This update includes consideration of the Misaki/Akiyama result fix, about 100 old bouts, and some divisional corrections.
Akiyama/Misaki changed to NC
I’m sure this happened weeks ago, but someone just brought it to my attention. As a result, Middleweight will shake up a bit upon the next rankings update. The next official update will occur this week. The update will feature this change and some very minor bout additions/updates.
Featured Upcoming Bouts (Outside of UFC)
| Friday, April 4th 2025: Invicta FC 61: Ferreira vs. Palacios | |||
 [#2 W105] Elisandra Ferreira de Oliveira |  [#7 W105] Ana Palacios | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 9/20/2024 [Invicta FC] Last Opponent: [#5 W105] Andressa Romero Last 5: L W W W W | Last Fight Date: 12/13/2024 [Invicta FC] Last Opponent: [NR] Monique Adriane Last 5: L L W W W | ||
| Saturday, March 29th 2025: RIZIN 50 | |||
 [#3 SW] Haruo Ochi | [#12 SW] Nobuyoshi Nakatsukasa | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 12/08/2024 [DEEP] Last Opponent: [NR] Rikito Tago Last 5: W W W W W | Last Fight Date: 9/16/2024 [DEEP] Last Opponent: [NR] Rikito Tago Last 5: W W W L W | ||
| Sunday, March 23rd 2025: Deep - Jewels 48 | |||
| [#3 W105] Ayaka Hamasaki | [#12 W105] Moeri Suda | ||
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| Last Fight Date: 11/17/2024 [Rizin Fighting Federation] Last Opponent: [NR] Yu Ri Shim Last 5: L L W L W | Last Fight Date: 12/22/2024 [DEEP] Last Opponent: [NR] Akari Kamise Last 5: W W L W W | ||
Featured Fighters
| [#1 LHW] |  Magomed Ankalaev | [#5 LW] |  Justin Gaethje | |
| [#2 LHW] | Alex Pereira | [#1 HW] | Jon Jones | |
| [NR] |  Conor McGregor | [#44 FLW] | Rei Tsuruya | |
| [#4 MW] |  Khamzat Chimaev | [#18 LW] | Ignacio Bahamondes | |
| [#13 W135] |  Nora Cornolle | [#1 LW] | Islam Makhachev |
UFC 81 Review
For the past several years, UFC has always stacked their Superbowl weekend card to make it one of the biggest events of the year. This year, UFC 81 is the third UFC event within the span of 2 weeks, following an unexpectedly fun UFC 80 and a mind-numbingly boring Ultimate Fight Night. The two featured matchups were heavyweight showdowns: Tim Sylvia faced Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the interim UFC HW title; and NCAA champion turned WWE superstar turned MMA fighter Brock Lesnar made his UFC debut against the former HW champion Frank Mir.
Tyson Griffin vs Gleason Tibau
The fight starts out with a long feeling-out period. Griffin lets his fists fly towards the end of the first round, and Tibau responds with an impressive takedown. The rest of the fight is more of the same, with Griffin winning the standup exchanges and Tibau getting an occasional takedown but unable to hold Tyson down for long. In the third round, Griffin really finds his range and is hurting Tibau with head and body shots. Tyson wins the bout, 30-27 on all judges’ scorecards. The crowd does not agree with the judges and Griffin is boo’ed ruthlessly during the post-fight interview.
Official Set #3 Released
Official Set #3 has been released today and there are a fair amount of changes throughout the divisions, as well as the pages involved. Some things to consider.
- New show results include those from Pancrase, UFC, HCF, X-1 Hawaii, Shooto, etc.
- The results of some recent minor bouts are not yet available. This will be a continuing trend.
- Some old bouts have been added, which may account for minor shakeups unrelated to results.
- Top 50s have been expanded to Top 60s. Top 25s have been expanded to Top 30s.
- If a fighter had a bout recently, the “Last Bout” line is color coded. Right now, only bouts that have taken place since, and on the day of the last official set are color coded. This policy may change, as well as the actual color used.
UFC 81: How they stack up
Interim Heavyweight Championship
[#3] Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. [#6] Tim Sylvia
Heavyweights
[#21] Frank Mir vs. [*] Brock Lesnar
Middleweights
[*] Rob Yundt vs. [NR] Ricardo Almeida
Middleweights
[#10] Nathan Marquardt vs. [#27] Jeremy Horn
Lightweights
[#17] Tyson Griffin vs. [#41] Gleison Tibau
Welterweights
[#49] Chris Lytle vs. [#76] Kyle Bradley
Middleweights
[#38] Marvin Eastman vs. [#31] Terry Martin
Lightweights
[#85] Keita Nakamura vs. [#67] Rob Emerson
Light Heavyweights
[#33] David Heath vs. [#85] Tim Boetsch
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.
