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 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 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 ranking, last column is official UFC ranking from UFC.com)
| Stats | Last | UFC | Total | |
| Rank | Rank | Rank | ||
| 1 | 2 | 1 | Daniel Cormier | 521 |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | Glover Teixeira | 185 |
| 3 | 4 | 8 | Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua | 166 |
| 4 | 5 | 9 | Ovince Saint Preux | 158.5 |
| 5 | 6 | 2 | Alexander Gustafsson | 147.5 |
| 6 | 8 | 5 | Ilir Latifi | 130.5 |
| 7 | 9 | Sam Alvey | 127 | |
| 8 | 10 | 3 | Volkan Oezdemir | 123 |
| 9 | 7 | 7 | Jimi Manuwa | 115 |
| 10 | 11 | 10 | Misha Cirkunov | 93 |
| 11 | 17 | 6 | Jan Blachowicz | 71.5 |
| 12 | 12 | Marcos Rogerio de Lima | 63 | |
| 13 | 13 | Ed Herman | 61 | |
| 13 | 13 | 14 | Gadzhimurad Antigulov | 61 |
| 15 | 16 | 13 | Tyson Pedro | 56 |
| 16 | 20 | Paul Craig | 53 | |
| 17 | 18 | Dominick Reyes | 47.5 | |
| 18 | 19 | 15 | Gian Villante | 42 |
| 19 | 20 | Steve Bosse | 32 | |
| 20 | 26 | Khalil Rountree | 29.5 | |
| 21 | 22 | Jared Cannonier | 29 | |
| 22 | 24 | 12 | Patrick Cummins | 27.5 |
| 23 | 25 | Jake Collier | 27 | |
| 24 | 27 | Gokhan Saki | 25 | |
| 25 | 28 | 11 | Corey Anderson | 24 |
| 26 | 29 | Jeremy Kimball | 22.5 | |
| 27 | 31 | 16 | Jordan Johnson | 22 |
| 28 | 30 | Aleksandar Rakic | 20 | |
| 29 | 32 | Devin Clark | 16 | |
| 30 | 34 | Adam Milstead | 9 | |
| 31 | 35 | Marcel Fortuna | 8 | |
| 32 | 36 | Abdul-Kerim Edilov | 5 | |
| 33 | 38 | Josh Stansbury | 4 | |
| 34 | 39 | Bojan Mihajlovic | 0 | |
| 34 | 39 | Cody Bochnovic | 0 | |
| 34 | NR | Magomed Ankalaev | 0 | |
| 34 | 39 | Marcin Prachnio | 0 | |
| 34 | NR | Mike Rodriguez | 0 | |
| 34 | 39 | Saparbek Safarov | 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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