We’ve added a new feature to our historical rankings archive. Each archive issue now includes a movement tracker, to indicate the progress fighters made since the last issue.
Rating Set #13 released.
Ratings as of March 9, 2008. Only minor changes have occurred since the last release.
- Recent shows added to database, such as Cage Rage (3/8), American Fight League (3/7), etc.
- Various division corrections.
- Some old bouts added to database.
Featured Upcoming Bouts (Outside of UFC)
| Thursday, December 31st 2026: Rizin FF Super Rizin 6: Shiwasu no Owarinagoya Gekokujo Matsuri | |||
 [#1 W105] Natalia Kuziutina |  [#4 W105] Saori Oshima | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 9/10/2026 [Rizin Fighting Federation] Last Opponent: [#17 W105] Rena Kubota Last 5: W W W W W | Last Fight Date: 7/18/2026 [Rizin Fighting Federation] Last Opponent: [#12 W105] Ye Ji Lee Last 5: L W L W W | ||
| Sunday, December 13th 2026: Deep - 135 Impact | |||
| [#3 SW] Sukai China | [#4 SW] Jo Arai | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 5/04/2026 [DEEP] Last Opponent: [#6 SW] Sora Sugiyama Last 5: W W W W W | Last Fight Date: 9/13/2026 [DEEP] Last Opponent: [#24 SW] Daichi Kitakata Last 5: L L W L W | ||
| Sunday, December 13th 2026: Deep Tokyo Impact 2026 6th Round | |||
| [#6 SW] Sora Sugiyama | [#10 SW] Goal Makino | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 9/20/2026 [DEEP] Last Opponent: [NR] Musashi Musashi Last 5: W W W L W | Last Fight Date: 9/06/2026 [DEEP] Last Opponent: [#43 SW] Toshiya Takashima Last 5: W W W W W | ||
Featured Fighters
| [#5 HW] |  Josh Hokit | [#1 HW] |  Ciryl Gane | |
| [#6 W135] |  Amanda Nunes | [#53 MW] |  Yousri Belgaroui | |
| [#14 WW] | Uros Medic | [#82 FLW] | Bilal Hasan | |
| [#32 LW] |  Chris Duncan | [#1 WW] | Islam Makhachev | |
| [#85 LW] | Jim Miller | [#6 LW] | Usman Nurmagomedov |
Archive Updated
The rank archive has been updated with the official rankings as of March 3, 2008. Remember, we will be archiving a snapshot of the current rankings on a monthly basis.
Rating Set #12 released w/ version 1.1 update
Ratings include 1.1 update which is detailed in the previous post, as well as results from the Sengoku card.
Notable Changes
- Josh Barnett re-enters the Heavyweight rankings at #6. However, he is in immediate danger of slipping to #7 as it has been quite sometime since he has performed well against a quality opponent, relative to his status.
- Takanori Gomi re-enters the Lightweight rankings at #1. He too, is in a quality performance decay, but has a fair lead over the #2 ranked Calvancanti. However, a dominant win over Aoki would likely propel Calvancanti over Gomi as #1 in the division.
Version 1.1 of ratings to debut on 3/5
After the Sengoku card, version 1.1 of the rating system will be live. This is a relatively major update and will affect parts of all divisions. However, the Top 15-20 fighters in divisions from Lightweight and up, are relatively untouched. Improvements will mainly be seen in the lower weight classes, as well as the Women rankings.
Notable Changes
- Fighters rated above the starter debut level can no longer accrue points by defeating fighters without a quality performance. A similar protocol was in place, but it was improved upon. This change will put more emphasis on beating experienced, proven opponents.
- A “sticky” zone has been placed from the starter debut level, to 2x this level. In other words, fighters who are within this zone, or fall through the zone, will experience a more gradual descent to ensure separation between experienced “journeymen” and fighters who are very early in their career. This results in better handling of mediocre veteran fighters and those in the lower weight divisions. The effects of the “sticky” zone will not be in place if a fighter loses to an opponent below the starter debut level.
- Inactive and quality performance penalties were softened for those falling within, or below the aforementioned “sticky” zone.
