Bloody Elbow September MMA Meta-Rankings: Welterweight
| Fighter | Points | Promotion | Last Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Georges St. Pierre | 525 | UFC | 1 |
| 2. Jon Fitch | 493 | UFC | 2 |
| 3. Thiago Alves | 471 |
UFC |
3 |
| 4. Josh Koscheck | 457 |
UFC |
4 |
| 5. Jake Shields | 437 |
EliteXC |
5 |
| 6. Diego Sanchez | 413 |
UFC |
6 |
| 7. Matt Hughes | 388 |
UFC |
7 |
| 8. Carlos Condit | 360 |
WEC |
8 |
| 9. Matt Serra | 334 | UFC |
9 |
| 10. Karo Parisyan | 307 |
UFC | 10 |
| 11. Nick Thompson | 163 |
EliteXC/WVR |
11 |
| 12. Mike Swick | 166 |
UFC |
12 |
| 13. Brock Larson | 120 |
WEC |
14 |
| 14. Yoshiyuki Yoshida | 104 |
UFC |
13 |
| 15. Akihiro Gono | 97 |
UFC |
15 |
| 16. Chris Wilson | 95 |
UFC |
16 |
| 17. Hayato Sakurai | 92 |
DREAM |
17 |
| 18. Marcus Davis | 90 |
UFC |
23 |
| 19. David Baron | 83 |
UFC |
18 |
| 20. Nick Diaz | 82 |
EliteXC/DREAM |
19 |
| 21. Jay Hieron | 81 |
Afflction |
20 |
| 22. Dan Hardy | 80 |
UFC |
20 |
| 23. Dustin Hazelett | 77 |
UFC |
25 |
| 24. Drew Fickett | 75 |
Affliction |
22 |
| 25. Brad Blackburn | 65 |
UFC |
NR |
| 25. Antonio McKee | 65 |
??? |
NR |
| 25. Chris Lytle |
65 |
UFC |
25 |
The biggest fight coming up this month is #3 Thiago Alves vs #6 Diego Sanchez at UFC 90.The winner will get a title shot against GSP (or B.J. Penn?) in 2009 and will likely emerge as the consensus #2 fighter. I'm probably more stoked about that fight than any other coming up in October. Both fighters are riding hot streaks and have significantly improved their game this year.
#4 Jake Shields will face Paul Daley at EliteXC on October 4th. Daley's not ranked in the top 25 but does come in at #41 and IMO is a bit tougher than that. Shields stands a real chance of losing here, but won't gain much by a win. If Affliction continues to work with EliteXC there are some interesting possibilities for Shields, including #21 Jay Hieron.
At UFC 89 on the 18th we'll see #15 Akihiro Gono vs #22 Dan Hardy, #18 Marcus Davis vs the unranked Paul Kelly, #25 Chris Lytle vs the unranked Paul Taylor and #19 David Baron leaving the division to fight Jim Miller at 155lbs. Gono vs Hardy is the face-off I'm most intrigued by. The winner could be climbing up the contender ladder in the UFC. The other fights pretty much pit UFC favorites who have been eliminated from contention against UK fighters. Kelly could possibly go places if he beats Davis, but that seems unlikely.
ABOUT THE META-RANKINGS: A full methodology is in the extended entry, but the short version is that they are a compilation of the rankings of 20+ leading MMA web sites and magazines. In short the meta-rankings don't represent the opinion of me or the Bloody Elbow staff, rather they are an attempt to quantify the consensus opinions of the MMA online community at large.

Based on the premise that opinions are like assholes, everybody has one and they all stink. instead of putting up our own subjective fighter rankings, we compile and average the rankings of every source we could find online.
The goal is to show how the MMA community rates the fighters, not to bore you with our opinions.
Be sure and look at the points, they're a much more telling number than the ranking. There's clearly a huge gulf between the top 9 fighters and those that follow.
A total of 45 fighters were ranked in the top 25 by one source or another, for reasons of sanity I only track the top 25 (26 due to a tie) most highly rated fighters.
25 points are awarded for a first place ranking, 16 for a 10th place ranking, 1 for a 25th place ranking. A formula is used to "normalize" the data so all fighters are awarded points from those lists that do not include a full 25 fighters. Fuller explanation below.
Rankings were compiled from the following sites: WAMMA, MMA Fighting, MMA-ELO, FCFighter, TAGG Radio, 411 Mania, MMA Weekly, Sherdog, Cage Potato, MMA On Tap, FightMatrix, MMA Playground, HDNet/Inside Fighting, MMA/VT, Total MMA, Inside Fighting, Figure 4 Online, Houston Chronicle Brawl Sports, MMA 4 Real, Fight Magazine, and MMA Ratings.
The normalization scheme as explained by JCS of FightMatrix is here:
The “normalization number” (new name) would be:
120
divided by
(Total Fighters Found in Any List minus 10)Every fighter found somewhere else, but on a Top 10 list would be assigned this number.
