Fight Matrix

WEC 38 Review

Posted on January 27, 2009 by Oleg

Only a day after the impressive Affliction ‘Day of Reckoning’ event, the fans were treated to another MMA show: WEC 38, broadcast live from San Diego, featured the WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner defending his title against Donald Cerrone in the main event. The other big matchup on the card was the rematch between the former featherweight champion Urijah Faber and the UFC veteran and former champion Jens Pulver.

Jose Aldo vs. Rolando Perez (145 lbs)

In the first televised bout, both featherweights came out swinging from the opening bell. Aldo quickly took control of the bout with crisp punches and body kicks. Perez fired back with combinations of his own but was outgunned by Aldo. As Perez stepped forward, Aldo fired a knee up the middle that knocked Perez on his back. Aldo jumped on top of Perez for a quick TKO finish.

Fight Grade: 4/5

Keep Reading

Affliction ‘Day of Reckoning’ Review

Posted on January 26, 2009 by Oleg

Affliction’s second MMA event revolved around the headlining bout: a return to action by the top-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, in a long awaited matchup with former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski. The main event was scheduled to be a five-round title bout, with Fedor’s dubious WAMMA title belt on the line. The remainder of the card was filled with names familiar to most long time MMA fans, including Josh Barnett taking on Gilbert Yvel in a matchup that was touted to produce the next challenger to the winner of the Emelianenko-Arlovski bout. Also of note was the presence of Tito Ortiz, in the role of a color commentator.

The broadcast began with a bout that had a last-minute substitution, as Bobby Green stepped in on a day’s notice to replace the injured Chris Horodecki:

Bobby Green vs. Dan Lauzon (155 lbs)

A little-known fighter, Bobby Green had a chance to make a big impression in this bout, but came out with mixed results. Green took the fight to the more experienced Lauzon, winning the striking exchanges and scrambling well on takedown attempts. However an errant kick to the groin caused a halt to the action. Lauzon took his time to recover – and the foul was repeated two more times in the round: first a knee then a glancing kick both landing to the groin area. Two points were deducted from Green by the ref Herb Dean after the third low blow, and the fans grew restless watching Lauzon massage his injured crotch for the third time. Green did not use any kicks or knees after the final restart to avoid a disqualification. After a scramble Lauzon was finally able to achieve a dominant position on the ground, and took Green’s back sinking in a rear naked choke. Green tapped out with only seconds left in the round.

Fight Grade: 5 3/5 2 point deduction for the low blows

Keep Reading

Featured Upcoming Bouts (Outside of UFC)

Friday, October 16th 2026: Professional Fighters League PFL Chicago 2: Carmouche vs. Bishop 2

[#6 W125] Liz Carmouche

[#14 W125] Jena Bishop

Last Fight Date: 6/27/2026 [PFL]
Last Opponent: [#15 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

[#16 FW] Kyoma Akimoto

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: [#25 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

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

Featured Fighters

[#5 FW]	Rajabali Shaidullaev	[#49 LW]	Mikuru Asakura
[#1 FW]	Alexander Volkanovski	[#29 FW]	Ren Hiramoto
[#1 WW]	Islam Makhachev	[#96 FW]	Tommy McMillen
[#7 FW]	A.J. McKee	[#4 FW]	Movsar Evloev
[#16 FW]	Kyoma Akimoto	[#2 LW]	Ilia Topuria

MMA Rankings Updated: 1/26/09

Posted on January 26, 2009 by Jason

Notable Info

Ratings updated with recent shows from Affliction, WEC, Extreme Challenge, Beast of the East, ZST, and others.

Affliction 2: How they stack up

Posted on January 21, 2009 by Jason

Heavyweight
[#1] Fedor Emelianenko vs. [#5] Andrei Arlovski

Heavyweight
[#6] Josh Barnett vs. [#30] Gilbert Yvel

Light Heavyweight
[#12] Sokoudjou vs. [#13] Renato Sobral

Middleweight
[#15] Vitor Belfort vs. [#20] Matt Lindland

Lightweight
[#40] Dan Lauzon vs. [#100] Bobby Green

Heavyweight
[#43] Paul Buentello vs. [#180] Kirill Sidelnikov

Light Heavyweight
[#16] Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. [#17] Vladimir Matyushenko

Welterweight
[#12] Jay Hieron vs. [#140] Jason High

Featherweight
[#8 BW] Bao Quach vs. [#29] LC Davis

Featherweight
[#32 BW] Antonio Duarte vs. [#52 BW] Albert Rios

Welterweight
[#33] Brett Cooper vs. [#206] Patrick Speight

Ranking Notes: 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.

