Ranking the Fight Camps combines the USA Today/SB Nation consensus rankings with win/loss records over the past three months in order to provide a ranked list of the most successful MMA fight camps in the world.

The most recent installment was released on January 24th. I'm constantly making adjustments to the team rosters, as I receive more accurate information about who is training where. I made a major change to the rosters this week; I will no longer be considering "Black House" a team. Most of the fighters that were under that designation are now under Team Nogueira. If anyone has any information they would like to share on this front (not on Black House specifically, but rather, who trains where) I'd be forever indebted to you.

THE CRITERIA

Each camp is designated as tier I, II or III, based on how many fighters from the camp appear in the top 25 for all 7 weight classes. Tier I camps have more than five top 25 fighters. Tier II camps have at least two and no more than five top 25ers and Tier III camps are those with just a single fighter in the top 25. A number one ranked fighter is worth 25 points to his camp, a number two ranked fighter is worth 24 and so on. In the past I totaled the score for each camp but moving forward I've decided to average out the score so that the big camps don't all end up at the top.

Over the past three months, each stoppage victory is worth +2, each decision victory +1. Each stoppage loss is worth -2, each decision loss -1. There will also be bonus points awarded in the case of a ranked fighter defeating one with a higher rank. The bonus points will be equal to the difference in rank, up to a maximum of 5 points. For example, when #13 Nathan Diaz defeated #8 Donald Cerrone, he earned 6 points. 1 for the decision victory and 5 because Cowboy was ranked 5 spots higher than he was.

I'm going to rank the top 5 for each tier, as well as an overall top 15. Only Tier I and II camps will be eligible for the top 15 due to the fact that I am averaging out the consensus scores.

The rankings can be found after the jump.

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It is no secret that Nick Diaz basically kept the Strikeforce brand afloat through the last three years of his career. An exciting volume puncher who brings a unique style, always takes big shots, often gets in to trouble, but finishes the vast majority of his fights. These are all highly desirable qualities in a fighter; consistency and excitement being the greatest marketable assets in a fighter - there's a reason Chuck Liddell was the biggest star in MMA during his 3 year, knockout filled winning streak. What many fans do not realize is the efforts which matchmakers go to to make stars like Diaz a reality for their promotion. Despite the welterweight division being filled to the brim with takedown artists, Nick Diaz has still not fought a decent wrestler in the last half a decade.

The Role of a Match Maker

What many fans fail to understand is that there is a reason match makers such as Joe Silva make such huge amounts of money. A matchmaker's job is to either:

1) Put on a barnburning fight

OR

2) Sell a fighter as a superstar

In every event you will see the staple brawlers tend to the first order of business such as Chris Lytle and Chris Leben, fighters who are unlikely to get a title shot on their ability but that a matchmaker can rely on to put on an exciting fight win, lose or draw. Exciting brawlers can often stay in the major leagues of MMA despite a losing record if they entertain the crowds, and this is excellent because not everyone can be a Georges St. Pierre but still deserve gainful employment.

The second concern of selling a fighter is where Joe Silva, and other matchmakers earn their money. It is hard to sell fights under a brand unless there are stars within that brand that act as a figurehead. Often these will be exciting fighters such as BJ Penn, or fighters who have a following from outside MMA such as Brock Lesnar or Herschel Walker.

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Continuing with the bout annoucements, lightweight veterans Donald Cerrone and Yves Edwards will do battle at the UFC event scheduled for May 15th in Virginia. There is some confusion as to whether or not this card will be on FX or Fuel, as the bout was made official via the FUEL TV twitter account, while other references to it have it being broadcast by FX. I will be referring to this card as UFC on FUEL 3 from now on.

Cerrone is coming off a one-sided decision loss to Nathan Diaz at UFC 141. Prior to the defeat, he had won four UFC fights in a row after moving to the company from the WEC. He is 4-1 in the Octagon. Edwards is coming off a decision loss himself, althought his fight with Tony Ferguson was considerably closer, with some suggesting that Edwards deserved the win. Edwards has fought 14 times as a lightweight in the Octagon, stretching all the way back to UFC 37. He is 9-5 in his UFC career.

