In our next release, we will be expanding the Welterweight and Lightweight divisions to the Top 400.  After this expansion, we will re-evaluate the current limits of all divisions and possibly expand another time or two.  However, this upcoming expansion may be the final one for the foreseeable future.  We apologize for non-uniform expansions, but we are attempting to expand based on divisional strength alone, within the confines of the rating system’s optimal performance zone.

It’s been a mostly uneventful week, with only one significant occurence in the rankings: former #1 ranked flyweight Jussier da Silva suffered the first defeat of his career when he lost a unanimous decision to the WEC veteran Ian McCall.   McCall was formerly ranked at #95 bantamweight, and landed at #4 in the flyweight division, with Jussier falling to #6 and Yasuhiro Urushitani and Mamoru Yamaguchi in a virtual tie for the newly vacated #1.

Here’s what the flyweight Top 50 looks like after this weekend: Flyweight (Under 131 lbs) fighter ranks.

Ranking Expansion

Once again, we expanded our lightweight, welterweight, and middleweight rankings by 50.  See who is in the Top 350’s:

Middleweight 301-350

Welterweight 301-350

Lightweight 301-350

Notable Info

• Middleweight, Welterweight, and Lightweight expanded to Top 350.
• Slight modification to blocking routine which forgives those who lose to aggressively placed early career fighters.

He is now only one spot away from taking the Absolute crown away from Fedor.  With Fedor’s sudden sharp decline, this changing of the guard appears to be inevitable.

This week, the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament kicked off in New Jersey, causing fluctuations in the heavyweight rankings.

In the main event, one of the sport’s great careers may have come to an end.  After a very close first round, which took place mainly on the feet, Antonio ‘Big Foot’ Silva took down Fedor Emelianenko early in the second, and proceeded to lay a brutal beating on the former Pride FC champion.  Though Fedor survived the round, Silva’s ground-and-pound left Fedor’s face bloody and his right eye swollen completely shut, which caused the officials to stop the fight between the rounds.

Silva moves up 6 spots to #5 HW, and will face the winner of the upcoming bout between Fabricio Werdum and Alistair Overeem in the Grand Prix semi-finals.  Fedor falls 4 spots to #8.  He has been stopped in back-to-back bouts for the first time in his career, and admitted that it may be high time to retire in the post-fight interview.  However, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker mentioned that Fedor’s decision is not final and he may still take place in an alternate bout if he chooses to continue fighting.

In the other tournament bout, Sergei Kharitonov made a strong bid to revive his floundering career, with a first round knockout of former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski.  While Arlovski seemed to be the quicker of the two fighters, Sergei managed to back him into a corner and unload, at which point Andrei’s chin let him down once again.  This is the fourth consecutive loss for Alrovski, three of which left him unconscious.  He falls to #23 in the rankings; and it’s time to call it a career.  Kharitonov rises to #14 and will face Josh Barnett or Brett Rogers in the semi-finals.

In the reserve bouts, Shane Del Rosario and Chad Griggs both entered the heavyweight Top 50 with first-round stoppages of their respective opponents Lavar Johnson and Gian Villante.   They should face off in the next round of the tourney.  Lavar Johnson falls to #101 with the loss and Villante, previously ranked at #140 LHW, re-enters the heavyweight division at #166.

Finally, Valentijn Overeem – the journeyman older brother of Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair – rose to #95 with a neck crank sumbission of kickboxer Ray Sefo in a meaningless fight that was also billed as a tournament reserve.  If Fedor Emelianenko does decide to re-enter the tourney as an alternate, Valentijn would make for acceptable Fedor fodder.

Ranking Expansion

In this week’s update, we expanded our lightweight, welterweight, and middleweight rankings from 250 to 300 fighters.  Check out who made the cut into the Top 300’s:

Middleweight 250-300

Welterweight 250-300

Lightweight 250-300