Rankings for November 2 2023
Neal and Carl shout into the void
This is our first ranking post since August 20. Then, I apologized for the tempo because not much interesting had happened; this time, it’s beceause our energy for MMA is low: the UFC’s homogeneous and incompetent promotional machine is sucking a lot of wind out of the sport, the collapse of Bellator eats much of the remainder, and ONE and PFL seem to live in their own universes. How the hell do you even compare fighters that weigh in on a different system? How do you rate someone like Olivier Aubin Mercier who has won millions of dollars by beating up a roster of people who nobody knows? Add the fact that the UFC every year seems to try less and less during the NFL season, and we’re in a wasteland.
But Carl and I are continuing. This substack might go fallow, and if that happens we’ll move these posts over to his substack, with an announcement and link here.
Why are we going to continue? Because it’s an interesting exercise. One thing that we’ve observed since we began tracking rankings is the divergence between the UFC’s own rankings and the rankings we’ve been maintaining. The UFC (TKO? Endeavor? Who the hell knows at this point) tells a particular narrative about what’s happening in the sport, but we’re not seeing the same story.
There are a few places where things get weird this time - I don’t know where to rank Usman. What division does he fight in? How about Khamzat? He has no wins over any ranked Middleweights. Or Mayra Bueno Silva, who failed a drug test for a prescription medication which some people feel helps with grappling, but who will be eligible to fight again before her eligibility runs out? Or Colby Covington, whose 1-year eligibility period ended in May with a fight being proclaimed but not really booked anywhere until months later?
(I just deleted Colby.)
There are a few more such inconsistencies this time around that we just decided to let shake out on their own. I made sure that for the most part that the tops of each division were definitive, though.
Lastly, just a reminder of our ranking philosophies: Carl ranks based on his qualitative assessment of the fighters; I rank quantitatively based on their performances and results. This leaves us with a weirdly happy medium.
No images, just eligibility criteria and then the pure, uncut rankings:
a. Fighter has made weight in the division in the last 12 months.
b. If fighter has a fight booked when those 12 months elapse they will not be removed from eligibility.
c. Fighters will be classified by actual weight on the scale, division names and other promotional eligibility criteria notwithstanding.
d. A fighter must be clearly competing in a division and will be removed when declaring intention to switch or retire.
Men’s Rankings
125 Lbs.
Alexandre Pantoja
Brandon Moreno
Brandon Royval
Amir Albazi
Matheus Nicolau
Kai Kara-France
Manel Kape
Jarred Brooks
Muhammad Mokaev
Bruno Gustavo da Silva
Stephen Erceg
Joshua Pacio
Tim Elliott
Alessandro Costa
Asu Almabayev
135 Lbs.
Sean O'Malley
Merab Dvalishvili
Aljamain Sterling
Cory Sandhagen
Petr Yan
Marlon Vera
Patchy Mix
Demetrious Johnson
Sergio Pettis
Rob Font
Song Yadong
Dominick Cruz
Jonathan Martinez
Raufeon Stots
Adriano Moraes
145 Lbs.
Alexander Volkanovski
Max Holloway
Arnold Allen
Ilia Topuria
Yair Rodriguez
Fabricio Andrade
Movsar Evloev
Josh Emmett
Patricio Pitbull
Bryce Mitchell
Edson Barboza
John Lineker
Dan Ige
Muhammad Naimov
Stephen Loman
155 Lbs.
Islam Makhachev
Charles Oliveira
Justin Gaethje
Dustin Poirier
Usman Nurmagomedov
Arman Tsarukyan
Mateusz Gamrot
Beneil Dariush
Rafael Fiziev
Michael Chandler
Bobby Green
Grant Dawson
Elves Brener
Alexander Shabliy
Olivier Aubin Mercier
170 Lbs.
Leon Edwards
Belal Muhammad
Yaroslav Amosov
Shavkat Rakhmonov
Gilbert Burns
Stephen Thompson
Kamaru Usman
Logan Storley
Christian Lee
Ian Machado Garry
Geoff Neal
Jack Della Maddalena
Vicente Luque
Sean Brady
Neil Magny
185 Lbs.
Sean Strickland
Dricus du Plessis
Israel Adesanya
Johnny Eblen
Robert Whittaker
Jared Cannonier
Marvin Vettori
Roman Dolidze
Brendan Allen
Derek Brunson
Jack Hermansson
Khamzat Chimaev
Roman Kopylov
Fabian Edwards
Kelvin Gastelum
205 Lbs.
Magomed Ankalaev
Jamahal Hill
Alex Pereira
Jan Blachowicz
Vadim Nemkov
Johnny Walker
Corey Anderson
Nikita Krylov
Volkan Oezdemir
Phil Davis
Anthony Smith
Azamat Murzakanov
Khalil Rountree
Reinier de Ridder
Ryan Spann
265 Lbs. (Heavyweight)
Sergei Pavlovich
Jon Jones
Ciryl Gane
Tom Aspinall
Curtis Blaydes
Alexander Volkov
Sergey Spivak
Ryan Bader
Jailton Almeida
Linton Vassell
Anatoly Malykhin
Phil De Fries
Tai Tuivasa
Alexander Romanov
Jarzinho Rozenstruik
Women’s Rankings
105 + 108 Lbs. combined (Atomweight)
Seika Izawa
Rayanne dos Santos
Si Woo Park
Jillian DeCoursey
Kanna Asakura
Si Yoon Park
Saori Oshima
Machi Fukuda
Ayaka Watanabe
Mina Kurobe
Monique Adriane
Elisandra Ferreira
Marisa Messer-Belenchia
Claire Lopez
Satomi Takano
115 Lbs.
Weili Zhang
Xiaonan Yan
Amanda Lemos
Carla Esparza
Virna Jandiroba
Stamp Fairtex
Mackenzie Dern
Marina Rodriguez
Tatiana Suarez
Jessica Andrade
Tabatha Ricci
Angela Hill
Luana Pinheiro
Seo Hee Ham
Lupina Godinez
125 Lbs.
Alexa Grasso
Valentina Shevchenko
Erin Blanchfield
Manon Fiorot
Liz Carmouche
Maycee Barber
Taila Santos
Viviane Araujo
Tatiana Suarez
Xiong Jing Nan
Amanda Ribas
Jennifer Maia
Natalia Silva
Tracy Cortez
Juliana Velasquez
135 Lbs.
Raquel Pennington
Mayra Bueno Silva
Irene Aldana
Ketlen Vieira
Holly Holm
Pannie Kianzad
Talita Bernardo
Taneisha Tennant
Olga Rubin
Karol Rosa
Yana Santos
Joselyn Edwards
Macy Chiasson
Julija Stoliarenko
Taylor Lapilus
145 Lbs.
Cris Cyborg
Cat Zingano
Norma Dumont
Leah McCourt
Sara McMann
Arlene Blencowe
Larissa Pacheco
Josiane Nunes
Olena Kolesnyk
Sara Collins
Sinead Kavanaugh
Julia Budd
Ekaterina Shakalova
Aspen Ladd
Chelsea Chandler