
There is constant debate about the “official” UFC fighter rankings, which are based on voting from a panel of journalists. Such is the case with something as subjective as voting – it’s totally based on voter’s opinion, and biases are bound to seep through, whether intentional or no. So to try to put a fresh, objective, data-driven spin on rankings, The MMA Manifesto has come up with a performance based ranking system, solely based on how a fighter has performed in the cage. Next up: The Welterweights.
*stipulations: 1) any fighter currently suspended or 2) inactive for at least 12 months (without an upcoming fight scheduled) are excluded from the rankings
- Scoring based on a fighter’s past 10 UFC performances (we use a five year time limit, so if they have fought less than 10 times in past five years, only the fights within that time frame are counted)
- Points based on a fighter’s opponent’s UFC win/loss record (ie strength of schedule – the more successful a vanquished opponent is, the more points awarded), extra points given for finishes, extra points given for title fight wins.
- Points are weighed so most recent fights are worth more (ie most recent fight counts the most, 10th most recent fight the least)
- No points awarded for a loss
(first column performance based ranking, second column is last ranking, third column is official UFC ranking from UFC.com)
| Stats | Last | UFC | Total | |
| Rank | Rank | Rank | ||
| 1 | 1 | 2 | Tyron Woodley | 491 |
| 2 | 2 | 1 | Kamaru Usman | 370.5 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | Colby Covington | 352.5 |
| 4 | 7 | 5 | Leon Edwards | 289.5 |
| 5 | 6 | 10 | Santiago Ponzinibbio | 267.5 |
| 6 | 4 | 13 | Robbie Lawler | 236 |
| 7 | 5 | 6 | Rafael dos Anjos | 228.5 |
| 8 | 8 | 4 | Jorge Masvidal | 227 |
| 9 | 10 | Kevin Lee | 204 | |
| 10 | 9 | 8 | Anthony Pettis | 177 |
| 11 | 12 | Anthony Rocco Martin | 172.5 | |
| 12 | 15 | 11 | Demian Maia | 163 |
| 13 | 13 | Gunnar Nelson | 162 | |
| 14 | 14 | 15 | Vicente Luque | 159 |
| 15 | 16 | 8 | Stephen Thompson | 148.5 |
| 16 | 19 | Michael Chiesa | 148 | |
| 17 | 18 | 14 | Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos | 139 |
| 18 | 20 | Claudio Silva | 137.5 | |
| 19 | 17 | Niko Price | 127.5 | |
| 20 | 22 | Warlley Alves | 123.5 | |
| 21 | 23 | Sean Strickland | 120 | |
| 22 | 24 | Abdul Razak Alhassan | 117.5 | |
| 23 | 26 | Michel Prazeres | 112.5 | |
| 24 | 21 | Alexey Kunchenko | 112 | |
| 25 | 27 | Alex Oliveira | 110.5 | |
| 26 | NR | Gilbert Burns | 110 | |
| 27 | 29 | 16 | Neil Magny | 103.5 |
| 28 | 48 | Geoff Neal | 102.5 | |
| 29 | 28 | Nate Diaz | 98 | |
| 30 | 25 | Mike Perry | 94.5 | |
| 31 | 30 | Jake Matthews | 90.5 | |
| 32 | 32 | James Krause | 86 | |
| 33 | 34 | Randy Brown | 82.5 | |
| 34 | 35 | Sergio Moraes | 80.5 | |
| 35 | 33 | Ismail Naurdiev | 76.5 | |
| 36 | 36 | Alex Morono | 76 | |
| 37 | 37 | Alberto Mina | 75.5 | |
| 37 | 31 | Diego Sanchez | 75.5 | |
| 39 | 39 | Alex Garcia | 74 | |
| 40 | 41 | Belal Muhammad | 71 | |
| 41 | 42 | Alan Jouban | 69.5 | |
| 42 | 38 | 12 | Ben Askren | 67.5 |
| 42 | 43 | Curtis Millender | 67.5 | |
| 42 | 43 | Dwight Grant | 67.5 | |
| 42 | 40 | Mickey Gall | 67.5 | |
| 46 | 45 | Bryan Barberena | 65 | |
| 47 | 46 | Ramazan Emeev | 64 | |
| 48 | 49 | Li Jingliang | 57 | |
| 49 | 50 | Siyar Bahadurzada | 56.5 | |
| 50 | 51 | Dhiego Lima | 52 | |
| 51 | 52 | Keita Nakamura | 51.5 | |
| 52 | 53 | Nordine Taleb | 51 | |
| 53 | 54 | Lyman Good | 50 | |
| 54 | 55 | Ben Saunders | 48.5 | |
| 54 | 55 | Chad Laprise | 48.5 | |
| 56 | 57 | Carlos Condit | 45 | |
| 57 | 58 | Zak Ottow | 44.5 | |
| 58 | 59 | Tim Means | 44 | |
| 59 | 60 | Song Kenan | 42.5 | |
| 60 | 61 | Danny Roberts | 40.5 | |
| 61 | 62 | Michel Pereira | 40 | |
| 62 | 63 | Laureano Staropoli | 29.5 | |
| 63 | 64 | Max Griffin | 29 | |
| 64 | 65 | Chance Rencountre | 27.5 | |
| 65 | 65 | Muslim Salikhov | 25 | |
| 65 | 65 | Takashi Sato | 25 | |
| 67 | 68 | Thiago Alves | 19.5 | |
| 68 | 69 | Bartosz Fabinski | 16 | |
| 69 | 70 | Court McGee | 14 | |
| 70 | 71 | Erik Koch | 12 | |
| 71 | 71 | Emil Meek | 8 | |
| 72 | 73 | Sergey Khandozhko | 5 | |
| 73 | 74 | Daichi Abe | 4 | |
| 73 | NR | Nicolas Dalby | 4 | |
| 75 | NR | Cole Williams | 0 | |
| 75 | 76 | David Zawada | 0 | |
| 75 | 76 | Derrick Krantz | 0 | |
| 75 | 76 | Hector Aldana | 0 | |
| 75 | 76 | Kyle Prepolec | 0 | |
| 75 | 76 | Kyle Stewart | 0 | |
| 75 | 76 | Luigi Vendramini | 0 | |
| 75 | 76 | Ricky Rainey | 0 | |
| 75 | 76 | Rostem Akman | 0 | |
| 75 | 76 | Salim Touahri | 0 | |
| 75 | 76 | Zelim Imadaev | 0 |
Check back Friday for our lightweight rankings
Performance Based Rankings:
Heavyweights
Light Heavyweights
Middleweights
Lightweights
Featherweights
Bantamweights
Flyweights
Women’s Feather/Bantamweights
Women’s Flyweights
Women’s Strawweights
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