The past week more than made up for the lull in MMA action over the holidays, as three major events went down in the books. In Japan, Sengoku closed the year out with the ‘Soul of Fight’ on December 30th, and K-1 rang in the new year with the annual ‘Dynamite!!’ event on the 31st. State-side, the UFC made 2011 official with ‘UFC 125: Resolution’. As a result, a few of our divisional rankings in the current update look like someone took an eggbeater to them (thank our reader Chromium for the apt analogy).
Here is how some of this weekend’s events affected the FightMatrix rankings:
UFC 125: Resolution (or lack thereof?)
As the UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar took on Gray Maynard – the man responsible for the sole loss on Edgar’s record – the final WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis watched patiently. Pettis was tentatively slated to face the winner of Saturday’s bout in a title unification match some time in 2011. It looks like he may be waiting a while longer: Maynard brutally battered Edgar in the first round but was not able to put him away, and Edgar rallied for the remainder of the fight, resulting in an unlikely split draw on the scorecards. Edgar retains his title and his #1 ranking, though he slips a spot to #5 on the Division Dominance list, while Maynard rises 2 spots to #2 LW. Meanwhile the back-log of contenders grows deeper as Clay Guida makes his way into the Top 10 with a second round submission victory over former Pride FC champion Takanori Gomi. Gomi falls to #13 LW.
Notable
This is the second time a UFC title bout is judged a draw – and the first one was also in the lightweight division, when BJ Penn fought Caol Uno to a draw for then vacant title at UFC 41 in 2003. Back then, the UFC’s entire lightweight division was dismantled as a result of the draw, relegating 155 lbs and under MMA to Japan for many years. Things could not be more different today, with over sixty active lightweights on the UFC roster, and several legit contenders for the title.
ION prelims
Spike TV, the usual home for the UFC preliminary bouts, could not fit UFC 125 prelims into it’s schedule. Luckily Zuffa found another place for the broadcast: a little-known network called ‘ION Television’. Three fights were shown on ION in the hour leading up to the pay-per-view; all three featured a fighter switching weight classes, and two of the fighters may have fought their last bout in the Octagon.
In the opening bout, #244 WW Phil Baroni made his return to the middleweight division, taking on the undefeated but unranked Brad Tavares. The heavy-handed Baroni rocked Tavares early, but got caught and finished by a barrage of strikes later in the round – a familiar outcome for many of Phil’s fights. Baroni drops out of the rankings, and is released from the UFC after going 0-2 in his latest run in the organization. Tavares improves to 7-0, and enters the middleweight Top 250 at #175.
Marcus Davis, previously ranked at #64 WW, was looking good in his lighweight debut against Jeremy Stephens – until a right hand from Stephens put him to sleep in the third round. Davis debuts in the lightweight rankings at #57, but after going 1-4 in his last 5 bouts, he is also likely to be cut from the UFC. Stephens moves up 26 spots to #20 LW.
Dustin Poirier fared the best of the fighters switching weight classes: the former #185 lightweight made his featherweight debut at #20 after routing Josh Grispi in a one-sided decision. Grispi fell 12 spots to #25 FW.
The Truth hurts
Brandon ‘The Truth’ Vera once had lofty aspirations of becoming the first fighter to simultaneously hold the UFC heavyweight and light-heavyweight titles. Unfortunately things don’t always work out as planned, and Vera now finds himself on a skid, losing his last three bouts and requiring major reconstructive facial surgery for the second time in as many fights. Making his return to the Octagon after a loss to Jon Jones, who shattered Vera’s eye socket with an elbow, Vera took on Thiago Silva. Fresh off back surgery and a long medical layoff of his own, Thiago dominated and humilated Vera for three rounds, winning a unanimous decision and turning Brandon’s nose into a grotesque caricature. It will be a shocker if Vera’s release from UFC is not announced in the coming days.
Some of our readers may be surprised to see that neither the #12 Silva nor the #24 Vera moved up or down in rankings following this bout. This is because the fight had an expected outcome: the #12 fighter defeating the #24 via a unanimous decision is ‘expected’ by the ranking software, and so no adjustment is made to the fighters’ rankings.