- Bug fix with regards to fighters being penalized when coming back from inactivity. Some fighters were over-penalized if they did not return with a quality performance.
UFC 82: Ranking Impact
Here is how UFC 82 affected the the Top-10 rankings across all divisions:
Heavyweight and above: Andrei Arlovski moves up to #5 with a TKO stoppage of Jake O’Brien. Heath Herring moves up to #8 for his first Top-10 appearance in quite some time, while Cheick Kongo drops to #10.
| Rank | ↑ ↓ | Fighter | Record | Points | |
| 1 |  Fedor EmelianenkoLast Fight: 12/31/2007 [Yarennoka] |
27-1-0 |
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| 2 |  Randy CoutureLast Fight: 8/25/2007 [UFC] |
16-8-0 |
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| 3 |  Antonio Rodrigo NogueiraLast Fight: 2/2/2008 [UFC] |
31-4-1 |
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| 4 | Fabricio Werdum Last Fight: 1/19/2008 [UFC] |
10-3-1 |
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| 5 | 3 |  Andrei ArlovskiLast Fight: 3/1/2008 [UFC] |
12-5-0 |
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| 6 | Gabriel Gonzaga Last Fight: 1/19/2008 [UFC] |
8-3-0 |
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| 7 |  Mirko FilipovicLast Fight: 9/8/2007 [UFC] |
22-6-2 |
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| 8 | 9 | Heath Herring Last Fight: 3/1/2008 [UFC] |
28-13-0 |
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| 9 | Tim Sylvia Last Fight: 2/2/2008 [UFC] |
25-4-0 |
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| 10 | 5 |  Cheick KongoLast Fight: 3/1/2008 [UFC] |
11-4-1 |
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UFC 82 Review
In a return to Columbus, Ohio, UFC 82 “Pride of a Champion” was headlined by a title unification bout between the defending UFC 185-lbs champion Anderson Silva and the last Pride FC 183-lbs champion, Dan Henderson.
John Fitch vs Chris Wilson
The televised broadcast started off with John Fitch (7-0 in his UFC career) taking on UFC newcomer Chris Wilson in a welterweight bout. Wilson started strong, surprising Fitch with crisp standup and excellent takedown defense. Fitch secured a takedown late in the first round but was not able to capitalize. Wilson appeared to have won Round 1.
In the following two rounds, Fitch was able to get the takedown earlier in the round and controlled Wilson on the ground, scoring points but not damaging his opponent. Wilson had some submission attempts and the final round ended with Fitch inside of Wilson’s triangle, but it was not enough. Fitch took the unanimous decision with the scores of 29-20, 30-27, 30-27 in what was a fairly boring fight. Keep Reading
Rating Set #11 released.
Rating Set #11 released on March 2, 2008.
Be sure to check out all of the divisions, as there are many changes across the board.
UFC 82: How they stack up
Unified Middleweight Championship
[#1] Anderson Silva vs. [#3] Dan Henderson (Projected MW Ranking)
Heavyweights
[#5] Cheick Kongo vs. [#17] Heath Herring
Middleweights
[#10] Yushin Okami vs. [NR] Evan Tanner
Middleweights
[#15] Chris Leben vs. [#51] Alessio Sakara (Projected MW Ranking)
Welterweights
[#5] Jon Fitch vs. [#17] Chris Wilson
Heavyweights
[#8] Andrei Arlovski vs. [NR] Jake O’Brien
Welterweights
[#68] Luke Cummo vs. [#49] Luigi Fioravanti
Welterweights
[#9] Diego Sanchez vs. [#240] David Bielkheden
Welterweights
[#8] Josh Koscheck vs. [#24] Dustin Hazelett
Lightweights
[#129] Jorge Gurgel vs. [#175] John Halverson
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.
A shout-out to our contributors!
We would like to thank our readers Rabbit, IcyB, and GaryMac for helping us out with the Unknown Division fighter list, as well as making other contributions to improve the accuracy of our rankings.
You too can be a FightMatrix.com contributor! Leave us a message in our forum if you would like to help us out!