UFC Rankings, Lightweight Divsion and Bellator Dublin

Today I had a look at the UFC rankings as part of a plan to come up with my own ranking system to see how it compares with the official rankings. It's going to take quite a bit of research but it will increase my knowledge of the fighters. I hope to also do it for the two other major promotions, Bellator and One, over time. I might not blog next week to give myself more time for research. We'll see.
Justin Gaethje is on a bit of a tare in the lightweight division at the moment. Two knockouts of guys who had never been knocked out previously in their careers - Edson Barboza and Donald Cerrone. I didn't expect Cowboy to lose against Gaethje after seeing his dominant win over Al Iaquinta. But I've been underestimating Justin's improvement since his fights with Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier. I thought maybe Cowboy could pose a few problems for Khabib until I saw how he fared against Tony Ferguson and now Gaethje. Tony Ferguson is the guy we want to see fighting Khabib next. Tony hasn't lost since he fought Michael Johnson early in his UFC career and he has inflicted some major damage to his opponents after his interim title win against Kevin Lee. If Khabib beats Tony he is the lightweight GOAT. If Khabib beats Tony I don't think Justin Gaethje will beat him even if Justin can pose a few problems. It's true for Matt Sera. When people see Khabib have a moment against an opponent they think they've found the solution to beating him. But it's a different story when they get in the octagon with him.
I'm going to Bellator Dublin on the 27th. Getting ready for that is another reason not to blog next week if it takes too much time. I'm disappointed Brian "Pikeman" Moore pulled out because I was looking forward to watching him fight more than the main event to be honest. It should be a good event anyway judging by the last one I was at in February. We have a big name internationally in the co-main event as well. I would like to do a video blog if I was able but I don't have any video editing software or experience in it. I might take some videos anyway and experiment in my spare time if I'm up to it. But I won't give anyone any expectations of a vlog.

Introduction Post

Hello and welcome to my new mixed martial arts blog. When I first saw the sport of mixed martial arts more than a decade ago my reaction was that it was inhumane and borderline homoerotic. Inhumane in the sense that it looked as bad as illegal dog fighting and homoerotic in the sense that when a fighter was on his back on the ground he had his legs wrapped around his opponent. Two near naked, sweaty men rolling around, sometimes in a bloody mess, and clenching each other tightly. I didn't see the appeal.
Fast forward to a number of years later and a man called Conor McGregor appeared on the Irish talk show The Late Late Show full of charm,charisma and wit. I thought "I like this guy even though I normally would be put off by his cockiness". I watched a documentary on the Irish MMA scene on tv not long after as a result of Conor's interview and soon he became a regular fixture on tv and I started to take an interest in the sport. I became a fan of Conor and of the sport as a result.
When deciding to set up this blog I wanted to use casual in the title. It's usually used as a derogatory term on MMA forums for people who only got into the sport because of people like Conor, usually used by people who believe they know a lot more about MMA but actually don't know that much more. An attempt to take the stigma away from being called a casual fan, I suppose. I'm certainly not a hardcore fan. I've never fought in competition in martial arts even at an amateur level. I don't know many names outside of the top 15s in each division of the UFC, only know a handful in Bellator, can't name any in One FC who hasn't been in the UFC and almost none in other MMA promotions. But I am getting into the intricacies of fighting & fighting styles from a fan's perspective and have attended a Bellator event and will be attending another later this month. I'm not the complete casual I was five years ago and would say I'm growing into being a moderate fan.
I hope to use this blog to express myself and my opinions and discuss the important news stories of the MMA world. I plan on coming up with my own ranking system to see how it compares with the real rankings and trying to make it reflect consistency, activity and win streaks of fighters. I hope anyone who discovers this blog will help me use it as a forum for discussing the ins & outs of fighting, fights, fighting styles, game plans and the big MMA news stories of the day.

Just one more thing before signing off. If you're looking for a specific post in the future, there is a blog archive of posts on the right.