Most Noteworthy Match of the Year: Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida
Weidman is on the winning side of the equation for two years straight. There’s not much to say here. This award is about combined relevance and this was a UFC Title Match featuring the undefeated champion and one of the best fighters in history.
Honorable Mentions: Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo vs. Ricardo Lamas
As a refresher, our “Comeback” award is about coming back from inactivity or major injury (that we know about) and in doing so, really impressing. You can see more details at the bottom of the post about specific qualifiers.
Comeback Fighter of the Year: Tito Ortiz
The award was wrapped and already assigned to Dominick Cruz, but it just doesn’t feel right giving him the award, as he once again tore his ACL. This is something of a disqualification as he is on the shelf again.
So, with a dominant win over the undersized, though huge favorite Alexander Shlemenko and a decision win over Stephan Bonnar, Tito Ortiz wins the award on a technicality.
Honorable Mention: Thiago Alves
| Friday, October 16th 2026: Professional Fighters League PFL Chicago 2: Carmouche vs. Bishop 2 | |||
 [#6 W125] Liz Carmouche | [#14 W125] Jena Bishop | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 6/27/2026 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#16 W125] Viviane Araujo Last 5: L W W W W | Last Fight Date: 6/27/2026 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#37 W125] Ariane Lipski da Silva Last 5: W W L W W | ||
| Thursday, December 31st 2026: Rizin FF New Years Eve Event | |||
 [#5 FW] Rajabali Shaidullaev |  [#17 FW] Kyoma Akimoto | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 9/10/2026 [Rizin Fighting Federation] Last Opponent: [#7 FW] A.J. McKee Last 5: W W W W W | Last Fight Date: 8/11/2026 [Rizin Fighting Federation] Last Opponent: [#26 FW] Kleber Koike Erbst Last 5: W W W W W | ||
| Saturday, November 14th 2026: Professional Fighters League PFL Returns to Dubai: Nemkov vs. Bilostenniy | |||
 [#6 HW] Vadim Nemkov | [#16 HW] Sergey Bilostenniy | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 12/13/2025 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#20 HW] Renan Ferreira Last 5: W W W W W | Last Fight Date: 5/02/2026 [PFL] Last Opponent: [#20 HW] Renan Ferreira Last 5: W W L W W | ||
| [#1 FLW] |  Joshua Van | [#5 FW] | Rajabali Shaidullaev | |
| [#1 WW] | Islam Makhachev | [#49 LW] | Mikuru Asakura | |
| [#4 LW] |  Arman Tsarukyan | [#33 LW] | Akbar Abdullaev | |
| [#9 LW] |  Mauricio Ruffy | [#172 HW] | Sean Sharaf | |
| [#3 FLW] | Alexandre Pantoja | [#13 FW] | Patricio Freire |
Lightweight (155)
[#82] Satoru Kitaoka (34-13-9) vs. [#89] Yoshiyuki Yoshida (17-6-0)
Last 3 Fights: Satoru Kitaoka (2-1-0)
2014-10-05: W vs. [#381LW] Richie Whitson (12-6-0) via UD ()
2014-04-29: W vs. [#228LW] Naoto Miyazaki (11-3-3) via UD ()
2013-12-31: L vs. [#74LW] Ramazan Esenbaev (7-1-1) via KO (Punches) in 0:19 of round 2
Last 3 Fights: Yoshiyuki Yoshida (3-0-0)
2014-03-22: W vs. [#173LW] Shigetoshi Iwase (14-16-4) via UD ()
2013-11-24: W vs. [#810LW] Won Sik Park (10-5-1) via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 4:46 of round 2
2012-10-13: W vs. [#305LW] Niko Puhakka (28-17-0) via Submission (Guillotine Choke) in 0:00 of round 3
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Satoru Kitaoka 87, Yoshiyuki Yoshida 284
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Yoshiyuki Yoshida leads 1-0
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Bantamweight (135)
[#67] Takafumi Otsuka (18-12-1) vs. [#105] Shintaro Ishiwatari (18-6-4)
Last 3 Fights: Takafumi Otsuka (3-0-0)
2014-10-26: W vs. [#310BW] Toshinori Tsunemura (7-4-4) via Submission (Guillotine Choke) in 4:46 of round 3
2014-04-29: W vs. [#95BW] Kenji Osawa (20-11-2) via UD ()
2013-11-24: W vs. [#112BW] Toshiaki Kitada (17-7-4) via UD ()
Last 3 Fights: Shintaro Ishiwatari (2-1-0)
