Light Heavyweight
[#4] Chuck Liddell vs. [#9] Rashad Evans

Light Heavyweight
[#7] Rich Franklin vs. [#27] Matt Hamill

Welterweight
[#11] Karo Parisyan vs. [#15] Yoshiyuki Yoshida CANCELLED

Middleweight
[#4] Dan Henderson vs. [#33] Rousimar Palhares

Middleweight
[#14] Nate Marquardt vs. [#20] Martin Kampmann

Lightweight
[#72] Thiago Tavares vs. [#86] Kurt Pellegrino

Welterweight
[#40] Dong Hyun Kim vs. [#210] Matt Brown

Middleweight
[#28] Jason MacDonald vs. [#60] Jason Lambert

Welterweight
[#28] Ryo Chonan vs. [#63] Roan Carneiro

Light Heavyweight
[#48] Tim Boetsch vs. [#76] Michael Patt

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.

Last week, we looked back at the Season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter series, and reviewed the progress of the lightheavyweight contenders.  Now, lets take a look at the middleweight participants of ‘TUF’ Season 3.

The middleweights as a group have not enjoyed much success since the show: Only three of the eight contestants are ranked in the Top 100 of their current weight class, and only the finalists Kendall Grove and Ed Herman are still employed by the UFC.

Fighters are listed in order of their current Fightmatrix.com ranking, regardless of the weight class. Fights that took place in the live finale are counted in the ‘After’ column.

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Notable Info

•  Rankings updated with effects from recent shows and some previously missing older shows.

After a very busy summer for MMA fans, there has been a temporary lull in major events.  As the UFC and Spike TV are getting ready to launch the eighth season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality series (premiering on September 17th), it is a good time to take a look back at the contestants of Season 3 and see how their fighting careers have progressed after the show.

The third season of ‘TUF’ featured lightheavyweight & middleweight contestants, and was coached by Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock.  The show focused heavily on the ongoing feud between coaches, sometimes at the expense of screen time for fighters.    The talent level on this season was rather weak compared to seasons 1 and 2:  not a single fighter from season 3 is currently ranked in the Top 10 in any weight class.  I will examine the lightheavyweight class first, and look at the middleweights next week.

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Notable Info

• Added recent shows from ZST, WVR, and minor organizations.
• Added older shows which were missing (yet again).

Notable Info

• Recent shows added, including DEEP: Gladiator, ShoXC, Pure Combat, etc.
• Older shows added to database.
• Bug fix regarding the placement of streaking early career fighters.

Early update this week as I’m leaving town, but its a somewhat dead weekend.

Recently I took a look at the top fighters in the UFC’s middleweight division.  Let’s now examine the top middleweights competing in other MMA promotions throughout the world. This is one of the most scattered weight classes in MMA, even though the UFC maintains a lead with the most top fighters at 185 lbs, which will only strengthen if Zuffa merges the WEC & UFC middleweight divisions as has been rumored.  Nevertheless, there are plenty of top-level fighters competing in various organizations, with Japan’s Dream coming the closes to giving UFC a run for its money.  Here are the top 15 middleweights outside of the UFC, according to the latest Fightmatrix.com ranking:

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Notable Info

• Rankings updated with effects from recent shows, most notably, UFC 87.