Author: FightMetric LLC

UFC 171 was short on finishes but not short on drama. MMA fans were treated to impressive performances by prospects, young veterans earning a future step up in competition, a rare submission, and an instant classic that gave us the first undisputed UFC welterweight champion not named Georges St-Pierre since 2007.

* Dennis Bermudez and Jimy Hettes entered their featherweight bout ranked no. 1 and no. 2 in takedowns landed in UFC featherweight competition, but it would be Bermudez who asserted himself the better takedown artist. Bermudez out-paced Hettes 6 to 0 in takedowns, passing Hettes for most in the division with 26. Including WEC competition, he’s third in UFC/WEC featherweight history, behind only Chad Mendes (37) and Manvel Gamburyan (28).

* Bermudez didn’t just land takedowns to separate himself from Hettes. He also landed three knockdowns en route to a third-round KO/TKO stoppage, becoming the first featherweight in UFC/WEC history to knock his opponent down three times in a single fight. There have been 23 unique UFC performances featuring a fighter dropping his opponent three times or more. Forrest Petz owns the single-fight record with five knockdowns of Sammy Morgan at UFC Fight Night 6. Bermudez’s combination of powerful strikes and powerful takedowns have earned him six consecutive wins, tying featherweight champion Jose Aldo for the longest active win streak in UFC featherweight competition.

* Coming off a 25-second head kick knockout of Walt Harris at UFC on Fox 10, Nikita Krylov made his light heavyweight debut and looked for another quick finish. But, it would be his opponent, Ovince Saint Preux, who would finish the fight in lightning quick fashion. Saint Preux pulled off the second Von Flue choke in UFC history, tapping out Krylov at just 1:29 of the first round. The quick submission is the fourth-fastest in light heavyweight history (LHW includes UFC 28 – present). Jason Von Flue introduced UFC audiences to his patented submission technique at UFC Fight Night 3 in a third-round tapout of Alex Karalexis.

* Myles Jury asserted himself as one of the bright young competitors in the UFC’s lightweight division with an efficient win over Diego Sanchez. Jury out-landed Sanchez by a count of 35 to 10 in significant head strikes, bloodying up the TUF 1 contestant and mixing in a timely takedown in each of the fight’s three rounds. Jury earned his 5th consecutive win, tying Rafael Dos Anjos, TJ Grant, and Khabib Nurmagomedov for the longest active win streak in the lightweight division.

* Few fighters have been more lauded for their toughness and tenacity than Diego Sanchez. Sanchez has now absorbed 779 significant strikes in his UFC career, the 4th most ever. At the 0:29 mark of the first round, Sanchez gained fourth place in modern UFC history with 4:22:57 of cage time. Sanchez ranks sixth all-time, just 8:12 behind Frankie Edgar in fifth place. “The Dream” fought to a judges decision for the fourteenth time in his UFC career, tying Sam Stout for the most decision fights in UFC history.

* Welterweights Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler put a bow on the festivities in Dallas Saturday night with an instant classic to decide who would become the new UFC welterweight champion. Hendricks and Lawler largely kept the fight standing through each of the five rounds, piling up gaudy striking totals in the process. They combined for 308 significant strikes, a new UFC title fight record, smashing the previous efforts of Carlos Condit vs. Nick Diaz (256, Most Sig. Strikes Landed in an interim title fight) and Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson (244, previous record for Most Sig. Strikes Landed in an undisputed title fight).

Hendricks and Lawler practically paced one another in output. Hendricks (158) and Lawler (150) landed the most and third-most significant strikes in a title fight, and their outputs rank fourth and sevent in UFC welterweight history in terms of single-fight performances. They combined for 728 significant attempts, the 2nd most combined attempts in a single UFC fight.

Click here for the striking and takedown totals for the fight.

Rounds two through five featured fairly clear-cut winners strictly in terms of who landed a greater number of significant strikes, especially in round four where Lawler landed 56, a new single-round record for a UFC title fight. Round one, however, was fairly close just by the raw stats as Hendricks landed 15 to Lawler’s 13. But, not all significant strikes are created equal. Who do you think won the first round?

Compiled by Fight Metric‘s Michael Carroll.

