John Howard vs Thiago Alves

Thiago Alves's 8-fight experience advantage (14 vs 6 fights) held true, but the algorithm limited the bonus to prevent over-rewarding Thiago Alves for the expected result. Had John Howard pulled off the upset, his experience disadvantage would have delivered a modest upset bonus.

This was not a title fight, so both fighters received standard ELO adjustments. However, since ELO is a relative system, victories over former champions can have an indirect impact, and Title Fight ELO can differ from Basic ELO.

Thiago Alves earned a clear Decision - Unanimous, receiving full decision bonuses for controlling the fight across all rounds. Of course, a finish would have yielded even greater rewards.

Thiago Alves dominated the striking exchanges with 105 vs 54 total strikes, 73 vs 37 significant strikes, 39.5% vs 29.8% accuracy, including 1 devastating knockdown. Thiago Alves capitalized on this striking dominance.

Thiago Alves landed 1 knockdown followed by 3 ground strikes. Few ground strikes after a knockdown do not qualify for major ground ELO bonus.

Thiago Alves demonstrated solid activity levels with 127 days since his last fight, earning a moderate activity bonus for consistent scheduling. As the winner, Thiago Alves capitalized on this activity level, while John Howard's 133-day layoff didn't factor into the scoring since only winners receive activity bonuses.

Thiago Alves started a new win streak, earning a momentum bonus. John Howard is back at 0 with this loss.

This category provides the foundation ELO scoring without bonuses, except for exceptional multiple division champions.