Cerrone is the 13th ranked lightweight in the world. He fights out of Jackson's MMA.
Edwards is unranked. He fights out of American Top Team.

The fight card now has three matches scheduled.

UFC on FUEL 3

104 Days Out: Thiago Silva vs Igor Pokrajac (Replacing Brandon Vera). Light Heavyweight division.
104 Days Out: Jason MacDonald vs Tom Lawlor. Middleweight division.
98 Days Out: Donald Cerrone vs Yves Edwards. Lightweight division.

The third UFC on FOX offering, scheduled to take place in New Jersey on May 5th, had another bout added to it last night, between welterweights Pascal Krauss and John Hathaway. The fight was originally booked for last November's UFC 138, but injuries to both fighters forced them off the card.

Hathaway is coming off a victory over Kris McCray at UFC Fight Night 24: Nogueira vs Davis, in what was a controversial split judges decision. For someone with a 5-1 record in the UFC, he has been somewhat of an afterthought since being dominated by Mike Pyle back at UFC 120. Krauss has only competed in the UFC once, winning a decision over Mark Scanlon at UFC 122. He is undefeated, posting a 9-0 record before signing with the UFC.

Hathaway is the 24th ranked welterweight in the world. He fights out of London Shootfighters.
Krauss is unranked. He fights out of Victory MMA.

The fight card is almost complete, with eight matches now booked. It should be noted that the only bout currently scheduled for the televised portion of the card is Jim Miller vs Nathan Diaz, so the final few bouts added to this event should be big ones.

UFC on FOX 3

102 Days Out: Nate Diaz vs Jim Miller, Lightweight Division.
102 Days Out: John Dodson vs Darren Uyenoyama, Flyweight Division.
96 Days Out: Tony Ferguson vs Dennis Hallman, Lightweight Division.
94 Days Out: Lavar Johnson vs Pat Barry, Heavyweight Division.
93 Days Out: Mike Massenzio vs Karlos Vemola, Middleweight Division.
92 Days Out: Louis Gaudinot vs John Lineker, Flyweight Division.
88 Days Out: John Cholish vs Danny Castillo, Lightweight Division.
88 Days Out: Pascal Krauss vs John Hathaway, Welterweight Division.

Joe Silva had a very busy day making matches yesterday, so there is a lot to get to. Starting with the third UFC on FOX, a fight between two lightweights on the way up, John Cholish and Danny Castillo have been added to the card.

Cholish recently made his octagon debut, an impressive TKO victory over Mitch Clarke at UFC 140. After losing his very first professional fight, he has put together eight straight wins, so he will bring a nice streak into the fight with Castillo. For his part Castillo is coming off of two straight decision victories, over Shamar Bailey and most recently Anthony Njokuani. He is a veteran of the WEC, fighting 8 times for the organization before coming over to the UFC after the merger. He is 3-1 in the UFC.

Cholish is unranked. He fights for Renzo Gracie Academy.
Castillo is unranked. He fights for Team Alpha Male.

The fight card now has six matches scheduled:

UFC on FOX 3

102 Days Out: Nate Diaz vs Jim Miller, Lightweight Division.
102 Days Out: John Dodson vs Darren Uyenoyama, Flyweight Division.
96 Days Out: Tony Ferguson vs Dennis Hallman, Lightweight Division.
94 Days Out: Lavar Johnson vs Pat Barry, Heavyweight Division.
93 Days Out: Mike Massenzio vs Karlos Vemola, Middleweight Division.
88 Days Out: John Cholish vs Danny Castillo, Lightweight Division.

In the wake of UFC 143, the primary focus of discussion throughout the MMA community has been the legitimacy of Carlos Condit's win over Nick Diaz. Throughout the fight, Condit frustrated Diaz as he constantly circled away and forced Nick to chase him. After the fifth round, the judges awarded Condit the unanimous decision. Aside from fight fans arguing the merits of Condit's technical performance, the story this week has been whether or not there will be a rematch between the two.

