Number of fighters worldwide, pre/post inaugural UFC champion; lighter weight classes and WMMA only.

[Askafan]

So if you say there are currently only 60 straws, 50 flyweights, 35 bantams and 15 feathers in female mma worldwide then you're obviously wrong, as a quick peruse of tapology would show. You're just illustrating the limitations of Fightmatrix, although their historical rankings are useful.

 

[dim_]

That number 35 seems much too small. Tapology ranks 107 of the "current best" women's bantamweights. Some on the list are retired, like Meisha Tate, but I find it hard to believe that only 35 are active worldwide.

​

theres 22 bantamweights on the active roster in the UFC currently

so theres only another 13 in the entire world?

 

[acannxr]

Doesn't matter, saying things like "356 fighters existed in the Featherweight Division, Worldwide" is basically a lie. Shit thread.

And yet you've provided no counter evidence.

So if you say there are currently only 60 straws, 50 flyweights, 35 bantams and 15 feathers in female mma worldwide then you're obviously wrong, as a quick peruse of tapology would show. You're just illustrating the limitations of Fightmatrix, although their historical rankings are useful.

Tapology does not keep their rankings updated, especially in removing inactive/retired fighters, as such the numbers are inflated.

Case and point: Miesha Tate, despite having not fought since 2016, and announcing retirement immediately after her last fight, is still listed in Tapology's rankings.

Edit: As I scrolled down, I saw Julie Kedzie still listed as well, despite having retired back in 2013:

Edit #2: Need I say more?

Very detailed edit. Appreciate that.

Does this show which divisions dont have growth potential? But let's also remember 155 was talked about like men's 105 at one point.

But even Flyweight has grown a decent chunk since the creation of the weightclass on a major level. Women's divisions not so much.

The middle divisions will always have the most depth, simply because there are more people of that height/weight who exist in the world than those who could be Heavyweight/Flyweight.

 

[bufetadanacara]

I didn't read it all. Did you say they were getting rid of WMMA and the 125, 135, and 145 lbs class?

 

[superpunch]

That explains a lot. A lot of women literally look like they don't even exercise. Like they just go to jiu jitsu twice a week for a few months and now they're UFC fighters. There are guys like that too but they're on regional circuits. It looks like there are so few active women that a few of those regional tough man guys actually make it to the UFC level.

 

[ripsta619]

That number 35 seems much too small. Tapology ranks 107 of the "current best" women's bantamweights. Some on the list are retired, like Meisha Tate, but I find it hard to believe that only 35 are active worldwide.

​

The soccer moms had to take their kids to practice.

 

[111293]

I like stats and numbers.
The one thing I definitely get from this post is that there is a market for more stats and coverage for MMA. I’ve been telling myself for years to do something about it.

 

[John makfresshi]

That’s a lot of soccer moms getting to pretend to be fighters.

I forgot to save the image from that legendary thread in your av. Good job sir! No idea why that shit wasn't stickied for the rest of time

 

[acannxr]

I didn't read it all. Did you say they were getting rid of WMMA and the 125, 135, and 145 lbs class?

WME-UFC would create more divisions before ever scrapping existing ones, they're content creators with no regard for quality. While there are some female fighters I do enjoy watching, those few fighters can't justify their respective divisions existing in the UFC.

I did stats on division representation for 2017, and the numbers don't lie:

The "Ranked Fighters" are the worldwide numbers, not just the UFC.

To explain what the "Adjusted Fights" column means I'll use Women's Strawweight as an example:

There are 50 ranked fighters in the division.
Which means the division represents 1.4% of all ranked fighters in the world.
For equal representation, that means the division should account for 1.4% of all fights.
1.4% of all fights in the UFC equals 6; the division is grossly over-represented at the moment since it had 34 fights in 2017.

TLDR: The adjusted column shows how many fights the division should have based on how many ranked fighters exist in the division.​

Total Women's Fights: 63
Total Women's Fights (Adjusted): 17

In short, women's MMA was over-represented by 370% in the UFC.

I like stats and numbers.
The one thing I definitely get from this post is that there is a market for more stats and coverage for MMA. I’ve been telling myself for years to do something about it.

See my signature for more stat-threads .

 

[Askafan]

And yet you've provided no counter evidence.


Tapology does not keep their rankings updated, especially in removing inactive/retired fighters, as such the numbers are inflated.

Case and point: Miesha Tate, despite having not fought since 2016, and announcing retirement immediately after her last fight, is still listed in Tapology's rankings.

Edit: As I scrolled down, I saw Julie Kedzie still listed as well, despite having retired back in 2013:

Edit #2: Need I say more?
.