Saturday’s TUF China Finale featured a Korean bulldozer slugging, an Englishman dominating, a Boilermaker besting a Tiger, and a one-of-a-kind finish in the main event.

* Vaughan Lee put together the most impressive striking performance of his UFC career in a completely dominant victory over Nam Phan. Coming into their bout Saturday, it was Phan who had made a name for himself with huge striking outputs. Phan has authored four performances in the UFC where he landed 100-plus significant strikes, a record tied with Georges St-Pierre and Chris Lytle, but it was Lee who racked up the strikes. Lee finished with 142 significant strikes landed, the third-most ever landed by a UFC/WEC bantamweight in a single fight. It wasn’t that Lee out-paced Phan, he completely ran away with the fight. Phan was able to connect on just 24 strikes of his own. The plus-118 significant strike differential for Lee is tied for the second largest in UFC history with Cyrille Diabate (over Steve Cantwell) at UFC on Versus 3 and Jessica Andrade (over Rosi Sexton) at UFC Fight Night 30. Lee’s previous UFC best was 29 significant strikes landed against Chris Cariaso in a split decision loss at UFC 138 in Lee’s debut.

* Yui Chul Nam made quite an impression in the opening frame of his lightweight bout with Kazuki Tokudome. Nam finished the first five minutes with three knockdowns of Tokudome, becoming just the 11th fighter in UFC history to knock an opponent down three times in a round. After three rounds, Nam earned the victory but not a finish. Of the 11 rounds featuring three knockdowns, nine ended by knockout. Only Nam and Gray Maynard (UFC 125) failed to finish their opponent despite knocking them down three times in a round.

* Matt Mitrione once again reminded us why he’s an exciting member of the UFC’s heavyweight division. Mitrione earned the seventh knockdown and the sixth knockout of his UFC career in a buzzer-beater finish of Shawn Jordan at 4:59 of round one. Mitrione tied Gabriel Gonzaga for fifth place in UFC heavyweight history with seven total knockdowns, and Mitrione’s sixth KO/TKO victory tied Roy Nelson and Cheick Kongo for fifth place in the division’s history as well. The knockout is the ninth in UFC history to occur at 4:59 of round one, joining such memorable finishes as Machida over Silva at UFC 94 and Jose Aldo over Chad Mendes at UFC 142.

* Things ended with quite a bang in Macau with the headliner between Dong Hyun Kim and John Hathaway. Kim, largely lauded for his takedowns and smothering ground control, has let his hands go lately and he’s earned impressive results. Of Kim’s four knockdowns in UFC competition, three have come in his last two fights, both ending with a finish. And what a finish it was Saturday. Dong Hyun Kim became the first fighter in UFC history to earn a knockout stemming from a spinning back elbow. He’s just the third fighter in UFC history to earn a KO/TKO victory stemming from any kind of spinning arm strike, joining the spinning back fist knockouts of Shonie Carter (UFC 31) and John Makdessi (UFC 129).

Kim’s spinning back elbow knockout became the 11th KO/TKO stemming from standing elbow strikes, which have become quite the trend. Between finishes by Paul Varelans (UFC 6) and Ivan Menjivar (UFC 129), there were zero knockouts stemming from standing elbow strikes. Since Menjivar’s finish at UFC 129, there have been nine.

Compiled by Fight Metric‘s Michael Carroll.

UFC Fight Night 35 featured a fair smattering of UFC debuts, fighters trying out new weight classes, Strikeforce veterans still getting their feet wet in the Octagon, and a hearty pack of TUFers. Here’s how it went down …

* Beneil Dariush got things going in Atlanta with a great start to his UFC career. The Iranian landed a knockdown of Charlie Brenneman and quickly took “The Spaniard’s” back before earning a tapout via rear-naked choke at just 1:45 of the first round. It goes in the books as the fourth fastest submission by a debuting lightweight. The record for fastest lightweight submission in a debut still belongs to Charles Oliveira’s 41-second sub of Darren Elkins at UFC on Versus 2. Other recent quick tapouts in lightweight debuts include James Vick’s 58-second finish of Ramsey Nijem at UFC Fight Night 26, ranking second in the category.

