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 UFC Heavyweight Rankings.
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*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 | |||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | Francis Ngannou | 829 |
| 2 | 2 | 3 | Stipe Miocic | 614 |
| 3 | 3 | 2 | Ciryl Gane | 402.5 |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | Derrick Lewis | 336 |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | Curtis Blaydes | 305 |
| 6 | 6 | 12 | Tai Tuivasa | 245 |
| 7 | 7 | 11 | Tom Aspinall | 230 |
| 8 | 8 | 6 | Alexander Volkov | 215.5 |
| 9 | 9 | 7 | Jairzinho Rozenstruick | 203 |
| 10 | 10 | 8 | Chris Daukaus | 194 |
| 11 | 11 | Alexandr Romanov | 157 | |
| 12 | 12 | 9 | Shamil Abdurakhimov | 128 |
| 13 | 14 | 16 | Sergei Pavlovich | 118 |
| 14 | 13 | Marcos Rogerio de Lima | 113 | |
| 15 | 15 | 10 | Marcin Tybura | 106.5 |
| 16 | 16 | Tanner Boser | 100 | |
| 17 | 17 | Ovince Saint Preux | 97 | |
| 18 | 18 | Aleksei Oleinik | 96 | |
| 18 | 18 | Sergey Spivak | 96 | |
| 20 | 20 | Ben Rothwell | 93 | |
| 21 | 21 | 15 | Walt Harris | 87.5 |
| 22 | 22 | Greg Hardy | 86 | |
| 22 | 22 | Ilir Latifi | 86 | |
| 24 | NR | Alexander Gustafsson | 80 | |
| 25 | 24 | Andrei Arlovski | 77 | |
| 26 | NR | 14 | Blagoy Ivanov | 67 |
| 27 | 26 | Don’Tale Mayes | 49 | |
| 27 | 26 | Juan Espino | 49 | |
| 29 | NR | Rodrigo Nascimento | 36 | |
| 30 | 25 | Chase Sherman | 31.5 | |
| 31 | 28 | Justin Tafa | 30 | |
| 32 | 29 | 13 | Augusto Sakai | 28 |
| 33 | 33 | Jake Collier | 22 | |
| 34 | 31 | Jarjis Danho | 20 | |
| 35 | 32 | Parker Porter | 19 | |
| 36 | 34 | Chris Barnett | 10 | |
| 37 | 35 | Jared Vanderaa | 9 | |
| 37 | 35 | Josh Parisian | 9 | |
| 39 | 37 | Alan Baudot | 0 | |
| 39 | 37 | Harry Hunsucker | 0 | |
| 39 | 37 | Philipe Lins | 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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