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 | 1 | 1 | Kamaru Usman | 497.5 |
2 | 2 | 8 | Tyron Woodley | 312 |
3 | 3 | 2 | Colby Covington | 310.5 |
4 | NR | 4 | Leon Edwards | 289 |
5 | NR | Santiago Ponzinibbio | 261 | |
6 | 4 | Conor McGregor | 259 | |
7 | 5 | 3 | Gilbert Burns | 218 |
8 | 6 | 5 | Jorge Masvidal | 204.5 |
9 | 7 | 6 | Stephen Thompson | 182 |
10 | 8 | 11 | Vicente Luque | 180 |
11 | 9 | 15 | Anthony Pettis | 169 |
12 | 10 | 10 | Neil Magny | 152 |
13 | 11 | Anthony Rocco Martin | 148.5 | |
14 | 12 | 9 | Michael Chiesa | 146 |
15 | 13 | Niko Price | 138 | |
16 | 14 | Muslim Salikhov | 136.5 | |
17 | NR | James Krause | 126.5 | |
18 | 15 | Claudio Silva | 118.5 | |
19 | 16 | 12 | Geoff Neal | 116 |
19 | 16 | 16 | Robbie Lawler | 116 |
21 | 18 | 7 | Demian Maia | 113 |
22 | 20 | Abdul Razak Alhassan | 104 | |
23 | 21 | Warlley Alves | 103 | |
24 | 22 | Alexey Kunchenko | 99 | |
25 | 32 | Jake Matthews | 94.5 | |
25 | 23 | Matt Brown | 94.5 | |
27 | 24 | Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos | 94 | |
28 | 25 | Li Jingliang | 92 | |
29 | 26 | Randy Brown | 91 | |
30 | 27 | Mike Perry | 90.5 | |
31 | 28 | Belal Muhammad | 86 | |
32 | 29 | 14 | Nate Diaz | 85.5 |
33 | 30 | Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone | 80 | |
34 | 33 | Alan Jouban | 67.5 | |
35 | 35 | Daniel Rodriguez | 62.5 | |
36 | 36 | Alex Morono | 60.5 | |
36 | 36 | Dwight Grant | 60.5 | |
38 | 38 | Khaos Williams | 60 | |
39 | 39 | Song Kenan | 57 | |
40 | 40 | Mickey Gall | 56 | |
41 | 41 | Lyman Good | 55 | |
41 | NR | Shavkat Rakhmonov | 55 | |
43 | 42 | Dhiego Lima | 54.5 | |
44 | 44 | Bryan Barberena | 54 | |
44 | 44 | Ramazan Emeev | 54 | |
46 | 34 | Diego Sanchez | 52 | |
47 | 46 | Peter Sobotta | 51.5 | |
48 | 47 | Miguel Baeza | 49.5 | |
48 | 47 | Siyar Bahadurzada | 49.5 | |
50 | 49 | Tim Means | 48.5 | |
51 | 50 | Takashi Sato | 45 | |
52 | 51 | Sean Brady | 43 | |
53 | 52 | Danny Roberts | 42 | |
54 | 42 | Alex Oliveira | 35 | |
55 | 53 | Michel Pereira | 33 | |
56 | 54 | Mounir Lazeez | 30 | |
57 | 55 | Nicolas Dalby | 27 | |
58 | 56 | Laureano Staropoli | 23.5 | |
59 | 57 | Christian Aguilera | 22.5 | |
60 | 58 | David Zawada | 20 | |
60 | 58 | Max Griffin | 20 | |
62 | 60 | Jesse Ronson | 15 | |
63 | 61 | Erik Koch | 12 | |
64 | 61 | Court McGee | 10 | |
64 | 66 | Jason Witt | 10 | |
66 | 63 | Emil Meek | 7 | |
67 | 66 | Carlos Condit | 5 | |
67 | 64 | Matthew Semelsberger | 5 | |
69 | 65 | Sergey Khandozhko | 4.5 | |
70 | 66 | Abubakar Nurmagomedov | 0 | |
70 | 66 | Anthony Ivy | 0 | |
70 | 66 | Carlton Minus | 0 | |
70 | 66 | Cole Williams | 0 | |
70 | 66 | Gabriel Green | 0 | |
70 | 66 | Niklas Stolze | 0 | |
70 | 66 | Rhys McKee | 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
[protected-iframe id=”432d0527b4b4fc6ac223cd8b21192b87-142507471-9927038″ 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=B07P9BBMPD&asins=B07P9BBMPD&linkId=35b97b0960fb1c4535fccac41f39125f&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!