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!
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 | [#7 FW] | A.J. McKee | |
| [#96 FW] | Tommy McMillen | [#4 FW] | Movsar Evloev | |
| [#16 FW] | Kyoma Akimoto | [#2 LW] |  Ilia Topuria |
Opponent Strength – Who’s got the best?
Obviously, opposition strength is an extremely important characteristic in determining who becomes a top-ranked fighter and who holds onto their high ranking in times of bad performances.
Here is the Top 10 list for fighters with the best opposition strength since 1/1/2007. The ratings were normalized by division and a minimum of 3 fights is required for listing.
1> Dan Henderson (161.8)
2> Forrest Griffin (126.6)
3> Yasuhiro Urushitani (122.7)
4> Jens Pulver (120.8)
5> Quinton Jackson (120.7)
6> Mamoru Yamaguchi (112.1)
7> Wanderlei Silva (108.9)
8> Matt Hughes (105.9)
9> Georges St. Pierre (104.1)
10> Gabriel Gonzaga (102.8)
Tracking the progress of The Ultimate Fighter 2 contestants – Part I
After the inaugural season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality series became an instant television hit, Spike TV and the Ultimate Fighting Championship quickly rounded up another load of up-and-coming MMA fighters and filmed another season. The second season of ‘TUF’ featured heavyweights and welterweights, and notably did not feature the usual feud between coaches. Instead, the coaches were friends, one-time training partners, and both UFC title holders at the time: Rich Franklin and Matt Hughes. Let’s look at how the careers of the participants turned out since then. I will examine the heavyweight class first, and the welterweights next week.
All in all, the heavyweight edition of TUF has been a failed experiment. Of the ten fighters who participated, only two are still fighting in the UFC and both dropped down to 205 lbs, as did Mike Whitehead who has had an impressive win streak outside of the Octagon. None of the true heavyweights of the group enjoyed great success in MMA since the Season 2 finale.
UFC 86 Review
After the UFC lightweight title was on hold for most of the year due to the champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and the top contender Forrest Griffin coaching opposite each other on the seventh season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, the two finally met in the Octagon at UFC 86. With all the hype on the main event, the rest of the card looked somewhat lackluster in comparison, with Cote-Almeida being the only undercard bout with immediate title implications.
Tyson Griffin vs Marcus Aurelio (155 lbs)
Griffin dominated Aurelio in standup, and avoided danger on the ground, through the entire fight. Aurelio was not able to find an answer for Griffin’s striking, never achieved dominant position, and while he threatened numerous submissions from his always-dangerous guard, none of them came close. Griffin won every round on every judge’s scorecard for a 30-27 unanimous decision.
MMA Rankings Updated: 7/6/08
Notable Info
- Ratings updated with effects from recent shows. The most notable one being UFC 86.
We have a new king at Light Heavyweight and a new Top 10 entrant at Lightweight!
UFC 86: How they stack up
This is how UFC 86 stacks up. I will extend a word of caution for anyone looking to wager on Cote, as Almeida’s ranking is still volatile due to the fact he is only one fight off of a long bout of inactivity. He still needs to once again prove himself against a good opponent and has his chance to do so here.
UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
[#1] Quinton Jackson vs. [#4] Forrest Griffin
Middleweight
[#18] Patrick Cote vs. [#91] Ricardo Almeida
Lightweight
[#21] Joe Stevenson vs. [#60] Gleison Tibau
Welterweight
[#5] Josh Koscheck vs. [#36] Chris Lytle
Lightweight
[#14] Marcus Aurelio vs. [#15] Tyson Griffin
Heavyweight
[#7] Gabriel Gonzaga vs. [NR] Justin McCully
Lightweight
[#108] Jorge Gurgel vs. [#122] Cole Miller
Lightweight
[#121] Melvin Guillard vs. [#159] Dennis Siver
Lightweight
[*] Justin Buchholz vs. [*] Corey Hill
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.
MMA Rankings Updated: 6/29/08
Notable Info
- Ranks show the effects from the addition of recent shows and some old ones.
Ten biggest point-based upsets in MMA history
We’ve compiled a list of the 10 biggest MMA upsets in recent history. The significance of upsets on this list is measured not by the betting odds, but by the difference in the Fightmatrix.com point standing between the two fighters, normalized for weight class differences.
- Gabriel Gonzaga W Mirko Filipovic (UFC 70, Apr 21 2007) @ -186.18
- Matt Serra W Georges St. Pierre (UFC 69, Apr 7 2007) @ -155.02
- Quinton Jackson W Chuck Liddell (UFC 71, May 26 2007) @ -142.45
- Mark Hunt W Wanderlei Silva (Pride Shockwave 2004, Dec 31 2004) @ -140.3
- Keith Jardine W Chuck Liddell (UFC 76, Sep 22 2007 ) @ -127.90
- Mark Coleman W Mauricio Rua (Pride 31, Feb 26 2006) @ -126.49
- Cheick Kongo W Mirko Filipovic (UFC 75, Sep 8 2007) @ -114.57
- Forrest Griffin W Mauricio Rua (UFC 76, Sep 22 2007) @ -108.48
- Eduardo Dantas W Shinichi Kojima (Shooto, Nov 8 2007) @ -103.79
- Sokoudjou W Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pride 33, Feb 24 2007) @ -98.48
Interesting to note that with exception of 2 fights, this list is all comprised of heavy and light-heavyweights. Also, Mirko Filipovic, Chuck Liddell, and Mauricio Rua were all victims of huge upsets on more than one occasion.
A good bet for our gamblers…
Here are the odds we dug up for the Griffin/Aurelio match-up:
Tyson Griffin -350 vs. Marcus Aurelio +250
Translated to an implied chance of winning, these odds suggest Griffin has a 78% chance of prevailing in the bout.
As for the FightMatrix points system, the difference between these two fighters is practically nothing.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Points | |
| 14 |  Marcus AurelioLast Fight: 4/2/2008 [UFC] |
16-5-0 |
|
|
| 15 |  Tyson GriffinLast Fight: 2/2/2008 [UFC] |
11-1-0 |
|
We’re not necessarily declaring Aurelio as the winner, but we know a good bet when we see one.