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 a voter’s opinion, and biases are bound to seep through, whether intentional or not. 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 Welterweights.
*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 the 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 | Kamaru Usman | 1006.5 |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | Leon Edwards | 425 |
| 3 | 3 | 5 | Vicente Luque | 364 |
| 4 | 4 | 16 | Muslim Salikhov | 344 |
| 5 | 5 | 2 | Colby Covington | 334 |
| 6 | 7 | 3 | Gilbert Burns | 297.5 |
| 7 | 15 | 6 | Belal Muhammad | 269 |
| 7 | 8 | Shavkat Rakhmonov | 269 | |
| 9 | 9 | 12 | Khamzat Chimaev | 240 |
| 10 | 10 | 10 | Sean Brady | 238 |
| 11 | 12 | 14 | Li Jingliang | 236 |
| 12 | 6 | 15 | Santiago Ponzinibbio | 235 |
| 13 | 14 | 9 | Neil Magny | 222 |
| 14 | 13 | 7 | Jorge Masvidal | 217 |
| 15 | 26 | 13 | Geoff Neal | 201.5 |
| 16 | 16 | Khaos Williams | 186 | |
| 17 | 10 | 8 | Stephen Thompson | 176 |
| 18 | 20 | Alex Morono | 172 | |
| 19 | 17 | 11 | Michael Chiesa | 168 |
| 20 | 19 | Max Griffin | 155.5 | |
| 21 | 21 | Claudio Silva | 154 | |
| 22 | 22 | Daniel Rodriguez | 153.5 | |
| 23 | 18 | Randy Brown | 153 | |
| 24 | 23 | Warlley Alves | 143.5 | |
| 25 | 25 | Francisco Trinaldo | 134 | |
| 26 | 27 | Danny Roberts | 122 | |
| 27 | 28 | Trevin Giles | 119.5 | |
| 28 | 29 | Jake Matthews | 117.5 | |
| 29 | 30 | Matt Brown | 117 | |
| 30 | 31 | Niko Price | 115.5 | |
| 31 | 32 | Michel Pereira | 104 | |
| 32 | 33 | Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos | 102 | |
| 33 | 34 | Miguel Baeza | 97 | |
| 34 | 35 | Carlston Harris | 96 | |
| 35 | 36 | Court McGee | 88 | |
| 36 | 37 | Matthew Semelsberger | 87 | |
| 37 | 38 | Jeremiah Wells | 80 | |
| 38 | 39 | Song Kenan | 76.5 | |
| 39 | 40 | Dwight Grant | 74 | |
| 40 | 42 | Tim Means | 65 | |
| 41 | 43 | Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone | 62 | |
| 42 | 44 | Dhiego Lima | 61 | |
| 43 | 47 | Mounir Lazzez | 54 | |
| 43 | 47 | Nicolas Dalby | 54 | |
| 45 | 49 | Ramazan Emeev | 52 | |
| 46 | 50 | Philip Rowe | 50 | |
| 47 | 51 | Ramiz Brahimaj | 40 | |
| 47 | 51 | Sasha Palatnikov | 40 | |
| 49 | 53 | Bryan Barberena | 37 | |
| 50 | 45 | Mickey Gall | 33 | |
| 51 | 54 | David Zawada | 32 | |
| 52 | 55 | Jason Witt | 26 | |
| 53 | 56 | Jared Gooden | 18 | |
| 54 | 57 | Alex Oliveira | 17.5 | |
| 55 | 58 | Abubakar Nurmagomedov | 10 | |
| 55 | 58 | Gabriel Green | 10 | |
| 55 | 58 | Ian Garry | 10 | |
| 58 | 62 | Nate Diaz | 8 | |
| 59 | 63 | Benoit Saint-Denis | 0 | |
| 59 | NR | Darian Weeks | 0 | |
| 59 | 63 | Jordan Williams | 0 | |
| 59 | 63 | Martin Sano Jr. | 0 | |
| 59 | 63 | Niklas Stolze | 0 | |
| 59 | 63 | Orion Cosce | 0 | |
| 59 | 63 | Preston Parsons | 0 |
Check back Friday for our lightweight rankings
Performance Based Rankings:
Heavyweights
Light Heavyweights
Middleweights
Lightweights
Featherweights
Bantamweights
Flyweights
Women’s Feather/Bantamweights
Women’s Flyweights
Women’s Strawweights
Pound for Pound
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