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UFC 84 Stats Bonanza
Some shows are good for stats, other shows are not. UFC 84 was a great card for stats. The reason is that a bunch of really unique/weird/rare things happened. We have an article up at Yahoo Sports talking about:* BJ Penn's historic use of the jab* Tito Ortiz's first round ineffectiveness* Rousimar Palhares's grappling perfection* Yoshiyuki Yoshida's rare submissionWe've also got a bunch of great stats available here on the site. First, the TPR Report for the televised fights is available here.Next, the complete stats for the Penn-Sherk fight is up, so you can see just how good BJ's jab was.Finally, we've put up a fight report with complete stats from the Machida-Ortiz fight. In addition, we've created a special report due to some remarks that we've seen in forums and comments. Some have compared Lyoto's performance to that of Kalib Starnes. To put that sentiment to bed, we've posted the striking stats for the fight between Nate Quarry and Kalib Starnes. There simply is no comparison. Starnes landed 15 strikes in the entire fight. Machida landed more than 15 strikes in each of the three rounds of the fight. There's a difference between avoiding action and picking your shots.
Don't Forget About Sherk
It's been all BJ all the time the last couple of weeks here, as we ramped up to UFC 84 with a few detailed reports of his fights. Today marks the release of the career TPR Report for BJ Penn and we have an article up at Yahoo Sports with some really interesting information about BJ's jiu-jitsu and the way he passes guard.But don't think we forgot about Sherk. While the majority of his fights have been in smaller organizations, and thus, do not have readily accessible video, we are doing the best we can to learn what we can about Sherk's time in the UFC. The first product of that study is released today, a detailed report on his fight with Nick Diaz. This is one of those odd fights where all three judges agree precisely on the scoring, but the fan community is up in arms. As the stats show, the fight was extremely close, nearly a draw. What are the chances that Penn-Sherk is that close?
BJ Penn's Love/Hate Relationship...
...with the UFC Lightweight Championship. The UFC's 155-pound class has had its ups and downs, and it seems like every one of those spikes has involved BJ Penn. Penn was the last man to contend for the title before it was stripped from Jens Pulver, the last man to contend for the title before the weight class went on hiatus, and the first man to contend for the title after it was stripped from Sean Sherk. The fact that Penn failed in his first two attempts to capture the belt still rankles some to this day. His first attempt ended with a rare majority decision loss to Pulver. His fight for the vacant title against Caol Uno ended in an even-rarer draw. Both of these decisions are among the most controversial in UFC history.Today marks the release of FightMetric reports for both Penn fights, against Jens Pulver and against Caol Uno. While the Pulver fight was at least close enough for Pulver to take two rounds, the Uno fight was hardly competitive. Penn takes it 49-46, but has an overall lead of 180 points over Uno.It's imporant to keep in mind that these two fights were contested when MMA judging was still in its relative infancy. At that time, judges were much more like to score a 10-8 or 10-10 round than they are now. As much as folks like to complain about decisions these days, MMA judging in this country has most certainly improved in the last six years.
BJ Penn is Ridiculous
During his banishment from the UFC, BJ Penn was something of a ronin, taking fights where he could face interesting opponents no matter the weight class. Of all of these fights, none is more impressive than Penn, a legitimate lightweight, taking on Lyoto Machida, a legitimate light heavyweight. That's a 50 pound differential.What's probably most impressive is how well Penn did against not just any larger opponent, but a top-tier 205-pounder. Machida took the unanimous decision and is still undefeated two years later.The FightMetric report on the fight between Penn and Machida shows just how well Penn did. For starters, Penn got cracked by several huge shots in the clinch...and was completely unfazed. Though wild with his stand-up striking, he landed more HiPer Strikes than Machida.Using the ten-point must system, FightMetric gives the fight to Penn 29-28. Overall, the effectiveness scores favor Machida 185-183, which is within FightMetric's margin of error. That means Penn effectively got a draw against one of the top five light heavyweights in the world. And when you think about it, that's pretty ridiculous.This report also marks the debut of our new report format. What you'll be seeing in the future is the ability to house complete stats for multiple fights in a single presentation. Currently, only our TPR Reports have the ability to display limited stats for several fights at once. Take a look, give it a test-run and if you have any comments, feel free to send them to us at info@fightmetric.com.
Stay Tuned
Apologies for the lack of updates around here. Within the next few days we will be releasing a brand new report format that should be a major improvement. It will have a different look, but more importantly, it will be more automated and quicker to create. It will also be suitable for any fight, not just ones that go to a decision. All of that means that we'll be able to create reports for more fights, providing more stats for you.
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