After the fight, Dana White himself came out in support of a rematch, saying:

You know, people are bitching and thinking it was close or whatever, we can do that fight again before GSP comes back.

Nick Diaz's camp seems to be in support of this, as Diaz's manager Cesar Gracie himself came out blasting the NSAC judges for their scoring Saturday night. Gracie went as far as to say that the judges had and have had a bias against Diaz personally for his style and in-fight antics. He did not specifically call for the rematch, but playing up the drama to this extent definitely shows that Gracie doesn't want to let the issue pass.

In pretty much direct response, Condit's manager, Malki Kawa released a statement today:

"At this point, [a rematch] is not something we're looking to do," he said. "We're looking for Georges. People forget, Carlos waited a long time to get this fight.

In a surprise turn of events, it seems Dana White found the right price tag to change the mind of Condit and his management team. Via his twitter, White responded to a fan asking if rumors of the rematch were true. Dana responded:

The aftermath of the Nick Diaz vs Carlos Condit fight at UFC 143 has seen some incredibly good fan posts around the SBnation community:

• My early favorite was this post by Bloody Elbow community member "crazybones", in which he bemoans the separation of violence and sport that has gradually been taking place in MMA.
• Dallas Winston asked people to share their scores, which provided a great sampling of opinions and insights for seeing it one way or the other.
• I'm sure you've all read it by now, but another BE member, KGNLuc, took the time to transcribe what was said in Nick's corner during the fight. Above all else, It's a fascinating look into the relationship between Nathan and Nick. If you haven't or don't read it you will definitely be missing some key information when trying to evaluate the fight.
• Finally, Monte Fisto opens up his fight watching toolbox and shares a concept that everyone who cares about MMA should know: "The Rule of Trembling Shock". Just go read it.

Throughout those (and other) threads, it emerged that a large portion of those who saw it for Diaz felt he clearly won and a large portion of those who saw if for Condit felt he clearly won.

How so many people can look at a singular event and have wildly differing accounts is generally known as "The Rashomon effect", named after Japanese film maker Akira Kurosawa's film "Roshomon", which depicted a crime seen in mutually contradictory ways through the eyes of four people. In applying the concept to MMA, passion clearly plays a large role; Diaz fans will tend to see the fight for Diaz, while Condit fans will tend to see the fight for Condit.

Another contributing factor is the tendency for opposing factions to attempt to discredit each other while at the same time trying to get their point across. A great example of this in everyday life is the political debate over the de-criminalization of marijuana. Those in favor of de-criminalization would have you believe that it is a miracle plant with countless benefits and no negative side effects. Those who are against de-criminalization, on the other hand, claim that, among other bad things, it turns all who use it into worthless, unmotivated slobs and often leads to more serious drug use. Of course there are grains of truth on both sides but neither will ever admit it, in fear that their position will then be dismissed entirely.

Back to fighting though. By now, having heard the countless arguments from both sides, I think most reasonable members of the MMA community would agree that the Diaz/Condit fight was an incredibly close affair. Judging that fight live must have been an exceedingly difficult task and I wonder how many times the judges went back and forth in their heads before settling on Condit.

Fortunately for us, we do not have to render our verdict in the two minutes immediately following the fight. We have the benefit of being able to watch the fight multiple times, of looking at the CompuStrike and FightMetric stats, of listening to the opinions of many many educated observers, before we come to a conclusion, if we even do. (I'm okay with saying, "That particular fight was so close, I'm not exactly sure who I think won". I've said it before and will probably say it again.)

With the number of close fights happening in the past few years, I've spent a lot of time thinking about how I watch and evaluate fighting and this fight has convinced me that it was time for me to ask how the members of this esteemed community watch and evaluate. After the jump I'll share my fight watching evolution from noob to whatever I am now (potentially still a noob) and hopefully a handful of people will do the same.

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