UFC Performance Based Fighter Rankings: Welterweights: Jul 19/21

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 a 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 the 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	967
2	3	2	Colby Covington	451
3	2	4	Leon Edwards	440
4	4	14	Santiago Ponzinibbio	349
5	5	16	Muslim Salikhov	344
6	6	7	Vicente Luque	328
7	9	13	Li Jingliang	298.5
8	7	3	Gilbert Burns	297.5
9	10		Kevin Lee	290
10	32		Shavkat Rakhmonov	269
11	11	6	Michael Chiesa	238
11	8	5	Stephen Thompson	238
13	12	8	Jorge Masvidal	230
14	13		James Krause	224.5
15	14	9	Neil Magny	222
16	28	10	Belal Muhammad	218
17	15	15	Sean Brady	215
18	18		Randy Brown	193
19	20		Alex Morono	170
19	16		Niko Price	170
21	23		Francisco Trinaldo	156
22	22		Max Griffin	155.5
23	24		Claudio Silva	154
24	NR		Michel Prazeres	148.5
25	21		Khaos Williams	144
26	17		Warlley Alves	143.5
27	25		Miguel Baeza	131
28	27	11	Geoff Neal	129
29	19	12	Demian Maia	122
30	30		Jake Matthews	117.5
31	26		Matt Brown	117
32	31		Robbie Lawler	112
33	38		Daniel Rodriguez	110.5
34	34		Dwight Grant	107
35	41		Michel Pereira	104
36	35		Khamzat Chimaev	103
37	36		Peter Sobotta	101
38	39		Court McGee	89.5
39	33		Nicolas Dalby	84
40	40		Mike Perry	82.5
41	NR		Jeremiah Wells	80
42	42		Song Kenan	76.5
43	44		Takashi Sato	70
44	45		Impa Kasanganay	68
44	45		Ramazan Emeev	68
46	47		Tim Means	65
47	48		Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone	62
48	43		Dhiego Lima	61
49	49		Mickey Gall	59
50	50		Danny Roberts	55
51	51		Mounir Lazzez	54
52	53		Bryan Barberena	45
52	53		Sasha Palatnikov	45
54	52		Matthew Semelsberger	44
55	55		Carlston Harris	40
56	57		Alan Patrick	38
57	58		David Zawada	36
58	60		Alex Oliveira	27
59	59		Carlos Condit	26
60	61		Jason Witt	18
61	62		Abubakar Nurmagomedov	10
61	62		Gabriel Green	10
63	65		Sergey Khandozhko	9
64	65		Nate Diaz	8
65	67		Jared Gooden	0
65	67		Jordan Williams	0
65	67		Louis Cosce	0
65	67		Mason Jones	0
65	62		Mike Jackson	0
65	NR		Nick Diaz	0
65	67		Niklas Stolze	0
65	67		Philip Rowe	0
65	NR		Preston Parsons	0
65	67		Ramiz Brahimaj	0

Check back Friday 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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