FIGHT! Rankings: Beerbohm Crashes Out of Contention, Tachi Palace Cements Its Hold On Flyweight Division

(Beerbohm weighs in at a previous Strikeforce event.)

At FIGHT! Magazine, we believe there is a need for a completely objective and unbiased ranking system for fighters to replace the myriad subjective rankings that have become skewed, in many instances, by fighter popularity. In an effort to address this issue FIGHT! Magazine brings you its computerized rankings system which takes into account a fighters strength of opponent, strength of performance, and frequency of activity. Go here for a detailed explanation of how FIGHT!’s rankings work.

On Fri., Feb. 18, Strikeforce Challengers 14 went down in the Austin, Tex. area, as did one of Strikeforce’s few lightweight prospects, Lyle Beerbohm. UFC, WEC, IFL, and MFC veteran Pat Healy leapt from #75 to #30 in the Lightweight Rankings following his decision win over the formerly unbeaten Beerbohm, who falls from #24 to #73 with the loss.

Former WEC Welterweight Championship contender Carlo Prater has struggled of late but he pulled out a catchweight win over welterweight Bryan Travers. Prater moves from #175 to #107 in our lightweight poll while Travers falls from #100 to #165 in the Welterweight Rankings.

Also at Welterweight, unranked Ryan Larson defeated Erik Apple; Apple falls from #135 to #182 at 170.

Ryan Couture notched his second win in two professional fights (this time over unranked Lee Higgins) and will enter our Lightweight Rankings after his third bout. David Douglas defeated Nick Gonzalez in another catchweight bout; Douglas drops from #106 to #108 in the Lightweight Rankings, while Gonzalez sits tight at #99 in the Featherweight Rankings with the loss.

In the only other ranked bout of the evening, Ousmane Diagne moved from #204 to #167 in the Lightweight Rankings with his win over unranked Aaron Franco. No other ranked fighters appeared on the card.

(Loiseau weighs in before his bout with Mario Miranda.)

Farther west, in Lemoore, Calif., 22 fighters threw down in the square cage at Tachi Palace Fights 8: All or Nothing. Two belts were up for grabs and both changed hands. Read on for full analysis of how the results effected our rankings.

In the main event, UFC veteran David Loiseau picked up the TPF Middleweight Championship belt with a cut stoppage win over IFL vet and Lemoore regular Leopoldo Serao. Loiseau climbs from #136 to #91 in the Middleweight Rankings with the win, while Serao falls from #71 to #120 with the loss.

In the co-main event, Darrell Montague took the TPF Flyweight Championship from Ulysses Gomez with a unanimous decision win. In what was likely a top contender bout, WEC veteran Ian McCall defeated the man many considered to be the best flyweight in the world, Jussier Da Silva. The fight highlighted the problems with subjective rankings and opinion polls – while Da Silva was undefeated and held a signature non-title win over former Shooto Flyweight Champion Shinichi Kojima, he was beaten soundly by an unheralded fighter who went 1-2 while fighting as a Bantamweight in the WEC. When FIGHT! publishes its official Flyweight Rankings later this year, all four fighters will likely figure in the top 10, and fighters below 135 pounds can be assessed objectively.

John Gunderson‘s plan for making a return to the UFC hit a snag on Friday when he was felled by Dominique Robinson. Robinson climbs from #128 to #72 in the Lightweight Rankings while “Guns” falls from #117 to #177. In another lightweight battle, this one contested between two UFC veterans, Fabricio Camoes knocked out Steve Lopez with a head kick. Camoes moves from #57 to #46 in the poll, while Lopez enters the rankings at #154 following the loss.

Edgar Garcia climbs from #103 to #86 in the Welterweight Rankings with a win over unranked Mike Moreno. No other ranked fighters appeared on the card.