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 | 366 |
| 4 | 4 | 11 | Robbie Lawler | 321 |
| 5 | 5 | 4 | Rafael dos Anjos | 287 |
| 6 | 6 | 10 | Santiago Ponzinibbio | 267.5 |
| 7 | 7 | 12 | Leon Edwards | 259 |
| 8 | 9 | 5 | Jorge Masvidal | 232 |
| 9 | 10 | 9 | Anthony Pettis | 206 |
| 10 | 8 | Kevin Lee | 204 | |
| 11 | 11 | Anthony Rocco Martin | 198.5 | |
| 12 | 12 | 7 | Darren Till | 176 |
| 13 | 13 | Gunnar Nelson | 170 | |
| 14 | 14 | 16 | Vicente Luque | 165 |
| 15 | 16 | 13 | Demian Maia | 150 |
| 16 | 15 | 8 | Stephen Thompson | 148.5 |
| 17 | 17 | Niko Price | 147 | |
| 18 | 18 | 15 | Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos | 139 |
| 19 | 19 | Michael Chiesa | 133.5 | |
| 20 | 21 | Claudio Silva | 126 | |
| 20 | 22 | Sean Strickland | 126 | |
| 22 | 23 | Alexey Kunchenko | 125 | |
| 23 | 44 | Warlley Alves | 124.5 | |
| 24 | 24 | Abdul Razak Alhassan | 117.5 | |
| 25 | 31 | Mike Perry | 114.5 | |
| 26 | 25 | Michel Prazeres | 112.5 | |
| 27 | 20 | Alex Oliveira | 110.5 | |
| 28 | NR | Nate Diaz | 105 | |
| 29 | 26 | 14 | Neil Magny | 103.5 |
| 30 | 28 | Diego Sanchez | 97.5 | |
| 31 | 30 | Jake Matthews | 90.5 | |
| 32 | 29 | James Krause | 89 | |
| 33 | 31 | Ismail Naurdiev | 85 | |
| 34 | 33 | Bryan Barberena | 81 | |
| 35 | 27 | Sergio Moraes | 80.5 | |
| 36 | 37 | Alex Morono | 76 | |
| 37 | 38 | Alberto Mina | 75.5 | |
| 38 | 39 | 6 | Ben Askren | 75 |
| 39 | 35 | Alex Garcia | 74 | |
| 40 | 40 | Mickey Gall | 73.5 | |
| 41 | 48 | Belal Muhammad | 71 | |
| 42 | 34 | Alan Jouban | 69.5 | |
| 43 | 36 | Curtis Millender | 67.5 | |
| 43 | 63 | Dwight Grant | 67.5 | |
| 45 | 45 | Ramazan Emeev | 64 | |
| 46 | 47 | Randy Brown | 61 | |
| 47 | 43 | Jordan Mein | 59.5 | |
| 48 | 49 | Geoff Neal | 59 | |
| 49 | 50 | Li Jingliang | 57 | |
| 50 | 42 | Siyar Bahadurzada | 56.5 | |
| 51 | 52 | Dhiego Lima | 52 | |
| 52 | 46 | Keita Nakamura | 51.5 | |
| 53 | 51 | Nordine Taleb | 51 | |
| 54 | 53 | Lyman Good | 50 | |
| 55 | 56 | Ben Saunders | 48.5 | |
| 55 | 54 | Chad Laprise | 48.5 | |
| 57 | 41 | Carlos Condit | 45 | |
| 58 | 57 | Zak Ottow | 44.5 | |
| 59 | 58 | Tim Means | 44 | |
| 60 | 59 | Song Kenan | 42.5 | |
| 61 | 55 | Danny Roberts | 40.5 | |
| 62 | NR | Michel Pereira | 40 | |
| 63 | 71 | Laureano Staropoli | 29.5 | |
| 64 | 62 | Max Griffin | 29 | |
| 64 | 61 | Shinsho Anzai | 29 | |
| 66 | 63 | Chance Rencountre | 25 | |
| 66 | 63 | Muslim Salikhov | 25 | |
| 66 | NR | Takashi Sato | 25 | |
| 69 | 60 | Thiago Alves | 19.5 | |
| 70 | 68 | Bartosz Fabinski | 16 | |
| 71 | 66 | Court McGee | 14 | |
| 72 | 70 | Emil Meek | 8 | |
| 73 | 71 | Mike Jackson | 5 | |
| 74 | 73 | Carlo Pedersoli Jr | 4 | |
| 74 | 73 | Daichi Abe | 4 | |
| 74 | 73 | Frank Camacho | 4 | |
| 77 | 76 | CM Punk | 0 | |
| 77 | 76 | David Zawada | 0 | |
| 77 | NR | Derrick Krantz | 0 | |
| 77 | 76 | Hector Aldana | 0 | |
| 77 | NR | Kyle Prepolec | 0 | |
| 77 | 76 | Kyle Stewart | 0 | |
| 77 | 76 | Luigi Vendramini | 0 | |
| 77 | 76 | Ricky Rainey | 0 | |
| 77 | 76 | Salim Touahri | 0 | |
| 77 | NR | Zelim Imadaev | 0 |
Check back Friday for our lightweight rankings
Performance Based Rankings:
Heavyweights
Light Heavyweights
Middleweights
Lightweights
Featherweights
Bantamweights
Flyweights
Women’s Flyweights
Women’s Feather/Bantamweights
Women’s Strawweights
Pound for Pound
(The MMA Manifesto is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com)
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