* Louis Smolka and Alptekin Ozkilic fought to a three-round decision, which is fairly common, but a key number on Ozkilic’s side made the decision of him losing a rare one. Ozkilic landed nine takedowns in 15 minutes yet lost a unanimous decision, becoming just the third fighter in UFC history to land nine or more takedowns in a fight and lose the judges’ decision. The other cases: Rodney Wallace, with eleven takedowns, losing his UFC 111 bout to Jared Hamman, and Karo Parisyan, with nine takedowns, losing the decision to Diego Sanchez at UFC Fight Night 6. In all three cases, the losing fighter was out-landed by 26 or more significant strikes, a fairly advantageous margin in a three-round fight.

* Speaking of takedowns, Ramsey Nijem continues to excel as one of the lightweight division’s promising young wrestlers. Nijem landed five takedowns of Justin Edwards to help guide him to victory. Nijem lands an average of 5.40 takedowns per 15 minutes of fighting, the third highest rate in UFC history (min. 5 fights). Nijem has been an accurate takedown artist, connecting on 56.8 percent of his attempts, the fourth highest accuracy rate in lightweight history (min. five fights and 20 attempts). Nijem has taken down all six of his UFC lightweight opponents at least once.

* Cole Miller was his vintage self, hurting Sam Sicilia with distance punches before pouncing on his opponent and finishing with the rear-naked choke. It was Miller’s seventh UFC submission win, tying Joe Lauzon. The only UFC fighters with more submissions: Royce Gracie (11) and Frank Mir, Nate Diaz, and Kenny Florian (8). Miller as committed to 23 submission attempts in his UFC career, a number tied with Nate Diaz, Hermes Franca, and Georges St-Pierre for fifth most in UFC history. Joe Stevenson has the fourth most submission attempts with 24.

* Yoel Romero has found nothing but destructive success in his young UFC career. He’s finished all three of his opponents in brutal fashion and, on Wednesday night, became just the second fighter to earn a KO/TKO victory stemming from elbows to the body (Brown over Mein, UFC on Fox 7). Cheick Kongo finished Paul Buentello at UFC on Versus 1 via submission to elbows to the body, so let’s throw that one in, too. It was Romero’s second consecutive third-round knockout, becoming the first UFC fighter to earn two-straight third-round KO/TKO victories.

* TJ Dillashaw made quite a statement in his dominant victory over Mike Easton. Dillashaw tallied 117 significant strikes, tying Dominick Cruz’s WEC 53 output for fourth-most ever landed by a bantamweight in a single UFC/WEC fight. Dillashaw’s strike differential for the bout was +71 (117 to 46), the seventh largest in a 135-pound bout. Dillashaw also has the sixth largest strike differential in a bantamweight fight, going +74 against Walel Watson at UFC on FUEL TV 1. Your typical bantamweight connects with 36.45 percent of their significant attempts, but Dillashaw landed at a cool 50 percent Wednesday night. By the numbers, Dillashaw lands at a higher rate than anyone in UFC/WEC bantamweight history, landing 4.84 significant strikes per minute, the highest rate at 135 pounds (minimum five fights).

* In our main event, former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold made short work of Costas Philippou, landing a shattering body kick that rendered Philippou unable to continue at just 2:31 of the first round. All of nine of Rockhold’s career finishes have occurred in the opening frame. It’s just the eight knockout in UFC history stemming from a body kick, joining finishes by Rich Franklin, Bobby Green, DaMarques Johnson, David Loiseau, Anthony Pettis, Alistair Overeem, and Dennis Siver.

If you’re reading this article, it either means you were willing to accept the notion of Tim Sylvia as the 15^th greatest fighter in UFC history or you didn’t read yesterday’s installment and hadn’t gotten to that part yet. So now you know…

And now, if you’re still reading this, it means you’re curious to see how the scoring system ranks the fighters as we get into the top 10 all time. First, here’s a rundown of the fighters listed to this point:

No. 20 (tie): Lyoto Machida – 38 points
No. 20 (tie): Vitor Belfort – 38 points
No. 18 (tie): Junior dos Santos – 40 points
No. 18 (tie): Benson Henderson – 40 points
No. 17: Frankie Edgar – 41 points
No. 16: Andrei Arlovski – 43 points
No. 15: Tim Sylvia – 44 points
No. 14: Jose Aldo – 47 points
No. 12 (tie): Frank Shamrock – 48 points
No. 12 (tie): Rich Franklin – 48 points
No. 11 Royce Gracie – 50 points

On to the top 10:

No. 10 Cain Velasquez – 51 points

Because heavyweight is the UFC’s oldest division, there is a temptation to romanticize the fighters of old and favor them more than the men competing in the division today. Cain Velasquez’s accomplishments make it impossible to ignore what we’re seeing before our eyes.

