Notable Info
- Rankings updated with effects from recent shows, most notably, UFC 87.
UFC 87 Review
UFC 87 ‘Seek and Destroy’ was the organization’s debut event in Minneapolis, Minn. and featured the showdown for the welterweight title between champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger Jon Fitch. The undercard was highlighted by Brock Lesnar making his second UFC appearance against the veteran Heath Herring, as well as a much anticipated lightweight matchup between Kenny Florian and Roger Huerta.
Jason MacDonald vs Demian Maia (185 lbs)
In the first round, MacDonald quickly gets a takedown then gets caught in Maia’s triangle. He escapes and gets Maia’s back, attempts a rear naked choke but Maia is able to escape as well. MacDonald works ground and pound from the top; towards the end of the round Maia gets MacDonald’s back and threatens an RNC of his own.
MacDonald does enough to win the first round, but the next two is all Maia as he gets takedown early in both rounds and works MacDonald on the ground, mounting him and constantly threatening submissions. MacDonald survives until the middle of the third round, when he finally gets caught in an RNC he can’t escape and is forced to tap.
The aftermath: MacDonald put up a good fight and will likely remain in the lower half of UFC’s middleweight division. Maia shows a great display of grappling against a very game opponent, and is only a fight or two away from a title shot should he keep winning.
Fight grade: 4/5
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 | |
| [#1 FW] |  Alexander Volkanovski | [#25 WW] | Neil Magny | |
| [NR] | Jon Jones | [#3 WW] | Carlos Prates |
UFC’s Middleweight Division
In 2002, the reigning UFC middleweight champion Murillo Bustamante left the organization in the midst of a contract dispute, throwing the 185-lbs weight class into disarray. UFC did not crown a new champion until 2005, when Evan Tanner defeated David Terrell at UFC 51 for the vacant belt. Tanner then lost the belt to Rich Franklin in his very first defense; Franklin held on to the title for over a year before succumbing to the current 185-lbs and P4P king, Anderson Silva.
The three-year long title hiatus really hurt the UFC’s middleweight division: in contrast to 170-lbs and 205-lbs where they are the home for the overwhelming majority of the top fighters, at 185 UFC only holds 3 of the Top 5, 4 of the Top 10, and and 10 of the Top 20 fighters in the world, according to the latest Fightmatrix.com ranking. Here is an in-depth look at the top middleweights in the UFC:
The Champion: [#1] Anderson Silva
MMA Record: 22-4 (7-0 UFC)
Last bout: Defeated James Irvin by KO at UFC ‘Silva vs. Irvin’ (205-lbs bout)
Next bout: A title defense against Patrick Cote at UFC 90
After a disappointing run in Pride FC, with submission losses to Ryo Chonan and Daiju Takase, Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva went on to win the Cage Rage middleweight title, then arrived in UFC, making his debut against Chris Leben in the main event of an Ultimate Fight Night. Silva made short work of Leben, and received and immediate title shot, knocking out the champion Rich Franklin in under three minutes. He has since reigned over the middleweight division with an iron fist, winning five more bouts – and stopping every opponent within two rounds. After a brief foray into the lightheavyweight division, Silva will return to defend his middleweight crown against Patrick Cote at UFC 90 – a matchup that Silva is heavily favored to win, just like he would be against any other middleweight in today’s fight scene.
UFC 87: How they stack up
UFC Welterweight Championship
[#1] Georges St. Pierre vs. [#3] Jon Fitch
Lightweight
[#7] Kenny Florian vs. [#10] Roger Huerta
Heavyweight
[#10] Heath Herring vs. [#160] Brock Lesnar
Lightweight
[#72] Rob Emerson vs. [#121] Manny Gamburyan
Middleweight
[#21] Damien Maia vs. [#22] Jason MacDonald
Heavyweight
[#11] Cheick Kongo vs. [#102] Dan Evensen
Welterweight
[#19] Chris Wilson vs. [NR] Steve Bruno
Welterweight
[#181] Ben Saunders vs. [#199] Ryan Thomas
Welterweight
[#77] Tamdan McCrory vs. [#95] Luke Cummo
Light Heavyweight
[#29] Andre Gusmao vs. [#175] Jon Jones
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.
De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao – Not as ridiculous as it seems.
De La Hoya plans to call it a career after a December bout, one where an opponent has not yet been finalized. However, as it stands now, all signs point to a Welterweight showdown with boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighter, Manny Pacquiao. At first glance, you’d think that the boxing world would take kindly to one of the generation’s best still near his prime facing the top fighter in the sport. After all, it did when De La Hoya fought Mayweather just over a year ago.
However, a tremendous amount of boxing fans are taking offense to this potential match-up, one that has an outside shot to break all boxing pay-per-view records.
Why? Most fans argue that Pacquiao is too small for the “Golden Boy”, but I beg to differ. Yes, De La Hoya will have a distinct size advantage, but its nothing that we haven’t seen before.
MMA Rankings Updated: 8/3/08
Notable Info
- Rankings updated with effects from recent shows from DEEP, IconSport, Shooto, WEC, Rage in the Cage.
- Played catch-up and added some minor shows from July including those from GCM, RealFC, Max Fights, Sparstar, Total Fight Alliance, M-1, ,Warriors Collide, VictoryFC, etc.
- Expanded Featherweight to Top 100.
