Rizin Fighting Federation has completed the field for their 100kg tournament. The tournament will start on the promotion’s first show on Dec. 29 and continue on the New Year’s Eve event. The field will feature representatives from Rizin’s partner promotions such as Bellator, BAMMA, Jungle Fight, Bushido Lithuania and KSW.

The history of MMA is full of impact tournaments such as the early UFC events and the Pride Grand Prix events. The sports seems to have grown out of tournaments for the most part, but they do still happen in the major leagues with limited regularity. At first glance, the Rizin tournament does not seem to stand up to some of the great heavyweight tournaments of the past. Does that hold up?

To compare the Rizin field to earlier tournaments, the contemporary ranking of each competitor in each heavyweight tournament under the Pride FC, Strikeforce and Bellator MMA since 2000 was reviewed. For the sake of this analysis, contemporary ranking means the Generated Historical Ranking from the quarter where the fight took place. For fighters that were not ranked at the time of the tournament, they are listed as 250th, which is the equivalent of last in the heavyweight division.

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They say all good things must come to an end.  And so as the UFC is wrapping up a what was a very successful year for the promotion with another stacked event on Fox/Fox Sports 1, I will be wrapping up 2015 with the last installment in the ‘Bang for Your Buck’ series.  It’s hard to believe that Zuffa is able to put on such a strong card just a week after a ridiculous weekend of three UFC events in three days.  Besides a lightweight title fight and a long awaited matchup between two hard hitting Top 10 heavyweights, the main card on Fox also features another solid lightweight bout, while an extended 3-hour block of prelims on FS1 has five fights that I am looking forward to.  There are also two women’s bouts on the card – one on Fox, one on the prelims – as well as three bouts on Fight Pass to start off the event, but none of those really pique my interest.

Main Card (Fox)

Main Event:  (C) [#1 LW] Rafael dos Anjos vs [#2 LW] Donald Cerrone for the UFC Lightweight Championship

Worth: $25

Why: This is an amazing matchup between two of the worlds most elite lightweights, both at the peak of their game.  After losing a decision to the Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2014, dos Anjos fought four times in the following year, and won all four: T/KO finishes of Ben Henderson and Jason High and thoroughly dominant decisions over Nate Diaz and then champion Antony Pettis.  Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in the meanwhile has won seven straight with four finishes in the course of two years.  Cerrone’s last loss came via a close decision to Dos Anjos, but with the way both fighters have performed since then, a rematch is definitely warranted.

Dos Anjos and Cowboy have had a lot of common opponents, which is understandable when both had 18 fights in the UFC.  What is more interesting that besides handing Cerrone his last loss, dos Anjos also beat the two men who defeated Cerrone prior: Nate Diaz and Anthony Pettis.  While Cerrone is not the same fighter he was in the Diaz fight – or even in the first dos Anjos fight – I still believe Rafael will take the rematch and successfully defend his title for the first time.  Another interesting factoid about this fight is that Cowboy is the only lineal champion who is not also the UFC champion, so this fight will unify the last disputed lineage in all of men’s divisions, merging all lineal championships with UFC belts (with the questionable exemption of Jon Jones).

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Nate Marquardt faces C.B. Dollaway this Saturday at UFC on FOX 17. The former number-one contender has fallen on hard times. He is currently 1-5 in his last six fights. Even more distressing is the fact that he is getting knocked out at mucher higher rate and absorbing more strikes than ever before in his career. Is this is a decline in physical ability or is Marquardt simply facing better opposition?

In his last seven fights, six out of his seven opponents have landed over two significant strikes per minute against him (per Fightmetric). Prior to his fight against Tyron Woodley in 2012, only two of Marquardt’s opponents in his Strikeforce/UFC career, had been that successful against him, Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.

Marquardt has been knocked out in three of his last five bouts. Before he faced Jake Ellenberger in 2013, he had only been knocked out on one occasion, his title fight against Silva. During the same stretch, he scored only one knockout, a come-from-behind win over Woodley. In his preceding seven fights, Marquardt scored knockouts in four of seven bouts. He was getting hit less, landing more knockouts and getting knocked out less. Plus, he was actually facing, on average, higher ranked opposition. The following chart shows the stark difference over the course of his last 14 bouts. Ranking here refers to the Fight Matrix Generated Historical Ranking from the quarter in which the bout took place.