In his 12 UFC fights, Velasquez has looked vulnerable for probably less than a minute. Aside from some anxious moments against Cheick Kongo and the time he spent face down eating punches in the first fight against Junior dos Santos, Velasquez has dominated every other moment he’s spent in the cage. His seven-fight win streak is the second longest in heavyweight history and his two title defenses are tied for the most as a heavyweight.

Outlook: Velasquez’s last five fights have been against the same two opponents (dos Santos and Antonio Silva). It’s unclear who his next opponent will be, but at least it will be someone he hasn’t beaten yet. The next few fights will tell us a lot about his ability to beat all contenders, not just the same ones. Based on past performance, we may have a new record for most consecutive heavyweight title defenses before too long.

No. 9 Pat Miletich – 57 points

Fans are always careful to mention Frank Shamrock as the forgotten champion from the UFC’s dark ages, but they don’t always remember to add Pat Miletich as well. Like Shamrock, Miletich ushered a new weight class into existence and dominated it for two years. The difference between them and the reason that Miletich ranks above Shamrock on this list is that Miletich was simply more prolific.

To start, Miletich began his UFC career by winning a UFC tournament, something that Shamrock couldn’t do. He then proceeded to win the weight class belt, which we call welterweight but was then called lightweight. By the time he lost his belt to Carlos Newton, he has won seven straight fights and defended his title four times. He picked up one more stoppage win before losing to Matt Lindland and exiting the UFC. Miletich has the shortest career of anyone in the top 10, fighting only 10 times, but because of the lengthy title reign and the tournament win (he’s one of only five men to win a tournament and a title), his status is solidified in the top 10.

Outlook: To the fans that came along around the time of TUF, Miletich is probably better known as a coach and trainer than as a fighter. There was a time when three of the four UFC champions were affiliated with Miletich Fighting Systems. He may not have been as flashy as other, more popular fighters, but he is undoubtedly one of the UFC’s greatest.

No. 8 BJ Penn – 61 points

The fact that Penn shows up so high on this list is a bit of a miracle, considering that he never won more than three fights in a row. He burst on the scene with three first-round knockouts, but lost his first title shot to Jens Pulver. Six years later, he emerged as an absolute terror at lightweight, finishing his first three opponents at 155 pounds, and then lost his next fight in a return to welterweight for a rematch against Georges St-Pierre.

Penn gets high marks for winning two titles in two weight classes and defending his lightweight title three times. He was a consistent finisher, winning 11 of 12 fights by stoppage. But Penn also benefits more than anyone from the one point this system gives to fighters when they lose or draw in a title fight. Penn has five losses and one draw in title competition. His six “non-wins” in championship fights are more than any other fighter in UFC history.

Outlook: Until a couple of months ago, it seemed like Penn was content to stay retired. He’s now decided to reinvent himself as a featherweight and try to become the first man to win titles in three different weight classes. He has to get through Frankie Edgar first (and make weight before that), but you can never count out BJ Penn. Another title and a few defenses would vault him up the points list, maybe even into the top five.

No. 7 Chuck Liddell – 62 points

Liddell may be the most popular UFC fighter of all time. Like Rich Franklin, his period of greatest dominance came at precisely the right moment to capitalize on the UFC’s growing popularity. He was a coach on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter and won the Light Heavyweight Title in the first pay-per-view after the conclusion of the show. He was an instant star and his fights became mega events where a knockout was inevitable. For four fights, that meant defending his title. That inevitability worked the other way when he relinquished the belt to Rampage Jackson and proceeded to lose five of his last six UFC fights, with four losses by knockout.

He also benefited from a fighting style that was easy to understand and brutally effective. While we can only give seven points for Liddell’s longest win streak, it should be noted that those seven straight wins were comprised of seven straight knockouts. No other fighter has more than four consecutive KO/TKO wins in UFC history.