WEC 35 Review
Back at the ‘The Joint’ in Vegas, WEC 35 brought us another championship triple-header: a rematch between Brian Stann and Steve Cantwell for the lightheavyweight title, a welterweight title bout between Carlos Condit and Hiromitsu Miura, and a lightweight championship match between Jamie Varner and Marcus Hicks. Here is how it went down:
Damacio Page vs. Brian Bowles (135 lbs bout)
The first televised bout of the night started out at a hectic pace, with Page slipping after throwing a high kick and ending up on his back with Bowles in his guard. Bowles attempts a guillotine; Page escapes and gains the top position. Page stands up and they go back to trading on the feet; Bowles attempts a takedown but Page sprawls. Page goes for a takedown of his own and is caught in a standing guillotine. He looks like he is trying to slam his way out of the hold, but his arms are trapped and Page is forced to tap out as Bowles pulls him down to the canvas.
Bowles improves his career record to 6-0 and positions himself as one of the top contenders for the 135 lbs title (currently held by Miguel Torres.)
Fight grade: 4/5
MMA Rankings Updated: 7/27/08
Notable Info
- Rankings updated with recent shows from EliteXC and MaximumFC.
Sherdog is still experiencing major issues with their database and with doing updates, so we are likely missing the results of some minor shows that occurred last week.
Elite XC ‘Unfinished Business’ Review (CBS)
After their cluster-bomb of a CBS debut, Elite XC returned to network television, loaded with two title matchups: a middleweight rematch between the reigning champion Robbie Lawler and challenger Scott Smith, and a welterweight bout between Jake Shields and Nick Thompson to crown the organization’s first 170 lbs title holder. The third title match – heavyweight showdown between Antonio Silva and Justin Eilers – was left off the CBS card and instead headlined the preliminary card broadcast on Showtime.
Shayna Bazsler vs. Christiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos (140 lbs women’s bout)
In the first round, Bazsler aggressively goes for takedowns and submissions, getting a near heel hook at one point, but Santos escapes and batters Shayna with punches and knees. In the second 3-minute round, Santos completely takes over the fight, landing strike after strike from clinch until Bazsler collapses. Santos jumps on the top of the cage to celebrate, even though referee Steve Mazagatti did not stop the fight! A few seconds of confusion ensue; Bazsler gets back to her feet and Mazagatti orders the fighters to continue. Santos finishes what she started, knocking out the wobbly Bazsler with only seconds left in the round.
Fight grade: 4/5
MMA Rankings Updated: 7/21/08
Notable Info
- The addition of recent shows: Shooto, Affliction, UFC, DREAM, PalaceFC.
The numerous fluctuations are due to the Sherdog problems mentioned within the 7/20 blog entry. Hopefully they will sort this out sooner rather than later.
Lucky Number Seven: Anderson Silva reaches milestone
With his 61-second knockout of James Irvin, Anderson Silva made a successful transition to 205 lbs, and also achieved something that very few fighters have done before him: seven consecutive victories in UFC bouts. Every single one of Silva’s seven UFC fights has been the main event, and every time he put his opponent away in under two rounds.
The record for most consecutive wins in the UFC is currently shared by Royce Gracie and Jon Fitch, at eight victories in a row each. Fitch’s streak is still active, however he will have to defeat the seemingly unstoppable Georges St. Pierre to pull ahead of Gracie. Should Fitch lose, Anderson Silva stands an excellent chance of achieving the record nine wins in his next two bouts.
The only other UFC fighter to hold seven consecutive Octagon wins is Chuck Liddell, who has accomplished it on two separate occasions. Former champions Randy Couture, Rich Franklin, and Pat Miletich have all won seven straight UFC bouts as well, but suffered losses in other organizations within the same time frame.
MMA Rankings to be updated on Monday 7/21
The MMA Rankings will be updated on Monday 7/21, due to the DREAM 5 card. This will be a huge update considering the cards that took place in the previous week.
However, there is also something else important to note. Sherdog, our main data provider, is doing some type of database-related maintenance. For the time being, they are experiencing glitches. One of which is causing some amateur and semi-pro bouts to be displayed on the event and fighter pages. This was a potential issue before w/ some bouts being incorrectly classified, but this latest glitch added thousands of amateur bouts.
Unknowingly, we synchronized our database with theirs, and unfortunately, they have no designator for us to properly classify the pro/amateur status of a bout. On a positive note, they should be rectifying this in the near future, but this rectification will also cause more fluctuations once we remove the amateur bouts. Either way, the effects on top ranked fighters are minimal, as they are far removed from their amateur days.
Tracking the progress of The Ultimate Fighter 2 contestants – Part II
Last week, we tracked the progress of the heavyweight class of The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 contestants. Now let’s take a look at the other half of the equation: Season 2 welterweights.
While none of the welterweights have reached the truly elite level yet, Season 2 featured a diverse cast of memorable and entertaining fighters – from the eventual winner Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson and the unlikely runner-up Luke Cummo, to the alternate Jason Von Flue who, despite a spotty record, will be remembered for popularizing the arm triangle variant now know as the ‘Von Flue’ choke, to Marcus Davis who made one of the most amazing career turnarounds ever seen in the sport.
Rankings Archive Updated
Fightmatrix.com historical ranking archive updated with the rankings as of July 6, 2008.
MMA Rankings Updated: 7/13/08
Notable Info
- Rankings updated with recent shows.
Stay tuned for a MASSIVE update in the upcoming weekend!