2014-11-02: L vs. [#56BW] Jonathan Brookins (15-7-0) via UD ()
2014-05-11: W vs. [#472BW] Trevor Ward (4-1-0) via TKO (Corner Stoppage) in 5:00 of round 1
2014-02-02: W vs. [#136BW] Yo Saito (15-10-3) via UD ()
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Takafumi Otsuka 66, Shintaro Ishiwatari 59
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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Featherweight (145)
[#38] Isao Kobayashi (16-1-4) vs. [#85] Kazunori Yokota (21-5-3)
Last 3 Fights: Isao Kobayashi (3-0-0)
2014-10-04: W vs. [#351FW] Takeshi Inoue (21-10-0) via UD ()
2014-03-30: W vs. [#133LW] Kuniyoshi Hironaka (23-9-0) via TKO (Punch and Soccer Kick) in 3:58 of round 3
2013-09-29: W vs. [#498LW] Yoshiaki Takahashi (10-5-2) via MD (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)
Last 3 Fights: Kazunori Yokota (3-0-0)
2014-08-23: W vs. [#413FW] Yusuke Kagiyama (16-10-2) via Submission (Kimura) in 2:38 of round 1
2014-04-29: W vs. [#345FW] Katsunori Tsuda (8-3-1) via UD ()
2013-11-24: W vs. [#1602FW] Doo Ri Song (1-2-0) via TKO (Punches) in 4:00 of round 2
Days Since Last Pro Fight: Isao Kobayashi 88, Kazunori Yokota 130
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: No common opposition or both are winless against common opposition.
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Keep Reading
The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 1 | #25 – #15
The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 2 | #14 – #10
The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 3 | #9 – #5
The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 4 | #4 – #3
The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 5 | #2
If you missed the first parts, you can visit w/ the links above.
#1…
#25 – #15: The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 1
#14 – #10: The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 2
#9 – #5: The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 3
#4 – #3: The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 4
If you missed the first parts, you can visit w/ the links above.
#2…
#25 – #15: The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 1
#14 – #10: The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 2
#9 – #5: The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 3
If you missed the first parts, you can visit w/ the links above.
#4 – Chad Mendes (Rep Avg: #121.3 | Fight Matrix: #48)
Mendes is taking the Jon Fitch road, but at 145. Practically glued to the Top 5, tons of top-quality fights and wins while fighting for the UFC, but just can’t get over the hump to win the gold. Having him outside of the Top 100 is absolutely ridiculous.
#25 – #15: The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 1
#14 – #10: The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 2
If you missed the first parts, you can visit w/ the links above.
#9 – #5
#9 – Mamoru Yamaguchi (Rep Avg: #120 | Fight Matrix: #70)
Small man bias in full effect here — Yamaguchi is a part of the three-headed Japanese dragon that has ruled the All-Time MMA Rankings at Flyweight, here on Fight Matrix. For us, DJ is set to high jump over this tandem in the near future, but he apparently already had sometime ago for mostly everyone else. The “pick and choose” process is very strange when it comes to acknowledging MMA success in the early years.
#25 – #15: The Most Underrated MMA Fighters of All-Time: Part 1
If you missed the first part, you can visit it w/ the link above. It has all of the details about how this list came to be.
As I complete the list, I can’t help but think of how great this series could have been and how sad it is that reasonable lists like this are practically non-existent. If you come across any, please let me know.
#14 – #10
#14 – Miguel Torres (Rep Avg: #65 | Fight Matrix: #39)
Torres is still our Top Bantamweight of All-Time. With Barao recently losing and Cruz taking all the time off, Torres should hold this position for a little longer.
