Since this past weekend has been relatively uneventful, the rankings update is being delayed until Thursday. This update will reflect recent minor shows, newly added historical data, and Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night.
September Archives Updated
Fightmatrix.com MMA rankings archive has been updated with the rankings as of September 1, 2008.
Featured Upcoming Bouts (Outside of UFC)
| Saturday, August 22nd 2026: PFL Tampa: Cyborg vs. Vieira | |||
 [#1 W145] Cristiane Justino | [#4 W135] Ketlen Vieira | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 12/13/2025 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#2 W145] Sara Collins Last 5: W W W W W | Last Fight Date: 5/16/2026 [UFC] Last Opponent: [#10 W135] Jacqueline Cavalcanti Last 5: W L W L W | ||
| Thursday, September 10th 2026: Super RIZIN 5: Naniwa No Chou Fukkatsu Matsuri | |||
 [#5 FW] A.J. McKee |  [#6 FW] Rajabali Shaidullaev | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 6/27/2026 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#20 FW] Salamat Isbulaev Last 5: W L W W W | Last Fight Date: 4/12/2026 [Rizin Fighting Federation] Last Opponent: [#249 FW] Yuta Kubo Last 5: W W W W W | ||
| Thursday, September 10th 2026: Super RIZIN 5: Naniwa No Chou Fukkatsu Matsuri | |||
 [#1 W105] Natalia Kuziutina |  [#16 W105] Rena Kubota | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 4/12/2026 [Rizin Fighting Federation] Last Opponent: [#9 W105] Ayaka Hamasaki Last 5: W W W W W | Last Fight Date: 12/31/2025 [Rizin Fighting Federation] Last Opponent: [#2 W105] Seika Izawa Last 5: W L W W L | ||
Featured Fighters
| [#1 WW] | Islam Makhachev | [#178 WW] |  Namo Fazil | |
| [#5 WW] |  Ian Garry | [NR] | Khabib Nurmagomedov | |
| [#29 WW] | Myktybek Orolbai | [#2 LW] |  Ilia Topuria | |
| [#25 WW] | Neil Magny | [#1 FW] |  Alexander Volkanovski | |
| [#2 W115] | Mackenzie Dern | [#3 WW] | Carlos Prates |
Lower Weight = More Parity
If you focus hard on the FightMatrix divisional rankings, its easy to see that there are less points in the lower weight divisions. This is mostly because the bout histories there are slim, but its more than just that. The parity between the fighters competing there causes a lot of close contests. This is further exacerbated by the Asian organizations more freely utilizing the “even round” scoring. This makes it harder for the top fighters to “break away” from the rest of the pack.
On a whim, I decided to do some math, and see how many of the bouts taking place in each division were either draws, split decisions, or majority decisions. The results are quite astounding.
Percentage of “Close Bouts”
Heavyweight – 4.3%
Light Heavyweight – 5.6%
Middleweight – 4.3%
Welterweight – 6.6%
Lightweight – 10.1%
Featherweight – 12.7%
Bantamweight- 10.9%
Flyweight – 14.6%
Affliction on life support?
Numerous sources have put out the headline: Affliction show #2 postponed. Apparently, the show has been delayed until January and moved from Las Vegas to Anaheim. Only time will tell if the show comes off at all. Thoughts?
UFC 88 Review
UFC 88 ‘Breakthrough’ – the first UFC event in Atlanta – was headlined by a lightheavyweight bout between the former champion Chuck Liddell and the Ultimate Fighter Season 2 winner Rashad Evans. The winner of this bout was virtually guaranteed the first shot at UFC’s new LHW champion, Forrest Griffin. The other major bouts on this card were Rich Franklin’s debut at 205 lbs against Matt Hamill, and Dan Henderson attempting to score his first UFC win in over a decade against the Brazilian submission specialist Rousimar Palhares.
The first televised match of the night was supposed to be a welterweight bout between Karo Parisyan and Yoshiyuki Yoshida, however Parisyan pulled out of the fight with a back injury the day of the weight-ins, and so another 170 lbs bout was moved up to lead the televised card:
MMA Rankings Updated: 9/7/08
Notable Info
- Rankings updated w/ effects from UFC 88 and other minor database additions/updates.
