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 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 rank, last column is official UFC ranking from UFC.com)
Stats | Last | UFC | Total | |
Rank | Rank | Rank | ||
1 | 1 | 1 | Tyron Woodley | 553.5 |
2 | 4 | 2 | Colby Covington | 391 |
3 | 2 | 6 | Robbie Lawler | 390 |
4 | 3 | 4 | Rafael dos Anjos | 343 |
5 | 5 | 7 | Kamaru Usman | 233.5 |
6 | 17 | 12 | Leon Edwards | 227.5 |
7 | 6 | 3 | Darren Till | 226 |
8 | 7 | 10 | Jorge Masvidal | 202 |
9 | 8 | 5 | Stephen Thompson | 192 |
10 | 9 | 11 | Santiago Ponzinibbio | 184 |
11 | 10 | 8 | Demian Maia | 154.5 |
12 | 11 | 15 | Alex Oliveira | 150.5 |
13 | 13 | 14 | Gunnar Nelson | 147 |
14 | 14 | Matt Brown | 146 | |
15 | 15 | Vicente Luque | 135 | |
16 | 16 | 9 | Neil Magny | 128 |
17 | NR | Paul Felder | 119.5 | |
18 | 12 | 13 | Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone | 118 |
19 | 17 | Yancy Medeiros | 113 | |
20 | 22 | Jake Matthews | 108.5 | |
21 | 39 | Mike Perry | 100.5 | |
22 | 20 | Alex Garcia | 95.5 | |
23 | 23 | Michel Prazeres | 93 | |
24 | 24 | Claudio Silva | 92.5 | |
25 | 25 | Bryan Barberena | 91 | |
26 | 26 | Ryan LaFlare | 89.5 | |
27 | 27 | Carlos Condit | 89 | |
28 | 28 | Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos | 87.5 | |
29 | 29 | Sergio Moraes | 87 | |
30 | 19 | Jake Ellenberger | 85 | |
31 | 30 | Warlley Alves | 82.5 | |
32 | 31 | Alan Jouban | 80.5 | |
33 | 33 | Siyar Bahadurzada | 78.5 | |
34 | 32 | Curtis Millender | 77 | |
35 | 34 | Niko Price | 77 | |
36 | 35 | Alberto Mina | 75.5 | |
36 | 36 | Mickey Gall | 73.5 | |
38 | 37 | Peter Sobotta | 72.5 | |
38 | 39 | Sean Strickland | 72 | |
40 | 57 | Ben Saunders | 71.5 | |
41 | 41 | Randy Brown | 69.5 | |
42 | 37 | Belal Muhammad | 69 | |
43 | 42 | Diego Sanchez | 68.5 | |
43 | 43 | Keita Nakamura | 67 | |
45 | 44 | Nordine Taleb | 66 | |
46 | 44 | Ramazan Emeev | 66 | |
47 | 46 | Abdul Razak Alhassan | 65 | |
48 | 47 | Tim Means | 62.5 | |
48 | 48 | Danny Roberts | 60.5 | |
50 | 49 | Zak Ottow | 59.5 | |
51 | 51 | Jordan Mein | 58.5 | |
52 | 52 | Chad Laprise | 57 | |
53 | 49 | Li Jingliang | 56 | |
54 | 53 | Zak Cummings | 56 | |
56 | 54 | Yushin Okami | 53.5 | |
57 | 55 | Drew Dober | 53 | |
58 | 58 | Tony Martin | 49.5 | |
59 | 71 | Song Kenan | 47.5 | |
59 | 59 | Thiago Alves | 46 | |
61 | 60 | Alex Morono | 43 | |
62 | 60 | Alexander Yakovlev | 43 | |
63 | 62 | Jack Marshman | 39.5 | |
64 | 64 | Mike Pyle | 35 | |
65 | 65 | Hyun Gyu Lim | 34 | |
66 | 67 | Joe Proctor | 32 | |
67 | 63 | Max Griffin | 32 | |
68 | NR | Sage Northcutt | 31 | |
69 | 68 | Tarec Saffiedine | 31 | |
70 | 69 | George Sullivan | 30.5 | |
70 | 66 | Shinsho Anzai | 29 | |
72 | 70 | Geoff Neal | 25 | |
73 | 71 | Muslim Salikhov | 25 | |
73 | 73 | Bojan Velickovic | 23 | |
75 | 74 | Antonio Braga Neto | 22.5 | |
76 | 74 | Luan Chagas | 22.5 | |
77 | 76 | Brad Scott | 20 | |
78 | 77 | Lyman Good | 18 | |
79 | 78 | Dominique Steele | 17.5 | |
80 | 79 | Court McGee | 16.5 | |
80 | 80 | Luke Jumeau | 14 | |
82 | 81 | Emil Meek | 9 | |
83 | 81 | Sultan Aliev | 9 | |
83 | 83 | Nico Musoke | 7 | |
85 | 84 | Carlo Pedersoli Jr | 5 | |
85 | NR | Mike Jackson | 5 | |
85 | 84 | Sheldon Westcott | 5 | |
85 | 86 | Frank Camacho | 4.5 | |
89 | 86 | Jessin Ayari | 4.5 | |
90 | 86 | Nathan Coy | 4.5 | |
91 | 86 | Daichi Abe | 4 | |
91 | 90 | Dhiego Lima | 3 | |
91 | 91 | Josh Burkman | 2.5 | |
91 | 92 | Brian Camozzi | 0 | |
91 | NR | Chance Rencountre | 0 | |
91 | NR | CM Punk | 0 | |
91 | 92 | Craig White | 0 | |
91 | NR | Hector Aldana | 0 | |
91 | 92 | Oliver Enkamp | 0 | |
91 | 92 | Ricky Rainey | 0 | |
91 | 92 | Sabah Homasi | 0 | |
91 | 92 | Salim Touahri | 0 |
Check back Monday for our lightweight rankings
Performance Based Rankings:
Heavyweights
Light Heavyweights
Middleweights
Lightweights
Featherweights
Bantamweights
Flyweights
Women’s Feather/Bantamweights
Women’s Flyweights
Women’s Strawweights
Pound for Pound
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