FAQ & Rankings Criteria
| FAQ for Bellator Rankings | | | | |
* These rankings are not official, nor do they reflect any affiliation with, sponsorship, or endorsement by Bellator.
***No longer updated, please refer to MMA World Rankings or Non-UFC Rankings. | | | | |
Bellator Rankings are comprised of all fighters currently signed to the Bellator.
So, how do we compile our rankings? What separates us from other web sites that formulate rankings?
Here is our rankings criteria:
- Activity in the last 3 years
- Last 5 fights
- Most recent performance
- Strength of competition
- Performance against top competition
- Estimated ability against future competition
To make it simple, we only look at fights that have happened in the last 3 years of action. Thus, currently it is 2014, so the only fights that can be factored into a ranking are from the years 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. Anything before then is essentially wiped clean. Why is that? Fighters develop and decline rapidly. In order to provide rankings that are current and reflect what has happened in the now, rather than the past, we confine a fighter's activity to this 3-year window.
From there, we heavily utilize the fighter's last 5 fights. We look at these fights more so than any other action that may have happened in 2011 or 2012. We want our rankings to reflect how the fighter is currently performing. Therefore, if a fighter fights 12 times in the last 3 years, we will heavily emphasize their performance over the last 5 fights, rather than the previous ones.
There are many fighters sporting undefeated records from developing fight scenes, especially abroad. Something we take into consideration is the strength of competition they have faced. If a fighter has compiled a bunch of wins against competition that is lackluster they will likely have a difficult time moving up in the rankings until they face stiffer competition in order for us to accurately predict how they would perform against exceedingly tougher competition.
If a fighter has fought elite competition and fallen short, we factor in how they performed. If a fighter fairs well against a higher-ranked adversary, they could still move up in the rankings.
We watch every fight, including the prelims to try and provide our readers with the best rankings possible.
* (NR) = Not Ranked
Reasons for exclusions from rankings:
- Inactivity over 18 months
- Changing weight classes. A fighter must debut in their new weight class in order to officially be ranked there. Upon their debut, they will immediately be removed from their former weight class.
- Yet to debut in Bellator. A fighter will not be officially ranked until they debut in the Bellator.
- Retirement. Once a fighter is presumed retired based on interviews or lack of activity, they are removed from the rankings until further clarification is provided. |
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Weight Classes
Bantamweight (135) – Featherweight (145) – Lightweight (155) – Welterweight (170) – Middleweight (185) – Light Heavyweight (205) – Heavyweight (265)
| # | | | Fighter | Last 3 fights | Next Fight |
1 |  |  | Matt Mitrione
11-5 (Bellator) | W-Oli Thompson (TKO)
W-Carl Seumanutafa (KO)
L-Travis Browne (TKO) | |
2 |  | | Muhammed Lawal19-4 (Bellator) | W-Jiri Prochazka (KO)
W-Teodoras Aukstuolis (DEC)
W-Brett McDermott (KO) | Phil Davis
05/14/2016 |
3 | | | Roy Nelson | | |
4 |  |  | Cheick Kongo
24-10-2 (Bellator) | W-Vinicius Queiroz (DEC)
W-Alexander Volkov (DEC)
L-Muhammed Lawal (DEC) | Tony Johnson
09/16/2016 |
5 |  | | Quinton Jackson
37-11 (Bellator) | W-Satoshi Ishii (DEC)
W-Fabio Maldonado (DEC)
W-Muhammed Lawal (DEC) | |