UFC 88: How they stack up
Light Heavyweight
[#4] Chuck Liddell vs. [#9] Rashad Evans
Light Heavyweight
[#7] Rich Franklin vs. [#27] Matt Hamill
Welterweight
[#11] Karo Parisyan vs. [#15] Yoshiyuki Yoshida CANCELLED
Middleweight
[#4] Dan Henderson vs. [#33] Rousimar Palhares
Middleweight
[#14] Nate Marquardt vs. [#20] Martin Kampmann
Lightweight
[#72] Thiago Tavares vs. [#86] Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight
[#40] Dong Hyun Kim vs. [#210] Matt Brown
Middleweight
[#28] Jason MacDonald vs. [#60] Jason Lambert
Welterweight
[#28] Ryo Chonan vs. [#63] Roan Carneiro
Light Heavyweight
[#48] Tim Boetsch vs. [#76] Michael Patt
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.
Tracking the progress of The Ultimate Fighter 3 contestants – Part II
Last week, we looked back at the Season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter series, and reviewed the progress of the lightheavyweight contenders. Now, lets take a look at the middleweight participants of ‘TUF’ Season 3.
The middleweights as a group have not enjoyed much success since the show: Only three of the eight contestants are ranked in the Top 100 of their current weight class, and only the finalists Kendall Grove and Ed Herman are still employed by the UFC.
Fighters are listed in order of their current Fightmatrix.com ranking, regardless of the weight class. Fights that took place in the live finale are counted in the ‘After’ column.
MMA Rankings Updated: 9/1/08
Notable Info
- Rankings updated with effects from recent shows and some previously missing older shows.
Tracking the progress of The Ultimate Fighter 3 contestants – Part I
After a very busy summer for MMA fans, there has been a temporary lull in major events. As the UFC and Spike TV are getting ready to launch the eighth season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality series (premiering on September 17th), it is a good time to take a look back at the contestants of Season 3 and see how their fighting careers have progressed after the show.
The third season of ‘TUF’ featured lightheavyweight & middleweight contestants, and was coached by Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock. The show focused heavily on the ongoing feud between coaches, sometimes at the expense of screen time for fighters. The talent level on this season was rather weak compared to seasons 1 and 2: not a single fighter from season 3 is currently ranked in the Top 10 in any weight class. I will examine the lightheavyweight class first, and look at the middleweights next week.
MMA Rankings Updated: 8/25/08
Notable Info
- Added recent shows from ZST, WVR, and minor organizations.
- Added older shows which were missing (yet again).
MMA Rankings Updated: 8/17/08
Notable Info
- Recent shows added, including DEEP: Gladiator, ShoXC, Pure Combat, etc.
- Older shows added to database.
- Bug fix regarding the placement of streaking early career fighters.
Early update this week as I’m leaving town, but its a somewhat dead weekend.
August Archives Updated
Fightmatrix.com MMA rankings archive has been updated with the rankings as of August 4, 2008.
Top Middleweights outside of UFC
Recently I took a look at the top fighters in the UFC’s middleweight division. Let’s now examine the top middleweights competing in other MMA promotions throughout the world. This is one of the most scattered weight classes in MMA, even though the UFC maintains a lead with the most top fighters at 185 lbs, which will only strengthen if Zuffa merges the WEC & UFC middleweight divisions as has been rumored. Nevertheless, there are plenty of top-level fighters competing in various organizations, with Japan’s Dream coming the closes to giving UFC a run for its money. Here are the top 15 middleweights outside of the UFC, according to the latest Fightmatrix.com ranking:
Pacquiao/DLH not meant to be. 30% not enough for Manny.
They agreed on weight (147) and the glove size (8 oz), but could not come together on the money. Oscar offered a 70-30 split, while Pacquiao wouldn’t take less than 40%.
The fact of the matter is, people pay to see De La Hoya. In his match-up with Mayweather, the combined purse was just over $75 million, with Mayweather receiving approximately 1/3rd of the total amount.
De La Hoya’s draw is in my opinion, finally beginning to wain, but this will likely be his final bout. And although Pacquiao’s popularity is apparent in the western and southwestern areas of the United States, the pay-per-view amount would likely not reach the 2.4 million buys that De La Hoya and Mayweather did. Still, it was probably a safe bet that it would challenge 1.5 million buys, which would still net Pacquiao well over $15 million at 30% of the share.
At that kind of money, what’s 10%? Realistically, Pacquiao could not earn anywhere close to that fighting someone else (excluding Hatton in England). My bet, is that Pacquiao and his team were overly concerned with the height and reach advantages held by De La Hoya.