Outlook: The UFC will hopefully generate many stars in the future, but Liddell will always be the first one to cross over into the mainstream. The list of fighters he beat in his dominant period is not as impressive as the murderer’s row faced by some other fighters on the list, but that seven straight KO record is going to stand for a long time.

No. 6 Tito Ortiz – 68 points

Ortiz belongs in the category with Vitor Belfort and Randy Couture of fighters from the old days that were fortunate enough to stick around long enough to see the UFC become a sensation. He may not have had the widest audience while he was the most dominant fighter of his era, but he parlayed that into prominence and success even after he was no longer the nightmare matchup he had been previously.

If we gave points just for showing up, Ortiz would be ranked even higher. His 27 fights in the UFC are the most ever. He won 15 of those fights, tied for sixth most all-time. Until Jon Jones surpassed it, his five title defenses were the most ever by a light heavyweight.

Outlook: There was a time when it looked like Ortiz was going to be the Michael Jordan of the UFC. When the company needed a spokesperson or needed to build around a star, Ortiz was the go-to guy. Things didn’t quite work out that way and Ortiz’s recent move to Bellator will probably mean even less promotional muscle behind his legacy, but his accomplishments are undeniable and his status among the greatest ever can’t be taken away.

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We’re six fighters deep into what should really be called the Top 21 Greatest UFC Fighters list (Vitor Belfort and Lyoto Machida were tied for 20^th place). Here’s a recap of the list so far:

No. 20 (tie): Lyoto Machida – 38 points
No. 20 (tie): Vitor Belfort – 38 points
No. 18 (tie): Junior dos Santos – 40 points
No. 18 (tie): Benson Henderson – 40 points
No. 17: Frankie Edgar – 41 points
No. 16: Andrei Arlovski – 43 points

Now on to the next five fighters on the list:

No. 15 Tim Sylvia – 44 points

Tim Sylvia could conceivably show up in three different places on this list depending on how you treat his fight against Gan McGee at UFC 44. Sylvia successfully defended his title in that fight, but subsequently tested positive for steroids and was stripped of the belt. At the time, there was no mechanism to overturn the decision to a no-contest, so the fight remains a win on his record. If we treat that fight normally as if he never got stripped, he winds up with 51 points and would be tied for 10^th place. If we pretend that the fight did get overturned, he ends up with 43 points and would be tied with Andrei Arlovski for 15^th place. That would be revisionist history, though, since the fight remains a stoppage win for posterity.

We’ve chosen a third, more nuanced approach. Sylvia gets the points for beating McGee by stoppage, but this fight would not be considered a successful title defense, since he was stripped of the belt directly because of his actions in the fight and wasn’t the champion anymore in his next UFC bout. This stands opposed to a case where a fighter defended his title and was stripped for other reasons, such as when Murilo Bustamante vacated his title to leave for PRIDE. In that case, Bustamante would still get credit for his title defense against Matt Lindland, while Sylvia would not.

You can see from the preamble why Sylvia is not a popular choice for such a high ranking. His reign over the heavyweight division was complicated by a few missteps and a fighting style that wasn’t always visually appealing. But there can be no denying his output.

Outlook: Sylvia keeps pleading for another stint in the UFC, although it seems unlikely to occur. Like Arlovski, he will probably go down as the best of a historically weak crop of heavyweights during his era.

No. 14 Jose Aldo – 47 points

How do you defend a UFC title that you never won? When Jose Aldo squared off against Mark Hominick at UFC 129, it was Aldo’s first defense of the featherweight title he was granted when the UF C subsumed the remaining WEC weight classes. Aldo had an immediate two-point advantage over any other fighter (except Dominick Cruz) because he never had to win that title in the first place.

But the real reason Aldo shows up at No. 15 is because he’s 5-0 in the UFC with all five fights acting as title defenses. The odd thing about Aldo is that he’s only finished two of those fights, with one of them only happening because of an injury to Chan Sung Jung. While in the WEC, Aldo finished seven of his eight opponents. He’s certainly faced stiffer competition in the UFC, but he’s also looked human in later rounds, making the decisions closer than they probably needed to be.

Outlook: As long as he stays healthy, expect Aldo to keep climbing. He’s clearly the class of a featherweight division that lacks serious competition. The prospect of more fighters dropping from 155 or Aldo going up to lightweight could throw a wrench in the works. But his trajectory is steeper than almost anyone above him on the list. By the time he’s done, he could be among the top few fighters ever.

