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 | 3 | 9 | Cain Velasquez | 312 |
| 4 | 5 | 3 | Francis Ngannou | 271 |
| 5 | 10 | 4 | Junior dos Santos | 193 |
| 6 | 4 | 8 | Alistair Overeem | 183 |
| 7 | 8 | 10 | Aleksei Oleinik | 166.5 |
| 8 | 6 | Ben Rothwell | 148 | |
| 9 | 7 | 6 | Derrick Lewis | 138 |
| 10 | 9 | 7 | Alexander Volkov | 136.5 |
| 11 | 12 | 5 | Curtis Blaydes | 136.5 |
| 12 | 11 | 11 | Marcin Tybura | 112 |
| 13 | 13 | 12 | Tai Tuivasa | 100.5 |
| 14 | 15 | 14 | Shamil Abdurakhimov | 89 |
| 15 | 16 | Marcos Rogerio de Lima | 62 | |
| 16 | 14 | Walt Harris | 58.5 | |
| 17 | 18 | 16 | Andrei Arlovski | 54 |
| 18 | 35 | 15 | Blagoy Ivanov | 35 |
| 19 | 19 | 12 | Justin Willis | 33.5 |
| 20 | 20 | Adam Wieczorek | 31 | |
| 21 | 23 | Maurice Greene | 27.5 | |
| 22 | 23 | Juan Espino | 25 | |
| 23 | 25 | Chris De La Rocha | 22.5 | |
| 23 | 25 | Daniel Spitz | 22.5 | |
| 25 | 27 | Junior Albini | 21 | |
| 26 | 28 | Marcelo Golm | 20 | |
| 27 | 30 | Jairzinho Rozenstruick | 10 | |
| 27 | 30 | Juan Adams | 10 | |
| 29 | 32 | Arjan Singh Bhullar | 9 | |
| 30 | 33 | Allen Crowder | 5 | |
| 30 | 33 | Augusto Sakai | 5 | |
| 32 | 35 | Greg Hardy | 0 | |
| 32 | NR | Jeff Hughes | 0 | |
| 32 | 35 | Justin Frazier | 0 | |
| 32 | 35 | Michel Batista | 0 | |
| 32 | 35 | Sergey Pavlovich | 0 |
Check back Monday for our light heavyweight rankings
Performance Based Rankings:
Light Heavyweights
Middleweights
Welterweights
Lightweights
Featherweights
Bantamweights
Flyweights
Women’s Feather/Bantamweights
Women’s Flyweights
Women’s Strawweights
Pound for Pound
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