Alright, so I got into this whole UFC thing a while back, and man, it’s been a wild ride. I started tracking some fighters, you know, just for fun, and it turned into a bit of an obsession. Today, I wanna talk about this “mendoza ufc” thing I’ve been digging into. It’s not just about the fights, but the whole scene, the numbers, the rankings, all that stuff.
First off, I tried to get a handle on how much these fighters are actually making. Turns out, it’s not as glamorous as it looks. I found out that the average UFC fighter was pulling in something like $160,022 in 2021. But get this – in 2022, that number went down to around $91,250! Only two fighters made over six figures which were Israel Adesanya and Andrei Arlovski. Also, I found Islam Makhachev had the best record(26-1). Can you believe that? It’s a tough gig, man. They’re putting their bodies on the line, and the paychecks aren’t always reflecting that, at least for most of them.
Then, I got sucked into the world of UFC rankings. There’s this whole system, you know? I started following this guy, Alexandre Pantoja. He’s the flyweight champ and one of the best pound-for-pound fighters out there. But it feels like he doesn’t get the respect he deserves. It’s crazy how these rankings work, how they go up and down. Also, I read some data about MMA Professional Fighter Rankings which were updated weekly.
And there are so many fighters to keep track of! I found out about this other fighter, Kennedy Nzechukwu, he made 11 appearances in the light heavyweight division! There was also this guy, David “Len” Mendoza, a 27-year-old fighter from Mexico. His record is 7-2-0, and he’s fighting some guy named Rodolfo Rubio Perez soon. It’s a whole world of its own, I’m telling you.
I even found myself reading about specific fights. Like, there was this “Magny vs. Gastelum” fight I stumbled upon. These guys, Neil Magny and Kelvin Gastelum, they’re welterweights, and they were the main event for some UFC Fight Night. I saw No. 14 in the rankings, a very real possibility for Cavalcanti to move into the Top 10 with right matchups.
What I did with all this
- Started a spreadsheet: Yeah, I know, it sounds nerdy, but I started a spreadsheet to track fighters, their records, their earnings (what I could find, anyway), and their rankings. It was all very interesting.
- Watched more fights: I started watching more fights, but not just the big ones. I was checking out the undercards, trying to spot up-and-coming fighters, seeing who’s moving up the ranks.
- Read more articles and news: I was reading everything I could find about the UFC, you know, just trying to understand the whole scene better.
It’s been a fun little project, this whole “mendoza ufc” thing. It started with just wanting to know more about the sport, and it’s turned into this whole thing where I’m tracking fighters, looking at the numbers, and just getting a better feel for the world of the UFC. It’s way more than just guys hitting each other, you know? There’s a lot going on behind the scenes.