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 Middleweights.
*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 | 1 | Robert Whittaker | 404 |
2 | 2 | 7 | Chris Weidman | 317 |
3 | 3 | 5 | Kelvin Gastelum | 312 |
4 | 4 | 6 | Israel Adesanya | 297 |
5 | 6 | 2 | Yoel Romero | 255 |
6 | 7 | 4 | Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza | 241 |
7 | 9 | 9 | Derek Brunson | 154 |
8 | 10 | 12 | Brad Tavares | 153.5 |
9 | 11 | 11 | Jack Hermansson | 150 |
10 | 8 | Tim Boetsch | 135 | |
11 | 12 | 8 | Paulo Costa | 120.5 |
12 | 14 | 13 | Antonio Carlos Junior | 109 |
13 | 15 | 14 | Uriah Hall | 99 |
14 | 13 | David Branch | 97 | |
15 | 16 | Dan Kelly | 96 | |
16 | 17 | 15 | Elias Theodorou | 89.5 |
17 | 18 | 16 | Anderson Silva | 88 |
18 | 23 | Omari Akhmedov | 76 | |
19 | 20 | Tom Breese | 71 | |
20 | 19 | Gerald Meerschaert | 68.5 | |
21 | 21 | Cezar Ferreira | 66.5 | |
21 | 21 | Krzysztof Jotko | 66.5 | |
23 | 24 | C.B. Dollaway | 56 | |
23 | 24 | Eryk Anders | 56 | |
25 | 26 | 10 | Jared Cannonier | 52 |
26 | 27 | Zak Cummings | 51 | |
27 | 28 | Ian Heinisch | 50 | |
27 | 28 | Khalild Murtazaliev | 50 | |
29 | 30 | Darren Stewart | 47 | |
30 | 31 | Markus Perez | 45 | |
31 | 33 | Alessio Di Chirico | 36 | |
32 | 34 | Hector Lombard | 35 | |
33 | 35 | Jack Marshman | 33.5 | |
34 | 36 | Andrew Sanchez | 30 | |
35 | 43 | Edmen Shahbazyan | 29.5 | |
36 | 42 | Kevin Holland | 29 | |
37 | 37 | Oskar Piechota | 26.5 | |
38 | 38 | Julian Marquez | 22.5 | |
39 | 38 | Charles Byrd | 20 | |
40 | 40 | Marvin Vettori | 16 | |
41 | 41 | Trevor Smith | 11.5 | |
42 | 43 | Abu Azaitar | 5 | |
43 | 45 | Adam Yandiev | 0 | |
43 | 45 | Anthony Hernandez | 0 | |
43 | 45 | Bevon Lewis | 0 | |
43 | 45 | John Phillips | 0 | |
43 | 45 | Tim Williams | 0 |
Check back Monday for our welterweight rankings
Performance Based Rankings:
Heavyweights
Light Heavyweights
Welterweights
Lightweights
Featherweights
Bantamweights
Flyweights
Women’s Feather/Bantamweights
Women’s Flyweights
Women’s Strawweights
Pound for Pound
[protected-iframe id=”611e360e1264cc8ef591299e184066f1-142507471-9927038″ info=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=thehooman01-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon®ion=US&placement=B07NTSH6ZZ&asins=B07NTSH6ZZ&linkId=f3ad6045c0aa0a7b7e925bc30c03d903&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true” frameborder=”0″ style=”width: 120px; height: 240px;” scrolling=”no”]
(The MMA Manifesto is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!