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 Lightweights.
*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, third column is official UFC ranking from UFC.com)
| Stats | Last | UFC | Total | |
| Rank | Rank | Rank | ||
| 1 | 1 | 3 | Tony Ferguson | 384 |
| 2 | 3 | 1 | Khabib Nurmagomedov | 311 |
| 3 | 3 | 12 | James Vick | 235 |
| 4 | 2 | 11 | Al Iaquinta | 226 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | Kevin Lee | 212.5 |
| 6 | 5 | 5 | Dustin Poirier | 203 |
| 7 | 7 | 4 | Eddie Alvarez | 182 |
| 7 | 7 | Islam Makhachev | 182 | |
| 9 | 9 | 13 | Anthony Pettis | 179 |
| 10 | 10 | 10 | Michael Chiesa | 177 |
| 11 | 11 | Francisco Trinaldo | 153.5 | |
| 12 | 12 | 16 | Beneil Dariush | 149 |
| 13 | 13 | 15 | Paul Felder | 141 |
| 14 | 14 | 6 | Edson Barboza | 120 |
| 15 | 15 | Mairbek Taisumov | 119 | |
| 16 | 36 | 16 | Olivier Aubin-Mercier | 118 |
| 17 | 17 | Leonardo Santos | 101.5 | |
| 18 | 18 | Rustam Khabilov | 91.5 | |
| 19 | 20 | Carlos Diego Ferreira | 87 | |
| 19 | 20 | Clay Guida | 87 | |
| 21 | 22 | Charles Oliveira | 86.5 | |
| 21 | 22 | Dan Hooker | 86.5 | |
| 23 | 16 | Evan Dunham | 85.5 | |
| 24 | 29 | Gilbert Burns | 83 | |
| 25 | 24 | Jim Miller | 78.5 | |
| 26 | 38 | Kajan Johnson | 77 | |
| 27 | 25 | Gregor Gillespie | 75 | |
| 28 | 26 | Abel Trujillo | 73 | |
| 29 | 19 | Joe Lauzon | 72.5 | |
| 30 | 28 | 14 | Alexander Hernandez | 70 |
| 31 | 30 | Alan Patrick | 66.5 | |
| 32 | 31 | Vinc Pichel | 64.5 | |
| 33 | 76 | Chris Gruetzemacher | 63.5 | |
| 33 | 26 | Stevie Ray | 63.5 | |
| 35 | 32 | David Teymur | 62 | |
| 35 | 32 | Michel Prazeres | 62 | |
| 37 | 34 | John Makdessi | 57.5 | |
| 38 | 35 | Nik Lentz | 56.5 | |
| 39 | 37 | Jon Tuck | 53 | |
| 40 | 39 | Magomed Mustafaev | 52 | |
| 41 | 40 | Polo Reyes | 51 | |
| 42 | 42 | James Krause | 49.5 | |
| 43 | 44 | Gleison Tibau | 43.5 | |
| 44 | 46 | Bobby Green | 40.5 | |
| 45 | 47 | Joseph Duffy | 37.5 | |
| 46 | 48 | Lando Vannata | 36 | |
| 47 | 50 | Joaquim Silva | 32 | |
| 47 | 48 | 8 | Justin Gaethje | 32 |
| 49 | 51 | Dong Hyun Kim | 31.5 | |
| 50 | 52 | Drakkar Klose | 31 | |
| 50 | 52 | Sage Northcutt | 31 | |
| 52 | 54 | Marc Diakiese | 30.5 | |
| 53 | 55 | Alex White | 28 | |
| 54 | 56 | Scott Holtzman | 25.5 | |
| 55 | 57 | Davi Ramos | 25 | |
| 56 | 58 | Jared Gordon | 24.5 | |
| 57 | 59 | Damir Hadzovic | 22.5 | |
| 57 | 59 | Jordan Rinaldi | 22.5 | |
| 57 | 59 | Teemu Packalen | 22.5 | |
| 60 | 62 | Andrew Holbrook | 22 | |
| 61 | 63 | Alvaro Herrera | 20 | |
| 61 | 63 | Ross Pearson | 20 | |
| 63 | 65 | Erik Koch | 19 | |
| 64 | 66 | Josh Emmett | 17 | |
| 65 | NR | Nick Hein | 16.5 | |
| 66 | 67 | Desmond Green | 16 | |
| 66 | 67 | Mizuto Hirota | 16 | |
| 68 | 69 | Damien Brown | 9.5 | |
| 69 | 70 | Jason Gonzalez | 9 | |
| 70 | 71 | Frankie Perez | 8 | |
| 71 | 73 | Darrell Horcher | 4.5 | |
| 71 | 73 | Felipe Silva | 4.5 | |
| 71 | 73 | Thibault Gouti | 4.5 | |
| 74 | 77 | Alex Reyes | 0 | |
| 74 | 77 | Claudio Puelles | 0 | |
| 74 | NR | Dan Moret | 0 | |
| 74 | 77 | Daniel Teymur | 0 | |
| 74 | 77 | Devin Powell | 0 | |
| 74 | 77 | Matt Frevola | 0 | |
| 74 | 77 | Michel Quinones | 0 | |
| 74 | 77 | Nasrat Haqparast | 0 |
Check back Monday for our featherweight rankings
Performance Based Rankings:
Heavyweights
Light Heavyweights
Middleweights
Welterweights
Featherweights
Bantamweights
Flyweights
Women’s Feather/Bantamweights
Women’s Flyweights
Women’s Strawweights
Pound for Pound
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