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 | 2 | Daniel Cormier | 545 |
2 | 2 | 1 | Stipe Miocic | 509 |
3 | 3 | 3 | Francis Ngannou | 330.5 |
4 | 4 | 4 | Curtis Blaydes | 228.5 |
5 | 5 | 9 | Alistair Overeem | 174.5 |
6 | 6 | 12 | Aleksei Oleinik | 147.5 |
7 | 8 | 6 | Junior dos Santos | 130 |
8 | 7 | Ovince Saint Preux | 118 | |
9 | 10 | 5 | Derrick Lewis | 117 |
10 | 8 | 8 | Alexander Volkov | 112.5 |
11 | 11 | 10 | Walt Harris | 98 |
12 | 14 | 13 | Shamil Abdurakhimov | 97 |
13 | 15 | 7 | Jairzinho Rozenstruick | 94 |
14 | 12 | Ben Rothwell | 81.5 | |
15 | 16 | Ilir Latifi | 75 | |
16 | 17 | Marcin Tybura | 72 | |
16 | 17 | Marcos Rogerio de Lima | 72 | |
18 | NR | Alexander Gustafsson | 67.5 | |
19 | 19 | Stefan Struve | 67 | |
20 | 20 | Tai Tuivasa | 64.5 | |
21 | 21 | 14 | Sergei Pavlovich | 59 |
22 | 13 | 15 | Fabricio Werdum | 58.5 |
23 | 22 | Ciryl Gane | 52.5 | |
24 | 23 | 16 | Blagoy Ivanov | 40.5 |
24 | 34 | Chase Sherman | 40.5 | |
26 | 24 | Andrei Arlovski | 36 | |
27 | 25 | 11 | Augusto Sakai | 34.5 |
28 | 26 | Dmitriy Sosnovskiy | 30 | |
29 | 27 | Greg Hardy | 29.5 | |
30 | 28 | Sergey Spivak | 27 | |
31 | 30 | Gian Villante | 26 | |
32 | 31 | Juan Espino | 25 | |
33 | 32 | Maurice Greene | 22.5 | |
33 | 32 | Yorgan De Castro | 22.5 | |
35 | 28 | Jake Collier | 21 | |
36 | 35 | Justin Tafa | 10 | |
36 | NR | Rodrigo Nascimento | 10 | |
38 | 36 | Raphael Pessoa | 5 | |
39 | 37 | Tanner Boser | 4.5 | |
40 | 38 | Ben Sosoli | 0 | |
40 | 38 | Don’Tale Mayes | 0 | |
40 | NR | Ike Villanueva | 0 | |
40 | 38 | Jarjis Danho | 0 | |
40 | 38 | Jeff Hughes | 0 | |
40 | 38 | Justin Frazier | 0 | |
40 | 38 | Michel Batista | 0 | |
40 | NR | Philipe Lins | 0 | |
40 | 38 | 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
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