Statistically Ranking the UFC Divisions

[acannxr]

1. Lightweight
2. Welterweight
3. Featherweight
4. Bantamweight
5. Middleweight
6. Flyweight
7. Light Heavyweight
8. Heavyweight

1. Women's Strawweight
2. Women's Flyweight
3. Women's Bantamweight
4. Women's Featherweight​

Number of fighters in the divisions was the greatest contributing factor in determining the above rankings:

Number of Fighters Worldwide (Most to Least)
1. Welterweight, Lightweight
2. Featherweight
3. Middleweight, Bantamweight
4. Flyweight, Light Heavyweight, Heavyweight

1. Women's Strawweight
2. Women's Flyweight
3. Women's Bantamweight
4. Women's Featherweight

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/ufc-division-representation-2017.3726531/

Average age of the division and the percentage of the top 25 ranked fighters who compete in the UFC were both used as tiebreakers if more than one division had the same amount of depth:

Youngest to Oldest
1. Flyweight
2. Bantamweight
3. Featherweight
4. Lightweight
5. Welterweight
6. Light Heavyweight
7. Middleweight
8. Heavyweight

1. Women's Strawweight
2. Women's Flyweight
3. Women's Bantamweight
4. Women's Featherweight

Note: While my original thread does not include the age stats on the women's divisions, I calculated them when making this thread in order to rank them against one another.

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/age-statistics-by-division-2013-vs-2018.3728891/

% of Top 25 who compete in the UFC
1. Middleweight
2. Welterweight, Lightweight, Bantamweight
3. Featherweight, Flyweight
4. Light Heavyweight
5. Heavyweight

1. Women's Strawweight
2. Women's Bantamweight
3. Women's Flyweight
4. Women's Featherweight

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/of-top-25-fighters-who-compete-in-the-ufc.3731619/

 

[RyuHayabusa]

Who? Im confused

 

[SeaLevelMizugaki]

Great job TS.

 

[acannxr]

Who? Im confused

About what exactly?

Great job TS.

Thanks.

 

[RyuHayabusa]

About what exactly?


Thanks.

The statistics, whats the statistics on? Whst does it mean by held the most weight? Etc and the rest - can u simplify what it mean i.e provide a brief statement

 

[acannxr]

The statistics, whats the statistics on? Whst does it mean by held the most weight? Etc and the rest - can u simplify what it mean i.e provide a brief statement

Most weight as in it had a greater effect on determining how the divisions were ranked, but it wasn't the sole variable in the equation.

I reworded that sentence in an attempt to avoid future confusion, thanks for bringing it up.

 

[executionermma]

Top 25 is not enough, would you mind doing a research about the percentage of top 50 competing in UFC? Thank you.

 

[Kirill Chernikov]

Wrong!

HW
LHW
MW
WW
LW
FW
BW
FW

 

[acannxr]

Wrong!

HW
LHW
MW
WW
LW
FW
BW
FW

0/10 Trolling; if you had actually backed that up with you know...reasons, or stats to support your argument I might have fallen for it.

And I didn't know there were two different divisions abbreviated with FW <Lmaoo>.

 

[RyuHayabusa]

Most weight as in it had a greater effect on determining how the divisions were ranked, but it wasn't the sole variable in the equation.

I reworded that sentence in an attempt to avoid future confusion, thanks for bringing it up.

Oh i see, thanks man, I understand now. Good stuff, this is very interesting. You can extract alot from this. Iv extracted few things so far, will share shortly, eating dinner right now

 

[crxer]

MY rank is don't rank the male and female divisions togather or it would be male flyweight champ trhen like miles away all the women's divisions.

 

[xyzxyz94]

BW, FW, LW and WW are all about equal to me and miles better than the others. The rest of the divisions are shallow and I'm more interested in specific fighters rather than the division as a whole.

 

[RyuHayabusa]

0/10 Trolling; if you had actually backed that up with you know...reasons, or stats to support your argument I might have fallen for it.

And I didn't know there were two different divisions abbreviated with FW <Lmaoo>.

Lmao. I think this poster went straight for the 'most weight' issue from your earlier sentencing instead of asking you to clarify lol

 

[FrontNakedChoke]

LW is GOAT

 

[Lissove]

MW is a great division, though. You have quite deep killer pool there.

 

[acannxr]

Oh i see, thanks man, I understand now. Good stuff, this is very interesting. You can extract alot from this. Iv extracted few things so far, will share shortly, eating dinner right now

I've done threads on other division-specific stats (see my signature for more), but they're not ideal to draw from in making overall comparisons.

MY rank is don't rank the male and female divisions togather or it would be male flyweight champ trhen like miles away all the women's divisions.

Which is why they're separate .

MW is a great division, though. You have quite deep killer pool there.

I don't think this list suggests that Middleweight is necessarily a bad division, though by comparison there are other divisions that are overall better.

There are three divisions with more fighters than Middleweight, and the division that has the same amount (Bantamweight) of fighters also has an average age that's 5.5 years younger (35.1 years vs. 29.6 years), which is why I ranked Bantamweight over it despite Middleweight having a larger percentage of the top 25 fighters competing in the UFC (84% vs. 76%).

 

[Thug Rose]

Where did you get the "number of fighters in the divisions" stats from?

 

[acannxr]

Where did you get the "number of fighters in the divisions" stats from?

FightMatrix, they're the most updated.

 

[Thug Rose]

FightMatrix, they're the most updated.

it seems you took the number of fighters that fightmatrix chooses to rank per div but that is not necessarily relative to the number of people overall in each division.

 

[acannxr]

it seems you took the number of fighters that fightmatrix chooses to rank per div but that is not necessarily relative to the number of people overall in each division.

I think you mean "accurately reflect", but you're correct. There's no way of knowing how comprehensive FightMatrix' database is, but it's the best option available. Furthermore, the number of fights in each division within the UFC supports what FightMatrix' database indicates as far as number of fighters, so I'm not going to fret over margins of error.