fighter in an obscure league who is doing well, that you may not have heard of.
This week, we have Richard Hale.
Notable Info
- 11 wins, 2 losses.
- Reigning and defending Rage in the Cage champion at Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight.
- Currently the FightMatrix #49 Heavyweight overall.
- 9th highest rated out of Heavyweights that have never fought in UFC, Strikeforce, EliteXC, or PRIDE.
- Only one of his wins has went the distance.
- Has avenged one of his two losses.
Due to the limited talent pool at RITC, especially in the LHW and HW divisions, he’s pretty much topped out his FightMatrix rating.
MMA Rankings Updated: 4/19/09
Notable Info
- Recent shows from UFC, Shooto, Bellator, Kingdom MMA, and others added to the database.
- Some older shows have been added to the database. This has caused some fluctuations.
Records to be broken at UFC 97
At UFC 97, former lightheavyweight champion Chuck Liddell will break a UFC record as soon as he steps into the Octagon for the twenty-second time in his career. Liddell will pull ahead of his long-time rival Tito Ortiz, with whom he currently shares the record at 21 UFC bouts. Matt Hughes will also have 21 UFC bouts to his name when he faces Matt Serra this summer, while Liddell’s other old rival – Randy Couture – will fight in the UFC for the twentieth time. With sixteen victories, Liddell already holds the record for most wins in the UFC.
In the main event, the defending middleweight champion Anderson Silva is also looking to break or tie a couple records. Should he succesfully defend his title against Thales Leites, Silva will become the first fighter in UFC history with nine consecutive wins. He will also tie Matt Hughes and Tito Ortiz with five consecutive title defenses, and tie with Ortiz for the second-most wins in UFC title bouts (Matt Hughes and Randy Couture are tied for the first, with nine title victories each!)
Some additional UFC records:
Most Consecutive Wins in the UFC
Strength of Schedule… with a twist.
Leland Roling of MMA-Analyst posted some strength of schedule statistics on BloodyElbow. He went two layers deep, and included the winning percentage of fighters’ opponents, as well as the opponents’ opponents.
Although his efforts were more than noteworthy, after taking a closer look, I felt the combination of the two layers was a bit subjective in nature. Furthermore, the statistics included the entire careers of all fighters involved, which I felt was overkill.
Update: Posted a Top 50 list.
TUF Season 9 – Episode 3 Results
Lightweights
1. Jason Dent beat UR. Rob Browning
Welterweights
9B. Frank Lester* beat UR. Kiel Reid
* – Added after the fact. Assigned a “B” in order to signify their place in the ranking, without “throwing off” the initial 1-16 list.
So far, the higher seed is 11-4. In one bout, both fighters were unranked.
Ten biggest point-based upsets in MMA history (Revisited)
We posted the original last June, and you can find the link at the bottom of this post. Since then, we’ve had more bouts occur, we’ve improved the formulas, and added quite a bit of data,.
The significance of the upsets on this list is measured not by the betting odds, but by the difference in the Fightmatrix.com point standing between the two fighters, normalized by division. The list is ranked on total difference, not proportional difference, so newer results tend to take precedence, as there is a growing gap between the top notch fighters, and the bottom of the barrel.
- Gabriel Gonzaga W Mirko Filipovic (UFC 70, Apr 21 2007)
- Frank Mir W Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC 92, Dec 27 2008)
- Matt Serra W Georges St. Pierre (UFC 69, Apr 7 2007)
- Mark Hunt W Wanderlei Silva (Pride Shockwave 2004, Dec 31 2004)
- Quinton Jackson W Chuck Liddell 2 (UFC 71, May 26 2007)
- Mark Coleman W Mauricio Rua (Pride 31, Feb 26 2006)
- Keith Jardine W Chuck Liddell (UFC 76, Sep 22 2007 )
- Cheick Kongo W Mirko Filipovic (UFC 75, Sep 8 2007)
- Junior dos Santos W Fabricio Werdum (UFC 90, Oct 25 2008)
- Sergey Golyaev W Takanori Gomi (Sengoku 6th, Nov 1 2008)
UFC 97: How they stack up
UFC Middleweight Championship
[#1] Anderson Silva vs. [#11] Thales Leites
Light Heavyweight
[#9] Mauricio Rua vs. [#10] Chuck Liddell
Light Heavyweight
[#34] Krzysztof Soszynski vs. [#90] Brian Stann
Heavyweight
[#9] Cheick Kongo vs. [#35] Antoni Hardonk
Light Heavyweight
[#12] Luiz Cane vs. [#37] Steve Cantwell
Light Heavyweight
[#350] Eliot Marshall vs. [*] Vinny Magalhaes
Middleweight
[#30] Denis Kang vs. [#43] Xavier Foupa-Pokam
Middleweight
[#29] Jason MacDonald vs. [#62] Nate Quarry
Middleweight
[#34] David Loiseau vs. [#47] Ed Herman
Lightweight
[#59] Mark Bocek vs. [#92] David Bielkheden
Welterweight
[#28] TJ Grant vs. [#36] Ryo Chonan
Lightweight
[#53] Matt Wiman vs. [#60] Sam Stout
Ranking Notes: Dark green 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.
April Archive Updated
Fightmatrix.com Mixed Martial Arts Rankings Archive has been updated with the rankings as of April 6, 2009.
MMA Rankings Updated – 4/12/09
Notable Info
- Recent shows from Beatdown, Shooto, Strike Force, and others added to the database.
- Some older shows from Asia have been added to the database. This has caused some fluctuations.
TUF Season 9 – Episode 2 Results
Only one upset in Episode 2, and it was a minor one (#3 beat #2).
Lightweights
6. Richie Whitson beat 8. Paul Bird
7. Santino Defranco beat 9. Waylon Lowe
12. Cameron Dollar beat 15. Tom Hayden
Welterweights
3. Mark Miller beat 2. Kevin Knabjian
4. Jason Pierce beat 12. Ryan Biglar
5. Damarques Johnson beat 7. Ray Elbe
So far, the higher seed is 9-4. In one bout, both fighters were unranked.