UFC Performance Based Fighter Rankings: Lightweights: Jul 23/21

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 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 five-year time limit, so if they have fought less than 10 times in the 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	Rank
1	1	1	Charles Oliveira	595
2	2	3	Justin Gaethje	576
3	3	2	Dustin Poirier	507
4	4	4	Beneil Dariush	438
5	5	6	Islam Makhachev	367
6	6	11	Gregor Gillespie	274
7	8		Grant Dawson	242
8	10	9	Dan Hooker	230
9	9	7	Tony Ferguson	226.5
10	7	10	Conor McGregor	222
11	11	8	Rafael dos Anjos	213
12	13	13	Diego Ferreira	159.5
13	14		Alexander Hernandez	159
14	15		Vinc Pichel	150
15	12		Drew Dober	144.5
16	16		Scott Holtzman	137.5
17	17		Rafael Fiziev	134
18	37		Rick Glenn	128.5
19	18		Jim Miller	124.5
20	19		Leonardo Santos	119
21	20	5	Michael Chandler	117
22	46	14	Brad Riddell	116
23	22	15	Arman Tsarukyan	112
24	23		Jalin Turner	110
24	23		Joe Solecki	110
26	25		Chris Gruetzemacher	108
27	26		Khama Worthy	104
28	28		Mateusz Gamrot	100
29	30		Ottman Azaitar	98
30	27		Renato Moicano	96
31	31		Devonte Smith	88
32	32		Joel Alvarez	87
33	21		Damir Hadzovic	86
34	29		Yancy Medeiros	75
35	35		Roosevelt Roberts	71
36	36		Bobby Green	69
37	37		Luis Pena	68
37	37		Nasrat Haqparast	68
39	34	16	Thiago Moises	67.5
40	42		Claudio Puelles	61
41	43		Jamie Mullarkey	60
41	40		John Makdessi	60
43	44		Marc Diakiese	55.5
44	45		Don Madge	55
45	46		Austin Hubbard	54
46	33		Joaquim Silva	52
47	49		Clay Guida	49
48	50		Jordan Leavitt	45
49	52		Jared Gordon	43.5
50	40		Jeremy Stephens	42.5
51	NR		Terrance McKinney	40
52	51		Matt Frevola	37
53	54		Christos Giagos	36
54	55		Damir Ismagulov	32
55	56		Mark O. Madsen	28
55	56		Mike Davis	28
57	58		Michael Johnson	25
58	59		Uros Medic	20
59	61		Fares Ziam	19
60	59		Luigi Vendramini	18
61	61		Guram Kutateladze	10
61	61		Rodrigo Vargas	10
63	64		Alex da Silva	9
64	65		Jessin Ayari	5
65	66		Alexander Munoz	0
65	66		Dakota Bush	0
65	66		Ignacio Bahamondes	0
65	66		Jai Herbert	0
65	66		Rafa Garcia	0
65	66		Rafael Alves	0
65	66		Rong Zhu	0
65	66		Sean Soriano	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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