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 Welterweights.
*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, third column is official UFC ranking from UFC.com)
Stats | Last | UFC | Total | |
Rank | Rank | Rank | ||
1 | 2 | 1 | Kamaru Usman | 470.5 |
2 | 1 | 2 | Tyron Woodley | 451 |
3 | 3 | 3 | Colby Covington | 303.5 |
4 | NR | Conor McGregor | 298.5 | |
5 | 4 | 5 | Leon Edwards | 289.5 |
6 | 6 | 4 | Jorge Masvidal | 244 |
7 | 8 | 6 | Rafael dos Anjos | 228.5 |
8 | 9 | 8 | Stephen Thompson | 200 |
9 | 7 | 11 | Robbie Lawler | 194 |
10 | 10 | Anthony Rocco Martin | 177 | |
11 | 12 | Niko Price | 163 | |
12 | 13 | Michael Chiesa | 148 | |
13 | 14 | 7 | Demian Maia | 145 |
14 | 15 | Gunnar Nelson | 139 | |
15 | 16 | Claudio Silva | 134 | |
16 | 17 | 13 | Vicente Luque | 132 |
17 | 20 | Matt Brown | 131 | |
18 | 18 | James Krause | 130.5 | |
19 | 19 | Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos | 121 | |
20 | 26 | Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone | 116 | |
20 | 29 | 12 | Geoff Neal | 116 |
22 | 22 | 14 | Gilbert Burns | 112.5 |
22 | 22 | Michel Prazeres | 112.5 | |
24 | 24 | Alexey Kunchenko | 112 | |
24 | 24 | James Vick | 112 | |
26 | 26 | 16 | Li Jingliang | 107.5 |
27 | 27 | Randy Brown | 106 | |
28 | 28 | 15 | Neil Magny | 103.5 |
29 | 30 | Warlley Alves | 98 | |
30 | 32 | Belal Muhammad | 90 | |
31 | 33 | Alex Oliveira | 88.5 | |
32 | 34 | 9 | Nate Diaz | 85.5 |
33 | 35 | Ismail Naurdiev | 83 | |
34 | 36 | Muslim Salikhov | 80.5 | |
35 | 37 | Jake Matthews | 80 | |
36 | 38 | Diego Sanchez | 75.5 | |
36 | 31 | Mike Perry | 75.5 | |
38 | 40 | Lyman Good | 74 | |
39 | 41 | Rustam Khabilov | 72.5 | |
40 | 42 | Alex Morono | 71 | |
41 | 43 | Alan Jouban | 69.5 | |
42 | 44 | Dwight Grant | 67.5 | |
42 | 44 | Mickey Gall | 67.5 | |
44 | 46 | Bryan Barberena | 62 | |
45 | 54 | Tim Means | 61.5 | |
46 | 47 | Ramazan Emeev | 56.5 | |
47 | 48 | Dhiego Lima | 54.5 | |
48 | 49 | Siyar Bahadurzada | 49.5 | |
49 | 55 | Song Kenan | 42.5 | |
50 | 56 | Danny Roberts | 42 | |
51 | 57 | Nordine Taleb | 41 | |
52 | 50 | Ben Saunders | 37 | |
53 | 58 | Michel Pereira | 36 | |
54 | 59 | Nicolas Dalby | 33.5 | |
55 | 60 | Laureano Staropoli | 26.5 | |
56 | 61 | Chance Rencountre | 24.5 | |
56 | 61 | Max Griffin | 24.5 | |
58 | 63 | Takashi Sato | 22.5 | |
59 | 64 | David Zawada | 20 | |
60 | 66 | Bartosz Fabinski | 16 | |
61 | 65 | Thiago Alves | 14.5 | |
62 | 67 | Luke Jumeau | 12.5 | |
63 | 68 | Court McGee | 12 | |
63 | 68 | Erik Koch | 12 | |
65 | 70 | Tristan Connelly | 10 | |
66 | 71 | Emil Meek | 8 | |
67 | 72 | Callan Potter | 5 | |
67 | 72 | Miguel Baeza | 5 | |
67 | 72 | Sean Brady | 5 | |
70 | 75 | Sergey Khandozhko | 4.5 | |
71 | 77 | Abubakar Nurmagomedov | 0 | |
71 | 77 | Cole Williams | 0 | |
71 | 77 | Hector Aldana | 0 | |
71 | 77 | Maki Pitolo | 0 | |
71 | 77 | Salim Touahri | 0 | |
71 | 77 | Zelim Imadaev | 0 |
Check back Monday for our lightweight rankings
Performance Based Rankings:
Heavyweights
Light Heavweights
Middleweights
Lightweights
Featherweights
Bantamweights
Flyweights
Women’s Feather/Bantamweights
Women’s Flyweights
Women’s Strawweights
Pound for Pound
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