UFC 93 Review

Posted on January 19, 2009 by Oleg

UFC 93 took place in Dublin, Ireland; and as it has been the case with many of the overseas UFC events, it did not feature a very strong card. In the main event, Rich Franklin took on Dan Henderson for a chance to coach the upcoming season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ opposite of Michael Bisping. Strangely enough, the Franklin-Henderson fight was at 205 lbs, despite the fact that the winner would face Bisping at 185.

The co-main event was a rematch between Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Mark Coleman – both men making a return to action after a long layoff. The only other notable bouts on the card were the UFC debut of Denis Kang (facing Alan Belcher) and a bout between two gatekeepers of the welterweight division – Marcus Davis and Chris Lytle. Let’s see how it all turned out:

Keep Reading

MMA Rankings Updated: 1/18/09

Posted on January 18, 2009 by Jason

Notable Info

Ratings updated with recent shows from UFC, Shooto, and others.

Other interesting notes…

Rich Franklin proves that he belongs near the top of the Light Heavyweight division, nearly taking a decision from Dan Henderson. Henderson re-enters Light Heavy at #5, while Franklin drops to #6.
In a disappointing performance against Coleman, Rua re-enters Light Heavy at #8. Coleman enters the list just outside of the Top 20.
Martin Kampmann makes a successful debut at Welterweight, entering at #23. Though, in the UFC, there’s a tough road to climb to the top of the Welterweight division.
Although he is the Shooto Flyweight champion, Shinichi Kojima nearly lost the top spot at Flyweight with a draw against (4-4-2) Jess Taitano. Taitano shoots back into the Top 10, where he was before we discovered and entered some unreported losses on his record.

UFC 93: How they stack up

Posted on January 15, 2009 by Jason

Light Heavyweight
[#3 MW] Dan Henderson vs. [#5] Rich Franklin

Light Heavyweight
[NR] Mauricio Rua vs. [NR] Mark Coleman

Middleweight
[#18] Denis Kang vs. [#43] Alan Belcher

Welterweight
[#22] Marcus Davis vs. [#26] Chris Lytle

Middleweight
[#37] Rousimar Palhares vs. [#59] Jeremy Horn

Welterweight
[#34 MW] Martin Kampmann vs. [#123] Alexandre Barros

Light Heavyweight
[#34] Eric Schafer vs. [#60] Antonio Mendes

Light Heavyweight
[NR] Tomasz Drwal vs. [#134] Ivan Serati

Welterweight
[#162 MW] John Hathaway vs. [#300] Thomas Egan

Lightweight
[#210] Dennis Siver vs. [*] Nate Mohr

Ranking Notes: Rankings are projected when a fighter is fighting in a new weight class. 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.

MMA Rankings Updated: 1/11/09

Posted on January 11, 2009 by Jason

Notable Info

Ratings updated with recent shows from M-1, Ring of Fire, and others.
Inserted some previously missing older shows.

UFC 93 & 94: Three A vs C matches

Posted on January 11, 2009 by Jason

Looking ahead to next weekend’s UFC 93 card, I discovered two instances of “A vs C” matches that fit the same guidelines as those I analyzed in last week’s study.

Denis Kang (A) beat Marvin Eastman (B) on 10/25/2008
Marvin Eastman (B) beat Alan Belcher (C) on 9/24/2005
Denis Kang (A) ??? Alan Belcher (C) on 1/17/2009

Marcus Davis (A) beat Shonie Carter (B) on 12/13/2006
Shonie Carter (B) beat Chris Lytle (C) on 9/24/2000
Marcus Davis (A) ??? Chris Lytle (C) on 1/17/2009

Although there was a large timegap between A/B and B/C (especially in the Davis/Lytle group), A has a higher rating in each of the UFC 93 matches. You have to feel good about Kang and Davis winning their respective matches.

UFC 94 has one of these matches, and it is the main event.

Georges St. Pierre (A) beat Matt Hughes (B) on 12/29/2007
Matt Hughes (B) beat BJ Penn (C) on 9/23/2006
Georges St. Pierre (A) ??? BJ Penn (C) on 1/31/2009

As is the case with the previously mentioned matches, St. Pierre carries a higher rating than Penn. Even though Hughes beat GSP, and Penn beat Hughes, their most recent rematches are what matter the most.

MMA Rankings Updated: 1/4/09

Posted on January 4, 2009 by Jason

Notable Info

Ratings updated with recent shows from Sengoku and others.

Other interesting notes…

Higher ranked fighters Satoru Kitaoka, and Jorge Santiago strengthen their positions with big wins over Takanori Gomi, and Kazuo Misaki respectively.
Alexis Vila, former Cuban wrestling champion, is now properly placed in the Flyweight division. His point total allows him to debut at #11 in the rankings.