The “normalization” number would not apply to a fighter not found on a Top 25 list. They would simply get 0.
So the process would be:
Do all of the Top 25 lists first, #1 = 25, #2 = 24…. #24 = 2, #25 = 1
Do all of the Top 10 lists, same scoring structure.. stops at #10 = 16Figure out that normalization variable.
Fill in the normalization variable to all fighters not found in the Top 10 lists, but found elsewhere.
Do your totals and rank.
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20 comments
Comments
Mistake
Hey Matt Serra has more points than Karo. I think he is supposed to be 9 and Karo 10.
by EazyEismydad on
Sep 29, 2008 8:11 PM EDT
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Diego is listed at #6
But in your article you say #5.
JSWO - Josh Scobey World Order 4 Life!
by Christian on
Sep 29, 2008 8:33 PM EDT
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Karo shouldn’t even be in the top 20 let alone top 10.
He’s like that horse that you know should be put down but you’re not sure yet so you let him limp around for a few more years…
by lbk on
Sep 29, 2008 8:38 PM EDT
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well we'll see
over time how Karo does. Keep in mind that he’s very young — 25 I believe — and is still 3 to 4 years away from his athletic peak. If he starts training hard and gets his hamstring surgically repaired he could easily contend again.
In the meantime, all we have to go on is his record — he got a split decision against the #6 Diego, he soundly whipped the #9 Serra, demolished #11 Thompson, and won decisions over #20, 24 and 25 (Diaz, Fickett and Lytle). He’s earned his place in the top 10 and will have to be beaten out of it.
by Kid Nate on
Sep 29, 2008 9:06 PM EDT
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guys that fake a back injury the day before a real test fight shouldn’t have a place in that ranking IMO. i mean come on..
by lbk on
Sep 29, 2008 11:28 PM EDT
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I don't believe it was a back injury
According to Joe Rogan he reaggravated the torn hamstring that he hurt training for his title shot against Matt Hughes. Karo’s apparently never had it surgically repaired. Hopefully he’ll get that taken care of.
by Kid Nate on
Sep 30, 2008 7:04 AM EDT
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Madness that Daley isn’t even in the top 40! I know Ludwig is his only name win in the last few years but he took out a solid undefeated prospect in Kosednar and has six straight by KO/TKO. Maybe his fake retirement hurt him a little bit.
by Chris Nelson on
Sep 29, 2008 9:07 PM EDT
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Daley is excellent on the feet but I think the fight with Shields will truly test his ground skills.
I normally prefer the grappling but when someone like Daley fights the standup is just beautiful to watch.
by zeroword on
Sep 29, 2008 9:39 PM EDT
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I don’t have Daley rated highly because as you said..the only person of note he has beaten is Ludwig. I give him credit for being exciting and finishing his opponents…but to get to that next level he needs to fight better competition. Shields is next next level in terms of the guys Daley has faced so far…so this fight will tell us alot about him…I hope he’s practiced his sub defense.
http://mma4real.net/
by Tha Realness on
Sep 29, 2008 10:04 PM EDT
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you guys are pretty much
the rankings I use as a reference for my own opinions, but not too many agree with you about Daley. I honestly think its because most don’t know he exists.
by Kid Nate on
Sep 30, 2008 7:07 AM EDT
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Serra hasn;t fought since april where he got completely embarrassed by GSP. Before that, the last person he fought was…GSP. The person before GSP 1 was… Chris Lytle. … his next fight is toally unknown and the last thing we heard about him was that GSP fucked him up! How he is in the top 10 is beyond me.
by Annie83 on
Sep 29, 2008 10:18 PM EDT
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Serra fights Hughes next as soon as Hughes heals up, first quarter 2009 I’ve read.
by Chris Nelson on
Sep 29, 2008 10:29 PM EDT
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Probably semi main of Superbowl show if Hughes is ready by then.
by Michael Rome on
Sep 30, 2008 3:03 AM EDT
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yeah Serra is the definition of overrated
but at least no one’s got him at #1 anymore.
Its funny how he rocketed to the top with a fluke win over GSP but Nick Diaz hardly saw a bump from beating Gomi.
by Kid Nate on
Sep 30, 2008 7:06 AM EDT
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More people saw Serra’s fluke win I suspect.
by Richard Wade on
Oct 1, 2008 2:53 AM EDT
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Hazelett is going to rocket up those rankings very soon. That kid is supremely talented.
Rankings never convince everyone….but I agree with this one for the most part.
by flyingknees on
Sep 30, 2008 4:08 AM EDT
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The point drop off after #10 is Amazing
Most sites seemingly just shuffles the same top 10.
Hey Nate, getting each list done in less than 1 hour yet?
by JCS_FM on
Sep 30, 2008 3:17 PM EDT
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