Sure there are the occasional retired fighters still in the tapology user voted rankings, even Carano, but they're just that ..... occasional. You can soon identify them and just pick out the fighters who have fought in the last year.

There are currently 43 straws, 29 flys, 20 bantam and 3 feathers just in the UFC, never mind all those in regional and other promotions. Your figures are totally misleading as to the number of active fighters in wmma.

 

[ixRanGzeNxi]

42.6% of statistics are made up.

86.59% of statistics about statistics being made up are, in fact, made up.

 

[FKA]

Featherweight Division

Prior to Jose Aldo being promoted as the UFC's inaugural Featherweight Champion:
356 fighters existed in the Featherweight Division, Worldwide.

One year after Jose Aldo was promoted:
425 fighters existed in the Featherweight Division, Worldwide.

Currently:
550 fighters exist in the Featherweight Division, Worldwide.

Bantamweight Division

Prior to Dominick Cruz being promoted as the UFC's inaugural Bantamweight Champion:
337 fighters existed in the Bantamweight Division, Worldwide.

One year after Dominick Cruz was promoted:
418 fighters existed in the Bantamweight Division, Worldwide.

Currently:
450 fighters exist in the Bantamweight Division, Worldwide.

Flyweight Division

Prior to Demetrious Johnson winning the UFC's inaugural Flyweight Championship:
169 fighters existed in the Flyweight Division, Worldwide.

One year after Demetrious Johnson won the inaugural title:
250 fighters existed in the Flyweight Division, Worldwide.

Currently:
250 fighters exist in the Flyweight Division, Worldwide.

Women's Featherweight

Prior to Germane de Randamine winning the UFC's inaugural Women's Featherweight Championship:
15 fighters existed in the Women's Featherweight Division, Worldwide.

One year after Germane de Randamine won the inaugural title:
15 fighters existed in the Women's Featherweight Division, Worldwide.

Currently:
15 fighters exist in the Women's Featherweight Division, Worldwide.

Women's Bantamweight

Prior to Ronda Rousey being promoted as the UFC's inaugural Women's Bantamweight Champion:
28 fighters existed in the Women's Bantamweight Division, Worldwide.

One year after Ronda Rousey was promoted:
35 fighters existed in the Bantamweight Division, Worldwide.

Currently:
35 fighters exist in the Women's Bantamweight Division, Worldwide.

Women's Flyweight

Prior to Nicco Montano winning the UFC's inaugural Women's Flyweight Championship:
50 fighters existed in the Women's Flyweight Division, Worldwide.

One year after Nicco Montano won the inaugural title:
50 fighters existed in the Women's Flyweight Division, Worldwide.

Currently:
50 fighters exist in the Women's Flyweight Division, Worldwide.

Women's Strawweight

Prior to Carla Esparza winning the UFC's inaugural Women's Strawweight Championship:
54 fighters existed in the Women's Strawweight Division, Worldwide.

One year after Carla Esparza won the inaugural title:
60 fighters existed in the Women's Strawweight Division, Worldwide.

Currently:
60 fighters exist in the Women's Strawweight Division, Worldwide.


Source: FightMatrix.

Spoiler

All the female fighters combined only equals 64% of the Men's Flyweight Division.

These numbers are off big time .......nice idea I guess but yeah there are more wmma fighters then listed and more fighters in the world period.

 

[Better Every Day]

Tapology does not keep their rankings updated, especially in removing inactive/retired fighters, as such the numbers are inflated.

Case and point: Miesha Tate, despite having not fought since 2016, and announcing retirement immediately after her last fight, is still listed in Tapology's rankings.

Edit: As I scrolled down, I saw Julie Kedzie still listed as well, despite having retired back in 2013

Yeah, there is some inflation in the tapology numbers, but showing a couple of examples of it doesn't sufficiently make the case that their list of 107 "current best" women bantamweights reduces down to only 35 bantamweights if the list is updated. That much of a drop is far fetched. Just combining together the women's bantamweight rosters of the UFC and Invicta FC probably would get us at least close to 35 all on its own, and that would be ignoring every other promotion in the world which utilizes other female bantamweights.

 

[jeff7b9]

Why not say "number of fighters listed in Fightmatrix"?

That would be a true statement.

What you are claiming is not true.

I see what you are getting at but posting statistics which do not mean what you say they mean isn't particularly useful. If you want to make a point using those statistics that's fine but just call it what it actually is and people won't be as confused (which is a natural result of reading something which is not true.)

 

[GoldSun]

awesome info TS, thanks. ive honestly wondered about the numbers for a while now

 

[Otto!]

86.59% of statistics about statistics being made up are, in fact, made up.