How would I go about analysing MMA statistics and data for future predictions? My maths knowledge is pretty poor but I'm looking to improve on a new project I'm interested in.
I have data from thousands of MMA fights/fighters including weights, height, reach etc. and I'm trying to make a calculation to predict future fights.
Now I know this is probably a huge task, but I'm thinking of it more as an exercise of how I'd go about doing it, rather than expecting accurate results.
How would I go about analyzing data like this? What should I be reading into, and what methods should I be using to get to find patterns in the data etc.? Any resources to start me off would be hugely appreciated. 
I can remember very little of mathematics from school, so the more simple the better.
 A: Predicting something of interest from available data is arguably the central problem of modern statistics, so there is plenty. 
But you really shouldn't expect to hit the ground running. You should expect to work through a good introduction to statistics with a strong emphasis on correlation and regression, which in practice means almost any of them. I like Freedman, D., Pisani, R., Purves, R. Statistics (any edition), although plenty of people don't. 
The big blockbuster texts aimed at introductory students (Agresti and Frankin; De Veaux, Velleman and Bock, etc., etc.) get as far as multiple regression, which is important for you. 
A: It's fairly large undertaking however it's not so hard to get started. I've written a short paper which addresses methodological concerns for beginners here:
http://prescientmuse.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/mixed-martial-arts-fight-outcome.html
It'll give you a good idea of what sort of things are involved. Further, here is a list of stuff not to assume:
http://prescientmuse.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/assumptions-to-avoid-when-predicting-mma.html
Otherwise, consider googling for introduction to experimental design and analysis. Let the statistical knowledge increase in proportion to your knowledge of how to actually design and implement experiments. There are many wrong ways to apply statistics for each right one.
Let me know if you have more specific questions.