No. 12 (tie) Frank Shamrock and Rich Franklin – 48 points

The story with Frank Shamrock is familiar. He was undoubtedly the greatest fighter of his time; his time was only too brief and too early in the UFC’s history to make a larger impact. There was no one left to challenge him and not enough money to justify continuing his career back in 1999. However, his line is flawless: Five fights, all for the title, five wins, all by stoppage. You can’t get any more perfect than that. The potential was there for him to go down among the greatest ever. The issue is that his UFC career simply wasn’t long enough to make a bigger mark on the organization.

Franklin, on the other hand, came along at just the right time in the UFC’s arc. He returned to the UFC in 2005 at 185 pounds shortly after the end of a three-year period without a middleweight champion. Then season one of The Ultimate Fighter happened. Franklin beat Ken Shamrock in the main event of the finale, setting himself up for a title shot. With the eyes of a newfound audience upon the UFC, Franklin solidified himself as a champion and new golden boy by taking the belt from Evan Tanner at UFC 53. Since his second loss to Anderson Silva, Franklin has wandered between light heavyweight and catchweight affairs, but he still has 14 wins, 10 by stoppage, with two title defenses, and a seven-fight longest win streak.

Outlook: Shamrock may move down some over time. He will always have a truncated portion of the UFC’s history book and not just because of politics. His short career was a vision of what a modern fighter should look like and he is the exceptional fighter who got to walk away while still a champion. Franklin may yet pick up a few points here and there before hanging up the gloves for good.

No. 11 Royce Gracie – 50 points

To be fair, Royce Gracie is the reason why this list even exists in the first place. If not for the original “greatest fighter in the UFC,” there would not have been any subsequent ones. Gracie’s line is not quite as perfect at Frank Shamrock’s, but it is close: 11 wins in a row, all by stoppage, three tournaments won (two of them consecutive), and only one stoppage loss in his late-career fight against Matt Hughes.

There are a couple of alternate histories that would have changed Gracie’s standing on this list. The first is a universe where he is able to continue fighting at UFC 3 and wins that tournament as well, making it four in a row. The second is a world where the judges could have given him the decision against Ken Shamrock in the first Superfight Title fight at UFC 5 where he outlanded Shamrock 355-98 in total strikes. The draw he earned in that fight spelled the end of his UFC career (minus the Hughes comeback fight). With a win instead, he might have continued to rule the sport for as long as it took for the other fighters to catch up.

Outlook: No one will ever win more UFC tournaments than Royce Gracie’s three. He holds the all-time record for most submission victories, which might also never be broken. He may drop a few spaces over time if guys like Aldo remain dominant champions, but his place in the top 20 fighters is as solid as anyone’s.

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If you haven’t done so already, make sure to check out yesterday’s introduction to the concept of the Top 20 UFC Fighters list, with an explanation of the points system we’re using. There is a lot clustering right outside the top 20 with many fighters separated by just a few points so a basic understanding of what the point values mean will go a long way.

With that taken care of, get out your pitchforks and torches because before we even get to the top 20, here’s a short list of the men who just missed the cut:

The Eventuals

Choosing UFC 167 as a cutoff to create this list is as arbitrary a decision as you can get. It means that some fighters still on the upswing of their careers are going to be at a disadvantage compared to those whose careers have already concluded. Barring major injury or career suicide these guys are a lock to add points and climb the rankings:

No. 23 Renan Barao – 34 points

Barao is currently tied at No. 23 with 34 points on the strength of two title defenses and a six-fight win streak. He’s undefeated in the UFC and has finished his last two opponents. If he can beat Dominick Cruz at UFC 169 next year, that alone would be enough to put him over the top and break into the top 20. Even if he loses that fight, he’s young enough to mount another assault on the division, which would put him among the UFC elite.

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No. 29 Demetrious Johnson – 30 points

The UFC’s inaugural flyweight champion is undefeated since dropping to 125 pounds and is coming off his first stoppage victory in over two years. His longest win streak is still active at four fights and his reign as champion gives him opportunities aplenty to rack up some major points. A win over Joseph Benavidez at UFC on Fox 9 could put him among the upper echelon already.

