UFC Performance Based Fighter Rankings: Light Heavyweights: Apr 19/21

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 Light 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, last column is official UFC ranking from UFC.com)

Stats	Last	UFC		Total
Rank	Rank	Rank
1	1	1	Jan Blachowicz	700
2	2	2	Glover Teixeira	396
3	4	3	Aleksandar Rakic	230
4	5	11	Johnny Walker	217
5	6	4	Dominick Reyes	208
6	3	7	Anthony Smith	206.5
7	7	9	Volkan Oezdemir	192
8	8	14	Jimmy Crute	190
9	15	12	Ryan Spann	176.5
10	10	15	Paul Craig	168
11	11	8	Magomed Ankalaev	163
12	9	13	Misha Cirkunov	133.5
13	11		Ovince Saint Preux	130
14	18	16	Jamahal Hill	109
15	13	5	Thiago Santos	106
16	14	10	Nikita Krylov	105
17	16		Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua	101
18	17		Ion Cutelaba	94
19	23		Alonzo Menifield	90
20	19	6	Jiri Prochazka	80
21	NR		Da Un Jung	78
22	22		Ed Herman	70
23	25		Kennedy Nzechukwu	59
24	20		Michal Oleksiejczuk	56
25	21		Khalil Rountree Jr	46.5
26	26		Dustin Jacoby	46
27	28		Modestas Bukauskas	40
28	26		Devin Clark	38
29	32		Danilo Marques	19
30	33		Aleksa Camur	18
30	33		Maxim Grishin	18
30	31		William Knight	18
33	33		Mike Rodriguez	13
34	36		Ike Villanueva	10
34	36		Marcin Prachnio	10
36	39		John Allan	9
37	40		Andreas Michailidis	0
37	40		Carlos Ulberg	0
37	NR		Fabio Cherant	0
37	NR		Nicolae Negumereanu	0

Check back Friday for our middleweight rankings

Performance Based Rankings:

Heavyweights
Middleweights
Welterweights
Lightweights
Featherweights
Bantamweights
Flyweights
Women’s Feather/Bantamweights
Women’s Flyweights
Women’s Strawweights
Pound for Pound

 

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