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 | 967 |
2 | 2 | 2 | Colby Covington | 445 |
3 | 3 | 4 | Leon Edwards | 425 |
4 | 4 | 5 | Vicente Luque | 364 |
5 | 5 | 15 | Muslim Salikhov | 344 |
6 | 6 | 13 | Santiago Ponzinibbio | 337 |
7 | 7 | 12 | Li Jingliang | 298.5 |
8 | 8 | 3 | Gilbert Burns | 297.5 |
9 | 9 | Shavkat Rakhmonov | 269 | |
10 | 10 | 6 | Stephen Thompson | 238 |
11 | 11 | 7 | Jorge Masvidal | 227 |
12 | 12 | James Krause | 224.5 | |
13 | 13 | Kevin Lee | 223 | |
14 | 14 | 9 | Neil Magny | 222 |
15 | 15 | 10 | Belal Muhammad | 218 |
16 | 16 | 14 | Sean Brady | 215 |
17 | 17 | 8 | Michael Chiesa | 209 |
18 | 18 | Randy Brown | 157 | |
19 | 22 | Max Griffin | 155.5 | |
20 | 19 | Alex Morono | 155 | |
21 | 23 | Claudio Silva | 154 | |
22 | 24 | 16 | Daniel Rodriguez | 153.5 |
23 | 21 | Francisco Trinaldo | 152 | |
24 | 26 | Khaos Williams | 144 | |
25 | 27 | Warlley Alves | 143.5 | |
26 | 25 | Michel Prazeres | 138.5 | |
27 | 28 | Miguel Baeza | 131 | |
28 | 29 | 11 | Geoff Neal | 129 |
29 | NR | Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos | 118 | |
30 | 30 | Jake Matthews | 117.5 | |
31 | 31 | Matt Brown | 117 | |
32 | 19 | Niko Price | 115.5 | |
33 | 33 | Dwight Grant | 107 | |
34 | 34 | Michel Pereira | 104 | |
35 | 35 | Khamzat Chimaev | 103 | |
36 | 52 | Carlston Harris | 96 | |
37 | 36 | Court McGee | 88 | |
38 | 51 | Matthew Semelsberger | 87 | |
39 | 38 | Mike Perry | 82.5 | |
40 | 39 | Jeremiah Wells | 80 | |
41 | 40 | Song Kenan | 76.5 | |
42 | 41 | Takashi Sato | 70 | |
43 | 42 | Ramazan Emeev | 68 | |
44 | 45 | Tim Means | 65 | |
45 | 46 | Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone | 62 | |
46 | 47 | Dhiego Lima | 61 | |
47 | 44 | Mickey Gall | 60 | |
48 | 42 | Impa Kasanganay | 59 | |
49 | 48 | Danny Roberts | 55 | |
50 | 49 | Mounir Lazzez | 54 | |
50 | 37 | Nicolas Dalby | 54 | |
52 | 50 | Philip Rowe | 50 | |
53 | 52 | Ramiz Brahimaj | 40 | |
53 | 52 | Sasha Palatnikov | 40 | |
55 | 56 | Bryan Barberena | 37 | |
56 | 57 | David Zawada | 32 | |
57 | 59 | Jason Witt | 26 | |
58 | 61 | Jared Gooden | 18 | |
59 | 58 | Alex Oliveira | 17.5 | |
60 | 62 | Abubakar Nurmagomedov | 10 | |
60 | 62 | Gabriel Green | 10 | |
62 | 64 | Sergey Khandozhko | 9 | |
63 | 65 | Nate Diaz | 8 | |
64 | 66 | Jordan Williams | 0 | |
64 | 66 | Louis Cosce | 0 | |
64 | NR | Martin Sano Jr. | 0 | |
64 | 66 | Mike Jackson | 0 | |
64 | 66 | Niklas Stolze | 0 | |
64 | 66 | Orion Cosce | 0 | |
64 | 66 | 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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