FightLines: Heavyweights

by Mike Fagan on Jun 27, 2008 8:34 AM EDT

Loops
Nogueira = Herring
Filipovic > Barnett > Hunt > Filipovic

Interesting Notes:

-First off, Zulu makes the graph partially as a joke and partially because I'm a stickler for my own criteria.

-You can really see the split between Pride and the UFC here. There's the top tier with Fedor, Nogueira, and Randy, a clump below them on the right with almost exclusively UFC fighters, and then the lower left clump with mostly former Pride/non-UFC guys. It also highlights the barren state of the UFC HW division.

-Interestingly enough the two current top contenders for the UFC title are in the "wrong" clusters. Frank Mir, who somehow received a title shot after beating a 1-0 fighter, not only resides in the Pride cluster, but is at the absolute bottom of the graph. It's a pretty good indicator of the caliber of Frank's wins in the past 3 years.

Meanwhile Fabricio Werdum, who had been attached to title shot rumors after his win over Gabriel Gonzaga, lies firmly entrenched in the UFC grouping.

FightLines makes it visually obvious that Frank MIr does not deserve a title shot. from a "sporting" perspective. At the same time, I do understand the business aspect of the decision. For one, Mir probably will never have the same momentum he does now. Secondly, if there's a division you have to put on hold for 6 months, it's the heavyweights. Leading me to...

-The reason you can afford to put the heavyweights on hold stems from the fact that before UFC 85, you didn't really have a clear-cut number one contender. I personally think the Werdum/Vera result solidified Werdum as next in line, and FightLines provides a little more supplemental support for that stance.

-Minotauro has a path to 21 out of 25 of the other fighters (if you're counting, notice that Ben Rothwell has a lone path to Dan Bobish at the bottom). However, if Fedor Emelianenko beats Tim Sylvia, he will have a path to 22 out of the 25.

-Rothwell will move towards the top of the graph, regardless of a win or loss against Arlovski. Brock Lesnar and Paul Buentello will make their first appearances on the graph after their upcoming fights.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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Comments

I love these…I can’t make sense of them at all haha

by goo on Jun 27, 2008 6:15 AM EDT reply actions

Doesn’t the fact that Fedor beat Nogueira, twice, mean that he should have a path to everyone in the diagram except for Randy Couture?

by Brett Jones on Jun 27, 2008 8:55 AM EDT reply actions

But

This is where the “last 3 years” criteria comes in. Fedor is limited because he hasn’t been fighting real competition in a long time.

Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ. -- TangleBones

by jemaleddin on Jun 27, 2008 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions

If you went back farther it would, but how far you go back isn’t set in stone. I think 3 years is good. It penilizes Fedor for being less active v. top competiton.

by szucconi on Jun 27, 2008 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions

... you said “penilize”—haha.

(It’s Friday afternoon, so sophomoric mis-spellings make me laugh. Sue me.)

by Kierkegaard on Jun 27, 2008 3:51 PM EDT up reply actions

I am not going to lie, I laughed.

by szucconi on Jun 27, 2008 4:06 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm with Brett Jones

How do they make sense of that? Do they forget the smashing he took?

And how the fuck is Dan Bobbish on the FightLine? He lost to Aleks on October or November of last year here in my lovely Calgary…

I’m a little confused though, I don’t see lines indicating the following…

That hunt beat cro cop
barnett beat hunt. I guess it cant account for everything.

A very cool visual representation of rankings none the less.

by ghettoiam on Jun 27, 2008 10:48 AM EDT reply actions

Yes, we forget all the stuff from 3 years before because it isn’t relevant.

Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ. -- TangleBones

by jemaleddin on Jun 27, 2008 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions

The Hunt/Cro Cop fight was looped out.

by Mike Fagan on Jun 27, 2008 11:47 AM EDT up reply actions

PRIDE/UFC Differences

PRIDE fans like to claim that you can’t compare PRIDE and the UFC because of the differences in the rules (knees/elbows) – cue that YouTube loser. But I, and all right-thinking people (ducks!), know that you can’t compare them because of the difference in regulation: Matches outside the US don’t do steroid/drug testing. (Yes I know that includes UFC fights in the UK.) To me, this makes pretty much everything that happened in PRIDE suspect – and that’s not even taking into account all of the other fishy stuff (fight rigging, works, mob ties).

Not to make you do a lot of work, but I’m curious how the charts would look if you compared just regulated matches or just unregulated matches.

Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ. -- TangleBones

by jemaleddin on Jun 27, 2008 11:30 AM EDT reply actions

Haha, man. I haven’t seen a theory so ass backwards since timecube

I love to hate

by fightlinker on Jun 27, 2008 11:31 AM EDT reply actions

It really is..

..it’s just interesting to see how title contention shakes out when you look at it with this perspective. I have to say I am a fan, but I also have to say that it is MMA Math (or MMAth) gone horribly wrong. It makes MMA all about the W and we all know that there is more to it then that.

by szucconi on Jun 27, 2008 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions