Our newest addition, Pound-for-Pound MMA rankings, is now available in the Generated Historical Rankings and Published Ranking Snapshots (starting with October 2013 issue).
If you’re historically inclined, you can now look up what the Pound-for-Pound Top 15 would have looked like in early 2005, or see what it actually looked like last month!
With the big Welterweight Championship fight approaching, I thought I would do a repeat of our Light Heavyweight analysis from yesterday, but for the Welterweight division.
The noise and fluctuations in this division are minimal in comparison. Furthermore, the gaps seen in this list between #2-#3, and #3-#4 are quite comical.
Notable Info
Dan Henderson has recently become the first fighter to reach the Top 50 in three divisions: Heavyweight (#46), Light Heavyweight (#8), and Middleweight (#4). There are 46 fighters (including Dan) who are on two divisional Top 50s.
Norifumi Yamamoto is his closest, active competitor as he is in three Top 55s. A good streak at Bantamweight would see him join Dan. However Yamamoto is not in any Top 25 (or 30). Evan Tanner also shares Yamamoto’s feat, but is in a Top 25 @ Middleweight (#20).
When expanding to Top 60 as the qualifier, Jeremy Horn and Akihiro Gono make the cut. Expanding to Top 75 adds four more fighters (Vitor Belfort, Jeff Curran, BJ Penn, Anderson Silva).
In case you are unfamiliar with our All-Time Rankings, check them out here.
Bantamweight (135)
[#22] Eduardo Dantas (11-2-0) vs. [#39] Ed West (17-5-0)
Eduardo Dantas is the All-Time #22 ranked Bantamweight fighter.
Last 3 Fights: Eduardo Dantas (3-0-0)
2011-09-24: W vs. [#32BW] Wilson Reis (12-4-0) via KO (Flying Knee and Punches) in 1:02 of round 2
2010-12-11: W vs. [NA] Samuel de Souza (1-2-0) via Submission (Armbar) in 0:20 of round 1
2010-05-30: W vs. [#122BW] Hiromasa Ogikubo (8-2-2) via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 1:21 of round 3
Last 3 Fights: Ed West (2-1-0)
2011-09-24: W vs. [#80BW] Luis Alberto Nogueira (12-2-0) via UD (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
2011-03-18: W vs. [NA] Sam Rodriguez (4-3-0) via Submission (Armbar) in 1:22 of round 1
2010-10-14: L vs. [#7BW] Zach Makovsky (14-2-0) via UD (50-45, 50-45, 49-46)
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Even: Both have 1 win(s) against common opposition.
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Bantamweight (135)
[#6] Alexis Vila (10-0-0) vs. [#21] Marcos Galvao (10-4-1)
Marcos Galvao is the All-Time #25 ranked Bantamweight fighter.
Last 3 Fights: Alexis Vila (3-0-0)
2011-09-24: W vs. [#10BW] Joe Warren (7-2-0) via KO (Punch) in 1:04 of round 1
2011-02-12: W vs. [#31FLY] Lewis McKenzie (12-7-0) via TKO (Punches) in 3:26 of round 2
2010-06-25: W vs. [*] Omar Choudhury (13-7-0) via TKO (Punches) in 2:50 of round 3
Last 3 Fights: Marcos Galvao (2-1-0)
2011-09-24: W vs. [#23BW] Chase Beebe (18-8-0) via SD (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
2011-04-16: L vs. [#10BW] Joe Warren (7-2-0) via UD (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
2010-12-03: W vs. [NA] Ryan Vaccaro (4-3-0) via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: Alexis Vila leads 1-0
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Light Heavyweight (205)
[#28] Christian MPumbu (18-3-1) vs. [#44HW+] Travis Wiuff (64-14-0)
Last 3 Fights: Christian MPumbu (3-0-0)
2011-05-21: W vs. [#55LHW] Richard Hale (17-4-1) via TKO (Punches) in 4:17 of round 3
2011-04-23: W vs. [#100LHW] Tim Carpenter (8-1-0) via TKO (Punches) in 2:08 of round 1
2011-03-26: W vs. [#138LHW] Chris Davis (10-3-0) via TKO (Punches) in 3:34 of round 3
Last 3 Fights: Travis Wiuff (2-1-0)
2011-05-14: W vs. [NA] Nick Baker (1-4-0) via TKO (Punches) in 2:11 of round 1
2010-12-11: W vs. [#341HW+] Richard White (15-10-0) via Submission (Punches) in 3:20 of round 1
2010-10-01: L vs. [#40HW+] Tim Hague (13-5-0) via KO (Punch) in 1:50 of round 1
Previous Match-up Record: No previous match-ups.
Wins Against Common Opposition: No common opposition.
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Keep Reading
We’re on a roll with new features today – thanks forum member kedbecker for this suggestion!
In our fighter search, you can now quickly look up the highest a fighter has been ever ranked in our generated historical ranking sets. For example, if you search for ‘Sakuraba’ you can quickly see the highest ranking for one of MMA’s pioneers: Kazushi Sakuraba was ranked #1 Middleweight in October of 1998 (in case of ties, the heaviest weight class and the most recent ranking set are shown).
First, a run-down of the particulars:
Your current lineal Heavyweight champion is Alistair Overeem
The full history is below. Note, the colored backgrounds indicate a title change.
MMA Heavyweight Lineal Championship History
First, a run-down of the particulars:
Your current lineal Welterweight champion is Georges St. Pierre
The full history is below. Note, the colored backgrounds indicate a title change.
MMA Welterweight Lineal Championship History
First, a run-down of the particulars:
Your current lineal Lightweight champion is Shinya Aoki
The full history is below. Note, the colored backgrounds indicate a title change.
MMA Lightweight Lineal Championship History
First, a run-down of the particulars:
Your current lineal Featherweight champion is Jose Aldo
The full history is below. Note, the colored backgrounds indicate a title change.
MMA Featherweight Lineal Championship History
Bristol, England pugilist Alex Owen (19 – 1 – 0) (last ranking [#52FW] in July 2008) was going somewhere in MMA. From 2002 to 2007, Owen tore through the British featherweight ranks, scoring victories over top fighters such as [#50BW] Paul McVeigh (18 – 6 – 0) and WEC veteran [#27BW] Brad Pickett (20 – 5 – 0).
By then he was 19-0, 14 of those wins coming by stoppage. However, following his first loss to [*] Emmanuel Fernandez (9 – 4 – 1) (another talented yet inexplicably inactive fighter), everything changed. An excerpt from an article written by Chris Cork on mmahitpit.com gives some details on the situation:
“…Like most British fighters, Owen trained and competed part-time while holding down a full-time day job. For the past eight-and-a-half years he has paid the bills serving as a Police Constable with Avon & Somerset Constabulary – a job which permitted him to fight professional MMA. That was until July 2007 when, following a loss to Emmanuel Fernandez, Owen was told he would no longer be allowed to fight…”
Owen has not fought since.
Fighters who have the luxury to train full-time should feel fortunate. A story like this illustrates the harsh reality that only a select few will be truly successful in the fight game. If a talent like Alex Owen could be forced to leave the sport he loved (and did remarkably well in) due to financial issues, then it could happen to any fighter. We can hope that as MMA continues to grow as a global sport, less and less talented fighters will have to suffer similar fates as Owen.
At the end of the article, Owen talks about his possible return to the cage, but unfortunately the article was written in May 2010. Perhaps (and hopefully) we have not seen the last of Alex Owen in MMA.
Full Article: http://www.mmahitpit.com/news/alexowenonhiswayback
