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 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 seven year time limit, so if they have fought less than 10 times in past seven 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 rank, last column is official UFC ranking from UFC.com)
Stats | Last | UFC | Total | |
Rank | Rank | Rank | ||
1 | 1 | 1 | Tyron Woodley | 553.5 |
2 | 2 | 2 | Robbie Lawler | 460 |
3 | 3 | 6 | Rafael dos Anjos | 319.5 |
4 | 4 | 5 | Jorge Masvidal | 235 |
5 | 5 | 4 | Demian Maia | 223.5 |
6 | 6 | 3 | Stephen Thompson | 219.5 |
7 | 7 | 7 | Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone | 183 |
8 | 8 | 9 | Colby Covington | 181 |
9 | 10 | 10 | Santiago Ponzinibbio | 177.5 |
10 | 11 | 15 | Alex Oliveira | 167.5 |
11 | 9 | 10 | Neil Magny | 148 |
12 | 13 | 12 | Gunnar Nelson | 147 |
13 | 14 | Jake Ellenberger | 109 | |
14 | 16 | Alex Garcia | 102 | |
15 | 19 | Leon Edwards | 101 | |
16 | 17 | 13 | Dong Hyun Kim | 94.5 |
17 | 40 | Niko Price | 94 | |
18 | 18 | Warlley Alves | 93.5 | |
19 | 20 | Tim Means | 91.5 | |
20 | 15 | Bryan Barberena | 91 | |
21 | 21 | 14 | Kamaru Usman | 90 |
22 | 22 | Sean Strickland | 89 | |
23 | 23 | Alberto Mina | 84.5 | |
24 | 24 | Matt Brown | 83 | |
25 | 25 | Mickey Gall | 82.5 | |
25 | 25 | Ryan LaFlare | 82.5 | |
27 | 27 | Peter Sobotta | 81.5 | |
28 | 28 | Sergio Moraes | 80 | |
29 | 29 | Mike Perry | 79 | |
30 | 30 | Yancy Medeiros | 70 | |
31 | 31 | Zak Cummings | 66 | |
32 | 32 | Erick Silva | 65 | |
32 | 32 | Keita Nakamura | 65 | |
34 | 34 | Jordan Mein | 64 | |
35 | 35 | Omari Akhmedov | 61.5 | |
36 | 36 | Thiago Alves | 61 | |
37 | 37 | Ben Saunders | 58.5 | |
38 | 38 | Vicente Luque | 53 | |
39 | 39 | James Krause | 52.5 | |
40 | 42 | Mike Pyle | 47 | |
41 | 43 | Danny Roberts | 46.5 | |
42 | 44 | Randy Brown | 45 | |
43 | 45 | Li Jingliang | 43.5 | |
44 | 46 | Alexander Yakovlev | 43 | |
44 | 46 | Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos | 43 | |
46 | 48 | Nordine Taleb | 42 | |
47 | 49 | Hyun Gyu Lim | 41 | |
48 | 51 | Chad Laprise | 40 | |
49 | 41 | Alan Jouban | 39.5 | |
50 | 52 | Belal Muhammad | 37 | |
51 | 53 | Joe Proctor | 32 | |
52 | 54 | 16 | Tarec Saffiedine | 31 |
53 | 67 | Darren Till | 27 | |
54 | 55 | Bojan Velickovic | 26 | |
55 | 56 | Galore Bofando | 25 | |
55 | 56 | Jesse Taylor | 25 | |
55 | 56 | Luan Chagas | 25 | |
55 | 56 | Shinsho Anzai | 25 | |
59 | 60 | Zak Ottow | 24.5 | |
60 | 61 | Tom Breese | 24 | |
61 | 62 | Alex Morono | 23 | |
62 | 63 | Abdul Razak Alhassan | 22.5 | |
62 | 63 | Antonio Braga Neto | 22.5 | |
64 | 65 | Court McGee | 20.5 | |
65 | 66 | Max Griffin | 20 | |
66 | 68 | Kiichi Kunimoto | 18 | |
66 | 68 | Lyman Good | 18 | |
68 | 70 | Dominique Steele | 17.5 | |
69 | 71 | Emil Meek | 10 | |
69 | 71 | Sultan Aliev | 10 | |
71 | 73 | Nico Musoke | 7 | |
72 | 74 | Jonathan Meunier | 5 | |
72 | 74 | Luke Jumeau | 5 | |
72 | 74 | Sheldon Westcott | 5 | |
75 | 77 | Jessin Ayari | 4.5 | |
75 | 77 | Nathan Coy | 4.5 | |
77 | 79 | Dhiego Lima | 3.5 | |
78 | 80 | Bobby Nash | 0 | |
78 | 80 | Brian Camozzi | 0 | |
78 | 80 | Charlie Ward | 0 | |
78 | 80 | Davi Ramos | 0 | |
78 | 80 | Frank Camacho | 0 | |
78 | 80 | Jim Wallhead | 0 | |
78 | 80 | Oliver Enkamp | 0 | |
78 | 80 | Sabah Homasi | 0 | |
78 | 80 | Tom Gallicchio | 0 |
Check back Monday for our lightweight rankings
Performance Based Rankings:
Heavyweights
Light Heavyweights
Middleweights
Lightweights
Featherweights
Bantamweights
Flyweights
Women’s Featherweights/Bantamweights
Women’s Strawweights
Pound for Pound
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