UFC Performance Based Fighter Rankings: Heavyweights: Dec 28/18

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 Heavyweights.

*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
1	1	1	Daniel Cormier	688
2	2	2	Stipe Miocic	446
3	NR		Cain Velasquez	360.5
4	3	7	Alistair Overeem	183
5	6	4	Francis Ngannou	181
6	4	3	Derrick Lewis	167
7	5	9	Aleksei Oleinik	166.5
8	7	6	Alexander Volkov	136.5
9	12	8	Junior dos Santos	126.5
10	11	11	Marcin Tybura	112
11	9	5	Curtis Blaydes	111
12	10	12	Tai Tuivasa	100.5
13	13	13	Shamil Abdurakhimov	89
14	14		Marcos Rogerio de Lima	73.5
15	15		Walt Harris	58.5
16	16	14	Andrei Arlovski	54
17	17	15	Stefan Struve	50
18	18	10	Justin Willis	38
19	19		Adam Wieczorek	31
20	20		Dmitriy Sosnovskiy	30
21	21		Cyril Asker	29.5
22	NR		Juan Espino	25
22	NR		Maurice Greene	25
24	23		Junior Albini	24
25	22		Chris De La Rocha	22.5
25	24		Daniel Spitz	22.5
27	25		Marcelo Golm	20
28	26		Chase Sherman	18.5
29	NR		Juan Adams	10
30	27		Arjan Singh Bhullar	9
31	28		Augusto Sakai	5
32	29		Allen Crowder	0
32	29	16	Blagoy Ivanov	0
32	NR		Justin Frazier	0
32	NR		Michel Batista	0
32	NR		Sergey Pavlovich	0