More action in the lightweight division
Antonio McKee’s long awaited UFC debut was spoiled when he was outwrestled to a split decision by Jacob Volkmann. McKee drops 9 spots to #29 LW, while Volkmann moves up 22 to #27. A 40-year old wrestler with a penchant for trash talk and a reputation for being one of the most boring fighters in the sport today makes for an unlikely UFC rookie, and after losing to a mid-level fighter in what was by all accounts a boring fight, McKee makes a good candidate for being one-and-done in the promotion.
Tatsuya ‘Crusher’ Kawajiri returns to the lightweight Top 10 at #10 with a unanimous decision victory over Josh Thompson in K-1 Dynamite!!. Thompson falls to #22.
In Sengoku, Jadamba Narantungalag continues his ascent in rankings, moving up two spots to #11 with a first-round knockout of Kazunori Yokota. Yokota falls 12 spots to #36.
As the featherweight rankings churn, Jose Aldo looks on.
WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo was scheduled to make his Octagon debut and earn his first UFC title against Josh Grispi. Aldo ended up pulling out of the fight with a compacted vertebrae in his neck, and it turned out to be a wise move – the past weekend was a very good time to be an underdog in the featherweight division.
The second and third ranked featherweights, Bibiano Fernandes and Aldo’s teammate Marlon Sandro were both dethroned in Japan, Fernandes losing a decision to Hiroyuki Takaya in K-1 and Sandro suffering a similar fate courtesy of Hatsu Hioki in Sengoku. Takaya and Hioki take over the #2 and #3 spots respectively, while Fernandes drops to #10 and Sandro to #12. Also in K-1, Kazuyuki Miyata defeated former UFC lightweight Caol Uno in Uno’s divisional debut, and moved into the featherweight Top 10 at #7.
Back in Las Vegas, former WEC champion Mike Brown drops a split decision to Diego Nunes in both fighters’ UFC debut. Brown falls 3 spots to #14 and Nunes moves up 20 to #13.
All this movement, combined with the Edgar/Maynard draw, caused Aldo to rise above Edgar to #4 in the Division Dominance list. A good deal for the champ, who was already crowned with a newly minted UFC featherweight title without having to fight for it.
Heavyweights get it on in Japan
Strikeforce title holder and K-1 2010 HW Grand Prix champion Allistair Overeem (#8 HW) added a brand new DREAM heavyweight title to his collection when he ran through UFC veteran Todd Duffee on New Year’s Eve. Overeem’s ranking remains unchanged, while Duffee falls 5 spots to #65.
Unranked for inactivity, Sergei Kharitonov returns to the heavyweight rankings at #24 with a first-round KO of Tatsuya Mizuno (#26 LHW). Mizuno is now ranked at #33 HW.
One of the top unsigned heavyweight prospects Dave ‘Pee-Wee’ Herman rises 6 spots to #25 HW after scoring a unanimous decision over Yoshihiro Nakao. Nakao falls 8 spots to #50.
Miscellaneous
In the welterweight division, Dong Hyun Kim was able to control Nate Diaz for the first two rounds, then gassed badly in the third but survived to win a unanimous decision. The undefeated ‘Stun Gun’ rose to #16, and called out Georges St. Pierre in the post fight interview – a matchup he is nowhere near ready for. Diaz falls 4 spots to #29; the loss is his first at welterweight and may be an impetus to drop back down to 155 lbs.
Kazushi Sakuraba (formerly #112 MW), legendary for fighting much bigger men for most of his career, made his move to the welterweight division. Sadly at this point in his career Sakuraba has become a journeyman no matter what the weight class, and it took just over two mintues for Marius Zaromskis to TKO Sakuraba via a doctor stoppage, when Kazushi’s ear nearly detached from his head. Sakuraba makes his welterweight debut at #104, while Zaromskis moves up 6 spots to #27.
Brian Stann surges into the middleweight Top 20 with a first round knockout of the notoriously tough Chris Leben. Leben, who was reportedly sick the night of the fight, falls 11 spots to #23.
The inactivity decay continues to eat away at the fomer UFC champion Forrest Griffin’s ranking. He drops down another 2 spots to #9.