UFC Performance Based Fighter Rankings: Lightweights: Aug 17/20

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 Lightweights.

 

*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	1	Khabib Nurmagomedov	508.5
2	2	2	Justin Gaethje	373
3	3	4	Tony Ferguson	303.5
4	4	3	Dustin Poirier	287
5	5	7	Charles Oliveira	282
6	6	6	Dan Hooker	205.5
7	7	11	Kevin Lee	203
8	8	12	Islam Makhachev	187.5
9	12	15	Beneil Dariush	176
10	9		Josh Emmett	175
11	10	9	Carlos Diego Ferreira	171
12	11	8	Paul Felder	155.5
13	13		Alexander Hernandez	140
14	14		Francisco Trinaldo	132.5
15	15	16	Drew Dober	129.5
16	18	13	Gregor Gillespie	116.5
17	19	10	Al Iaquinta	116
18	20		David Teymur	110
19	16		Scott Holtzman	109.5
20	17		Leonardo Santos	109
21	22		Renato Moicano	92
22	21		Jim Miller	89
23	28		Vinc Pichel	87
24	24		Khama Worthy	76
25	25		Yancy Medeiros	75
26	23		Davi Ramos	67.5
27	26		Damir Hadzovic	66.5
28	27		Joe Lauzon	64
29	29		Magomed Mustafaev	62.5
30	31		Luis Pena	52.5
31	47		Arman Tsarukyan	51.5
32	32		Joaquim Silva	51
33	33		Gabriel Benitez	48
34	35		Alexander Yakovlev	46.5
34	34		Nasrat Haqparast	46.5
36	36		Clay Guida	45
36	36		Jalin Turner	45
38	40		Devonte Smith	43
38	58		Joel Alvarez	43
38	39		Stevie Ray	43
41	42		Drakkar Klose	41
42	43		John Makdessi	40.5
43	44		Charles Rosa	40
44	45		Roosevelt Roberts	39
45	36		Lando Vannata	38
46	46		Michael Johnson	37.5
47	41		Marc Diakiese	35
48	48		Kevin Aguilar	34
49	NR		Alan Patrick	32
50	50		Austin Hubbard	29
51	51		Don Madge	27.5
52	52		Frank Camacho	26.5
53	53		Brad Riddell	24.5
53	53		Matt Frevola	24.5
53	53		Omar Morales	24.5
53	68		Rafael Fiziev	24.5
57	56		Claudio Puelles	23
58	57		Alex White	21.5
59	58		Teemu Packalen	20
60	60		Christos Giagos	18
61	61		Joe Solecki	15
62	62		Mark Madsen	14
63	63		Damir Ismagulov	13.5
64	49		Joseph Duffy	13
65	67		Bobby Green	12.5
66	64		Ottman Azaitar	10
66	64		Tristan Connelly	10
68	66		Thiago Moises	9
69	68		Alex da Silva	5
70	71		Brok Weaver	4.5
71	NR		Alexander Munoz	0
71	72		Fares Ziam	0
71	NR		Jai Herbert	0
71	72		Jamie Mullarkey	0
71	72		Jonathan Pearce	0
71	72		Joshua Culibao	0
71	72		Matt Wiman	0
71	72		Rodrigo Vargas	0

 

Check back Friday for our featherweight rankings

Performance Based Rankings:

Heavyweights
Light Heavyweights
Middleweights
Welterweights
Featherweights
Bantamweights
Flyweights
Women’s Feather/Bantamweights
Women’s Flyweights
Women’s Strawweights
Pound for Pound

 

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