Official Set #3 comes out on 2/3/08 (w/ Expansion)
Official Set #3 will debut on 2/3/08, on the morning after UFC 81. In the future, we are going to release official updates directly after the major shows. If there is a sizable break between major shows, we will provide periodic updates during these breaks.
Set #3 will show the effects of UFC 81, some Shooto cards, as well as a plethora of minor bouts. As always, we continue to add shows from past years, so expect minor fluctuations throughout, especially in the Heavyweight division.
Furthermore, the Top 25s will be expanded to Top 30s, while the Top 50s will be expanded to Top 60s! This is just another “baby step” in the pursuit of global MMA rating domination. To keep moving forward, we need help with the unknown division list.
Movement Tracker now available!
With the release of Official Set #2, we now display the movement tracker that shows a fighter’s movement since the last released set. This will enable you to see movement that has taken place due to the recent UFC Fight Night and other minor cards. Please note that there are widespread minor fluctuations due to newfound historical bouts.
On a side note, some of the weight ranges for the lower weight classes have been adjusted in order to better handle “catchweight” bouts.
Post-UFC 80 Rankings Update
UFC 80 had the most notable effect on the ranking of the following fighters:
- BJ Penn moves from #6 to #3 in the Lightweight division after his victory over Joe Stevenson. Stevenson drops from #10 to #16.
- Fabricio Werdum moves from #9 to #4 with his victory over Gabriel Gonzaga. Gonzaga drops from #4 to #7.
Check out the complete, updated rankings! We now rank the Top 50 in Lightweight and above; Top 25 in Bantamweight, Featherweight, and Women’s Openweight; and Top 10 in Flyweight.
Latest Rankings:
UFC 80 Review
UFC 80 took place at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England. The main event featured BJ Penn taking on Joe Stevenson for the vacant 155-lbs title.
Jorge Rivera vs. Kendall Grove
The broadcast begins with the veteran fighter Rivera taking on the middleweight TUF 3 winner, Kendal Grove. Rivera pushes the pace with an early takedown and punishes Grove with ground-and-pound. Grove gives up his back and is taking heavy strikes to the head. Grove tries to get back to his feet while still eating blows. Grove collapses next to the cage and the referee calls an end to the bout.
Rankings are now “official”.
The first official release of the rankings have been released today. In future releases, the ranking pages will contain a movement tracker, displaying a fighter’s movement between the previous release and the present one. As for frequency of updates… we are still giving this some thought.
Boxing Stats – Reach Matters
Its been a while since I’ve posted about boxing, but just recently, I did an analysis based on reach measurements. I researched all the way back to the beginnings of boxing, to determine whether or not the boxer with the longer reach won much more often.
I discovered that a boxer with any reach advantage at all won 57.1% of the time (excluding draws). At two inches or more, this went up to 58.4%. It progressively increased all the way up to 64.6% at 8 inches or more. At 10 inches or more, the number actually dropped, but I attribute this to the small subset, and because some “freak” match-ups may contaminate the results.
Some say its not the size that matters, but these results suggest more than a negligible difference. They suggest size DOES matter. You might’ve suspected such results with regards to height, but did you expect it with regards to reach alone?
Fighters without a division. You can help!
There is now a ranking page that will list the highest-ranked fighters without a division assignment. If you would like to help us tackle this list and determine divisions for these fighters, we invite you to please help us out!! If your investigation turns up anything, please e-mail jcs at fightmatrix.com with your findings, and information source, with this source preferably being weigh-in and/or organization profile information.
Lightweights and above now Top 50s
Lightweight and above have been expanded to Top 50.
UFC 80: How they stack up
UFC Lightweight Championship
[#6] BJ Penn vs. [#10] Joe Stevenson
Heavyweights
[#4] Gabriel Gonzaga vs. [#9] Fabricio Werdum
Welterweights
[#18] Marcus Davis vs. [#30] Jess Liaudin
Light Heavyweights
[#13] Jason Lambert vs. [#44] Wilson Gouveia
Middleweights
[#54] Kendall Grove vs. [#89] Jorge Rivera
Heavyweights
[#100] Antoni Hardonk vs. [*] Colin Robinson
Welterweights
[#115] Paul Kelly vs. [#150] Paul Taylor
Light Heavyweights
[#33] James Lee vs. [#65] Alessio Sakara
Lightweights
[#32] Sam Stout vs. [#49] Per Eklund
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.
Minor Rating Code Change
– Due to some overly aggressive initial placements for recently debuting fighters, pre-bout calculation bonuses for quality performances in debuts have been reduced by 25-50% depending on the specific scenario.
In other words, debuting fighters who break onto the scene with a quality performance, are not given as much of a bonus as they were before. This will have small changes throughout the divisions.