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Lightweight Championship (155)
[#1/#7DD/#7P4P] Rafael dos Anjos (24-7-0, -215) vs. [#2/#10P4P] Donald Cerrone (28-6-0, +177)
Rafael dos Anjos is the All-Time #8 ranked Lightweight fighter.
Donald Cerrone is the All-Time #15 ranked Lightweight fighter.

Last 3 Fights: Rafael dos Anjos (3-0-0)
2015-03-14: W vs. [#3LW] Anthony Pettis (18-3-0) via UD (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
2014-12-13: W vs. [#21LW] Nate Diaz (17-10-0) via UD (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
2014-08-23: W vs. [#10WW] Ben Henderson (23-5-0) via KO (Punch) in 2:31 of round 1

Last 3 Fights: Donald Cerrone (3-0-0)
2015-05-23: W vs. [#72LW] John Makdessi (13-5-0) via TKO (Head Kick) in 4:44 of round 2
2015-01-18: W vs. [#10WW] Ben Henderson (23-5-0) via UD (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
2015-01-03: W vs. [#14LW] Myles Jury (15-1-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Days Since Last Pro Fight: Rafael dos Anjos 280, Donald Cerrone 210
Previous Match-up Record: Rafael dos Anjos leads 1-0-0
Wins Against Common Opposition: Rafael dos Anjos leads 5-4
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Heavyweight (265)
[#3] Junior dos Santos (17-3-0, -356) vs. [#9] Alistair Overeem (39-14-0, +279)
Junior dos Santos is the All-Time #5 ranked Heavyweight and #21 ranked Absolute fighter.
Alistair Overeem is the All-Time #18 ranked Heavyweight fighter.

Last 3 Fights: Junior dos Santos (2-1-0)
2014-12-13: W vs. [#5HW+] Stipe Miocic (13-2-0) via UD (48-47, 49-46, 49-46)
2013-10-19: L vs. [#2HW+] Cain Velasquez (13-2-0) via TKO (Slam and Punch) in 3:09 of round 5
2013-05-25: W vs. [#6HW+] Mark Hunt (11-10-1) via KO (Spinning Hook Kick) in 4:18 of round 3

Last 3 Fights: Alistair Overeem (2-1-0)
2015-03-14: W vs. [#23HW+] Roy Nelson (20-12-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
2014-12-13: W vs. [#32HW+] Stefan Struve (26-8-0) via KO (Punches) in 4:13 of round 1
2014-09-05: L vs. [#7HW+] Ben Rothwell (35-9-0) via TKO (Punches) in 2:19 of round 1

Days Since Last Pro Fight: Junior dos Santos 371, Alistair Overeem 280
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Even: Both have 5 win(s) against common opposition.
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Lightweight (155)
[#9] Michael Johnson (16-9-0, -459) vs. [#21] Nate Diaz (17-10-0, +356)

Last 3 Fights: Michael Johnson (2-1-0)
2015-08-08: L vs. [#8LW] Beneil Dariush (12-1-0) via SD (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
2015-02-22: W vs. [#17LW] Edson Barboza (16-4-0) via UD (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
2014-03-08: W vs. [#41LW] Melvin Guillard (32-15-2) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Last 3 Fights: Nate Diaz (1-2-0)
2014-12-13: L vs. [#1LW/#7DD/#7P4P] Rafael dos Anjos (24-7-0) via UD (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
2013-11-30: W vs. [#175LW] Gray Maynard (11-5-1) via TKO (Punches) in 2:38 of round 1
2013-04-20: L vs. [#16LW] Josh Thomson (22-8-0) via TKO (Head Kick and Punches) in 3:44 of round 2

Days Since Last Pro Fight: Michael Johnson 133, Nate Diaz 371
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Even: Both have 1 win(s) against common opposition.
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