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 | 598 |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | Colby Covington | 391 |
| 3 | 3 | 7 | Robbie Lawler | 390 |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | Rafael dos Anjos | 343 |
| 5 | 10 | 8 | Santiago Ponzinibbio | 267.5 |
| 6 | 5 | 6 | Kamaru Usman | 233.5 |
| 7 | 6 | 11 | Leon Edwards | 227.5 |
| 8 | 8 | 3 | Darren Till | 201 |
| 9 | 9 | 5 | Stephen Thompson | 192 |
| 10 | 11 | 14 | Alex Oliveira | 157 |
| 11 | 12 | 9 | Demian Maia | 154.5 |
| 12 | NR | Michael Chiesa | 151 | |
| 13 | NR | 15 | Gunnar Nelson | 147 |
| 14 | 14 | Vicente Luque | 143 | |
| 15 | 18 | 13 | Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone | 132 |
| 16 | 28 | Michel Prazeres | 130 | |
| 17 | 39 | Sean Strickland | 128 | |
| 18 | 16 | Sergio Moraes | 122.5 | |
| 19 | 17 | Paul Felder | 119.5 | |
| 20 | 19 | Abdul Razak Alhassan | 117.5 | |
| 21 | 20 | Yancy Medeiros | 113 | |
| 22 | 21 | Tony Martin | 112.5 | |
| 23 | 22 | Jake Matthews | 108.5 | |
| 24 | 15 | 12 | Neil Magny | 103.5 |
| 25 | 23 | 16 | Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos | 102 |
| 26 | 25 | Bryan Barberena | 97 | |
| 27 | 27 | Niko Price | 95 | |
| 28 | 29 | Claudio Silva | 92.5 | |
| 29 | 30 | James Krause | 91 | |
| 30 | 31 | Carlos Condit | 89 | |
| 31 | 24 | Mike Perry | 85 | |
| 32 | 32 | Mickey Gall | 84.5 | |
| 33 | 33 | Alan Jouban | 80.5 | |
| 34 | 26 | Alex Garcia | 78.5 | |
| 34 | 34 | Siyar Bahadurzada | 78.5 | |
| 36 | 35 | Curtis Millender | 77 | |
| 37 | 36 | Alberto Mina | 75.5 | |
| 38 | 38 | Peter Sobotta | 72.5 | |
| 39 | 40 | Belal Muhammad | 69 | |
| 40 | 41 | Jordan Mein | 67.5 | |
| 41 | 42 | Keita Nakamura | 67 | |
| 42 | 43 | Warlley Alves | 66 | |
| 43 | 45 | Ramazan Emeev | 64 | |
| 44 | 46 | Tim Means | 62.5 | |
| 45 | 47 | Randy Brown | 61 | |
| 46 | 48 | Diego Sanchez | 60.5 | |
| 47 | 50 | Danny Roberts | 57.5 | |
| 48 | 51 | Chad Laprise | 57 | |
| 49 | 52 | Li Jingliang | 56 | |
| 49 | 69 | Lyman Good | 56 | |
| 49 | 52 | Zak Cummings | 56 | |
| 52 | 43 | Nordine Taleb | 55.5 | |
| 52 | 54 | Sage Northcutt | 55.5 | |
| 54 | 55 | Yushin Okami | 53.5 | |
| 55 | 56 | Zak Ottow | 53 | |
| 56 | 57 | Alexey Kunchenko | 50 | |
| 57 | 49 | Ben Saunders | 48.5 | |
| 58 | 58 | Song Kenan | 47.5 | |
| 59 | 59 | Alex Morono | 38 | |
| 60 | 61 | Geoff Neal | 32.5 | |
| 61 | 62 | Max Griffin | 32 | |
| 61 | 60 | Thiago Alves | 32 | |
| 63 | 63 | Shinsho Anzai | 29 | |
| 64 | 64 | George Sullivan | 25.5 | |
| 65 | 65 | Muslim Salikhov | 25 | |
| 66 | 71 | Court McGee | 23 | |
| 67 | 66 | Antonio Braga Neto | 22.5 | |
| 67 | 66 | Luan Chagas | 22.5 | |
| 69 | 69 | Bartosz Fabinski | 16 | |
| 70 | 72 | Luke Jumeau | 14 | |
| 71 | 73 | Sultan Aliev | 9 | |
| 72 | 74 | Emil Meek | 8 | |
| 73 | NR | Laureano Staropoli | 5 | |
| 73 | 75 | Mike Jackson | 5 | |
| 75 | 76 | Carlo Pedersoli Jr | 4.5 | |
| 76 | 77 | Daichi Abe | 4 | |
| 76 | 77 | Frank Camacho | 4 | |
| 78 | 79 | Dhiego Lima | 3 | |
| 79 | 80 | Josh Burkman | 2.5 | |
| 80 | 81 | Brian Camozzi | 0 | |
| 80 | 81 | Chance Rencountre | 0 | |
| 80 | 81 | CM Punk | 0 | |
| 80 | 81 | Craig White | 0 | |
| 80 | 81 | David Zawada | 0 | |
| 80 | 81 | Hector Aldana | 0 | |
| 80 | 81 | Jalin Turner | 0 | |
| 80 | 81 | Luigi Vendramini | 0 | |
| 80 | 81 | Oliver Enkamp | 0 | |
| 80 | 81 | Ricky Rainey | 0 | |
| 80 | 81 | Sabah Homasi | 0 | |
| 80 | 81 | Salim Touahri | 0 | |
| 80 | 81 | Stefan Sekulic | 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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