UFC Performance Based Fighter Rankings: Light Heavyweights: Mar 8/21

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 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	2	1	Jan Blachowicz	380
2	3	2	Glover Teixeira	221
3	4	7	Anthony Smith	143
4	10	5	Aleksandar Rakic	136.5
5	5	11	Johnny Walker	134
6	6	4	Dominick Reyes	131
7	7	9	Volkan Oezdemir	120
8	8	13	Jimmy Crute	111
9	NR	12	Misha Cirkunov	104
10	11	15	Paul Craig	96
11	14	8	Magomed Ankalaev	91
11	12		Ovince Saint Preux	91
13	9	3	Thiago Santos	86
14	13	10	Nikita Krylov	75
15	15	14	Ryan Spann	68
16	16		Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua	66.5
17	17		Ion Cutelaba	62
18	18	16	Jamahal Hill	54.5
19	19	6	Jiri Prochazka	40
20	20		Michal Oleksiejczuk	38
21	21		Khalil Rountree Jr	36.5
22	22		Ed Herman	35
23	23		Alonzo Menifield	33.5
24	24		Da Un Jung	32.5
25	NR		Kennedy Nzechukwu	29.5
26	25		Devin Clark	23
26	28		Dustin Jacoby	23
28	26		Klidson Abreu	22.5
28	26		Modestas Bukauskas	22.5
30	29		Roman Dolidze	14.5
31	31		William Knight	10
32	34		Danilo Marques	9.5
33	33		Aleksa Camur	9
33	31		Maxim Grishin	9
33	30		Mike Rodriguez	9
36	34		Ike Villanueva	5
36	34		Marcin Prachnio	5
36	NR		Shamil Gamzatov	5
39	37		John Allan	4.5
40	38		Andreas Michailidis	0
40	NR		Carlos Ulberg	0

Check back Friday for our middleweight rankings

 

Performance Based Rankings:

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

 

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