The Potentials

No. 22 Frank Mir – 35 points

Mir is an interesting case. He has 14 wins, which is more than the next eight fighters listed ahead of him. He won a title twice, which is more than the next nine fighters ahead of him. The problem is that he never defended his titles and he has seven losses by stoppage. He can still gain some points, but if his title contending days are over, he may be always just outside the top 20.

No. 27 Rashad Evans – 31 points

Evans already holds the distinction of being the TUF winner with the highest point total (Nate Diaz is next, five slots below him), but his total is hampered by the fact that he didn’t defend his title and only has five stoppages in 13 UFC wins. He might have a hard time getting back to a title shot at light heavyweight, but if he chooses to join former foil Lyoto Machida in making the move down to 185, Rashad may be closer than it seems to the title shot he needs to climb back up the rankings.

The Pioneers

This section is the hardest one to accept. These men who fall outside the top 20 were critical to the early days of the UFC, but the early days meant shorter careers and fewer opportunities to win and defend titles. They are at a permanent disadvantage due to nothing other than the era in which they competed. However, an objective points-based system looks only at results and can’t give extra weight to historical significance. Based purely on their limited career output, these men stay outside the top 20:

No. 23 Mark Coleman – 34 points

Coleman is currently tied with Renan Barao for 23rd place, but because he is retired, his stock will continue to go down as younger fighters pile up more points. He is one of only three men to win consecutive tournaments (the others are Royce Gracie and Mark Kerr). But Coleman only won seven times in the UFC and his greatest moment, winning the 2000 Open Weight Grand Prix, happened in Pride and is not factored into his score.

No. 25 Dan Severn – 33 points

While we can only award the standard six points for a tournament title, Severn deserves extra kudos for winning the first Ultimate Ultimate tournament in 1995. While most of the early tournaments had only a few good fighters, the Ultimate Ultimate was the first time that beating the field meant being the best of the best, much closer to the modern equivalent of besting the top competitors in a weight class.

No. 26 Don Frye – 32 points

Like the other fighters of his era, Frye suffers because of lack of volume. His UFC career was only 10 fights long, where he went 9-1 with all nine wins by stoppage. He won two tournaments, but lost a tournament in between to Mark Coleman. That loss hits his score hard, as it robs him of the bonus he could have received for defending his tournament title rather than winning it once and then winning it back.

No. 32 Ken Shamrock – 27 points

Of all the pioneers, Ken Shamrock’s career is the hardest to reconcile. He never won a tournament. He has five stoppage losses. But he was also the first true titleholder in UFC history and defended that belt. Perhaps most impressive is that he is ranked this high even though he never won more than two fights in a row. The next fighter on the list with only a two-fight win streak is Murilo Bustamante in 54th place.

Some Odds and Ends

Here are a few names from further down the list that are worth a mention:

No. 31 Brock Lesnar – 28 points
No. 41 Mark Kerr – 24 points

There are a few fighters who made enormous impacts despite fighting only a few times in the UFC. Lesnar and Kerr are the only fighters to appear in the top 50 while winning four times or less. In Lesnar’s case, three of those four wins came in title fights (once to win the belt and two defenses). Kerr’s standing suffers because he only joined the UFC when its tournaments were four-man brackets instead of eight-man brackets. He ran the table in both tournaments he entered and there’s little to doubt that he could have won another couple of fights in each bracket, adding more wins, more stoppages, and a longer streak.

No. 54 Forrest Griffin – 20 points

Like the fighters in the Pioneers section above, there are some fighters whose importance to the UFC outpaces their in-ring achievements. No one could doubt the significance of Forrest Griffin’s UFC career. He won the first season of TUF, scored an upset title win over Rampage Jackson, and notched 10 total victories. However, his standing is hurt by only finishing three fights and never stringing together more than three wins in a row.

No. 64 Dominick Cruz – 18 points

Like Barao and Johnson above, Cruz has the potential to amass major points in the immediate future. By keeping the belt during his long absence due to injury, he has the chance to pick up where he left off, extending a string of high-value title defenses, rather than needing to win back his belt.

Now that we know who’s out, come back tomorrow to see who’s in, counting down the fighters from No. 20 to No. 16.

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