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 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 | |||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | Stipe Miocic | 554 |
| 2 | 2 | Jon Jones | 396 | |
| 3 | 3 | 2 | Francis Ngannou | 330.5 |
| 4 | 4 | 3 | Curtis Blaydes | 228.5 |
| 5 | 5 | 6 | Alistair Overeem | 197.5 |
| 6 | 6 | 4 | Jairzinho Rozenstruick | 147.5 |
| 7 | 7 | 5 | Derrick Lewis | 141 |
| 8 | 8 | 12 | Aleksei Oleinik | 124 |
| 9 | 9 | 8 | Alexander Volkov | 120 |
| 10 | 10 | 7 | Junior dos Santos | 111.5 |
| 11 | NR | Tai Tuivasa | 101 | |
| 12 | 11 | Fabricio Werdum | 99 | |
| 13 | 13 | 10 | Shamil Abdurakhimov | 97 |
| 14 | 12 | 11 | Walt Harris | 82 |
| 15 | 15 | Marcos Rogerio de Lima | 72 | |
| 16 | 16 | Ilir Latifi | 71 | |
| 17 | 14 | Ben Rothwell | 70 | |
| 18 | 19 | Alexander Gustafsson | 59 | |
| 18 | 19 | 13 | Sergei Pavlovich | 59 |
| 20 | 18 | 16 | Marcin Tybura | 55.5 |
| 20 | 17 | Stefan Struve | 55.5 | |
| 22 | 30 | Chris Daukaus | 52.5 | |
| 22 | 21 | 14 | Ciryl Gane | 52.5 |
| 24 | 36 | Tom Aspinall | 43 | |
| 25 | 22 | 15 | Blagoy Ivanov | 40.5 |
| 26 | 24 | Andrei Arlovski | 36 | |
| 27 | 25 | Tanner Boser | 32.5 | |
| 28 | 26 | 9 | Augusto Sakai | 30.5 |
| 29 | 27 | Dmitriy Sosnovskiy | 30 | |
| 30 | 28 | Greg Hardy | 29.5 | |
| 31 | 29 | Sergey Spivak | 29 | |
| 32 | 30 | Juan Espino | 27.5 | |
| 33 | 30 | Alexander Romanov | 25 | |
| 34 | 33 | Maurice Greene | 24 | |
| 35 | 35 | Gian Villante | 21 | |
| 36 | 34 | Yorgan De Castro | 20 | |
| 37 | 37 | Jake Collier | 18.5 | |
| 38 | 38 | Justin Tafa | 10 | |
| 39 | 38 | Rodrigo Nascimento | 9 | |
| 40 | 41 | Carlos Felipe | 5 | |
| 41 | 40 | Raphael Pessoa | 4.5 | |
| 42 | NR | Alan Badout | 0 | |
| 42 | 41 | Ben Sosoli | 0 | |
| 42 | 41 | Don’Tale Mayes | 0 | |
| 42 | 41 | Jarjis Danho | 0 | |
| 42 | 41 | Justin Frazier | 0 | |
| 42 | 41 | Michel Batista | 0 | |
| 42 | 41 | Parker Porter | 0 | |
| 42 | 41 | Philipe Lins | 0 | |
| 42 | 41 | Roque Martinez | 0 | |
| 42 | 41 | Todd Duffee | 0 |
Check back Friday 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
(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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