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 Middleweights.
*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 seven year time limit, so if they have fought less than 10 times in past seven 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 | 7 | Chris Weidman | 420 |
| 2 | 2 | Georges St-Pierre | 371 | |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | Luke Rockhold | 364 |
| 4 | 4 | 1 | Michael Bisping | 358 |
| 5 | 5 | 2 | Yoel Romero | 342 |
| 6 | 8 | 4 | Robert Whittaker | 283 |
| 7 | 6 | 5 | Gegard Mousasi | 270 |
| 8 | 7 | 6 | Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza | 204 |
| 9 | 9 | 8 | Anderson Silva | 185 |
| 10 | 10 | 15 | Dan Kelly | 148.5 |
| 11 | 13 | 12 | Thales Leites | 131.5 |
| 12 | 11 | 16 | Tim Boetsch | 120 |
| 13 | 12 | Thiago Santos | 112.5 | |
| 14 | 18 | 11 | Vitor Belfort | 111.5 |
| 15 | 15 | 10 | Krzysztof Jotko | 99.5 |
| 16 | 16 | 9 | Derek Brunson | 97 |
| 17 | 17 | Johny Hendricks | 92 | |
| 18 | 14 | 14 | Sam Alvey | 87 |
| 19 | 19 | Vitor Miranda | 84.5 | |
| 20 | 20 | Hector Lombard | 80 | |
| 21 | 21 | Elias Theodorou | 78.5 | |
| 22 | 22 | Rashad Evans | 76 | |
| 23 | 23 | Brad Tavares | 69.5 | |
| 24 | 24 | C.B. Dollaway | 68.5 | |
| 25 | 25 | 13 | Uriah Hall | 64.5 |
| 26 | 26 | Nate Marquardt | 64 | |
| 27 | 27 | Eric Spicely | 56 | |
| 28 | 41 | Anthony Smith | 52.5 | |
| 29 | 28 | Magnus Cedenblad | 46 | |
| 30 | 29 | Jack Marshman | 45 | |
| 31 | 30 | Cezar Ferreira | 42 | |
| 32 | 31 | Gerald Meerschaert | 39 | |
| 33 | 32 | Rafael Natal | 31 | |
| 34 | 33 | Antonio Carlos Junior | 28.5 | |
| 35 | 35 | Brad Scott | 27 | |
| 36 | 36 | Chris Camozzi | 26 | |
| 36 | 36 | David Branch | 26 | |
| 38 | 38 | Alex Nicholson | 22.5 | |
| 39 | 39 | Gareth McLellan | 17.5 | |
| 40 | 41 | Scott Askham | 14 | |
| 41 | 43 | Trevor Smith | 13.5 | |
| 42 | 40 | Andrew Sanchez | 13 | |
| 43 | 44 | Devin Clark | 10 | |
| 44 | 45 | Marvin Vettori | 9 | |
| 44 | 45 | Oluwale Bamgbose | 9 | |
| 46 | 47 | Marcelo Guimaraes | 8 | |
| 47 | 48 | Paulo Henrique Costa | 5 | |
| 48 | 49 | Alessio Di Chirico | 4.5 | |
| 48 | 49 | Jack Hermansson | 4.5 | |
| 48 | 49 | Ryan Janes | 4.5 | |
| 51 | 52 | Keith Berish | 0 |
Check back Friday for our welterweight rankings
Performance Based Rankings:
Heavyweights
Light Heavyweights
Welterweights
Lightweights
Featherweights
Bantamweights
Flyweights
Women’s Featherweights/Bantamweights
Women’s Strawweights
Pound for Pound
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