Most Valuable Fighters to the UFC Ranking Thread

Hello, it has come to my attention that users are encouraged to make threads for discussion on custom rankings they design, so here's my first discussion thread on Tapology about my new ranking. Feel free to discuss why my or others' placements are correct or incorrect, or propose why someone is being overlooked. 

https://www.tapology.com/rankings/4120-most-valuable-fighters-to-the-ufc

Here's the link to my ranking page:

https://www.tapology.com/profiles/stephen%20terry/my-rankings/4120-most-valuable-fighters-to-the-ufc






1) Conor McGregor

Again, like Mike Perry, I am not a fan of Conor McGregor but I have to admit that he is one of the best fighters in the world at the moment and is quite possibly the most famous MMA fighter of all time. Even people who don't follow MMA have heard of him and while you could criticise the fact that a lot of his fan base is made of casual MMA fans who only follow his fights, he has got a lot more people interested in MMA and possibly turned quite a lot of those casuals into hardcore MMA fans over time which can only be a good thing for the sport. He is unquestionably the biggest name star that the UFC has ever had on it's roster.




2) Jon Jones


Like Dustin Poirier, I believe that Jon Jones is going to be another UFC Hall of Famer when he retires and is undoubtedly one of the most recognisable names in the sport.




3) Israel Adesanya


He's the UFC Middleweight Champion and one of the biggest names in the sport at the moment so I can imagine that he's making the UFC a fair amount of dough right now.




4) Charles Oliveira

One of the best BJJ fighters in UFC history! Plus, he's still on top form after his recent win over Tony Ferguson.




5) Dustin Poirier

He's been a mainstay in the UFC for nearly a decade now and is still a top level fighter. Future UFC Hall of Famer.




6) Weili Zhang


As much as I'm a fan of Valentina Shevchenko, I have to admit that Weili Zhang is a better P4P fighter than her.




7) Valentina Shevchenko


A WMMA fighter capable of KO's is quite a rare phenomenon which is why Valentina Shevchenko is an exiting fighter to watch. Some say she's overrated but I personally get the hype!




8) Jorge Masvidal


He has a huge Hispanic following so his fights will always sell on PPV's.




9) Amanda Nunes

Quite simply one of the best WMMA fighters in the world at the moment.




10) Khamzat Chimaev


A rising star with huge potential. It will be interesting to see if he can go all the way to the top.




11) Stipe Miocic


One of, if not the best UFC Heavyweight's of all time.




12) Justin Gaethje


His grappling isn't quite at Khabib's level (is anyone's?) but he is still one of the finest grapplers in the UFC right now.




13) Demian Maia


When he fights, a lot of Brazilians tune in which is great news for the UFC financially. When he retires, he will be remembered as a legend not just of the UFC but of MMA as in general.




14) Tony Ferguson


He's looked out of form lately but his unpredictable style almost always makes for exiting fights.




15) Francis N'Gannou


He has very powerful striking and power punchers like him are always entertaining to watch.




16) Mike Perry


I personally don't like Mike Perry but I'll admit he's a good fighter and certainly knows how to sell a fight. I'm not a fan but I will always watch him fight, even if it's because I want to see him get KO'd.




17) José Aldo

I guess I have a bit of a soft spot for him to place him above Ortega but I know I'm not the only fan who will watch any of his fights and that's got to be a good thing for the UFC.




18) Brian Ortega


He probably wouldn't have made my top 20 if it wasn't for his decisive victory over "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung.




19) Donald Cerrone


He hasn't got the best record but he is willing to fight ANYONE and he's always entertaining.




20) Chan Sung Jung


He is always good fun to watch but he was disappointing in his last fight against Brian Ortega.

* Edited at 12.26.2020, 7:17 PM ET *

Thanks for contributing Stephen, I appreciate it!

@Drmaxis2

No worries, it was good fun to make! If you make anymore rankings, just let me know!

@stephin Great List, Only thing I disagree with is Charles Olivera being that high on UFC most Valuable fighter because he not a household name even tho he really entertaining  and Valintina being a KO artest, She knock-out Jessica Eye and that it. I'm not counting the TKO on Chookagain because it was TKO by position.

@DamienHandel420

The reason I put Charles Olivera that high up is because even though he's not a household name like Conor McGregor, I recon his stock is still on the rise, especially after his win over Tony Ferguson. I think he's still got about 2-3 big name fights left in him and these will be valuable to the UFC in the future.

As for Valentina Shevchenko, you're right when you say that she only has 1 "proper" KO over Jessica Eye but she is always looking for that KO in her fights. By comparison, most other WMMA spend their time looking to get a submission or by outpointing their opponents for a decision. I've also put her that high up because like Conor McGregor, she has a large casual following and even though a lot of her fans don't take MMA seriously, they are the ones more likely to buy a ton of tacky UFC merchandise which all helps to line Dana's pockets. 

McGregor 
Adesanya
Jones
Zhang
Nunes
Ngannou
Masvidal
Aldo
Miocic
Gaethje
Usman
Holloway
Fergusson
Overeem
Shevchenko

Based on (casual attraction, age, dominance)

The HW GOAT at #11?!?

@Mulefloyd

In terms of a P4P ranking then yes, Stipe Miocic would be higher up but I feel that the people I've rated above him are more marketable and make more money for the UFC. This was essentially a "biggest cash cows in the UFC" ranking or at least that's how I interpreted it. His position isn't helped by how weak the UFC's Heavyweight division is either compared to the other divisions such as the Lightweight or Welterweight division for instance. I feel that the casual fans would be less interested in a Heavyweight title fight compared to a Lightweight or Welterweight title fight.

* Edited at 12.27.2020, 12:16 PM ET *

@Stephen Terry
Well, to be fair Stephen, part of the criteria was, "prestige brought to the organization," so the fact that Stipe is the greatest HW OAT by my and many people's estimation would place him pretty high on the list based on that. The only other fighters that are active undisputed GOAT contenders are Nunes, Khabib if you count him, and Jones if you count cheaters. Feel free to rank it in any order you think the weight of each criterion should be valued though.


@mulefloyd @Hyrm @DamienHandel420

Thank you for participating in the discussion, and if you haven't already don't forget to submit your own lists so your opinions are counted in the ranking averages.

To explane my ranking, I put fighter that actully want to fight above fighter that have bigger name but don't want to fight that why Izzy number one because u can't make money on fighter who don't fight. But if i had to kept it real, I think the most valueble fighter are the one who will fight for 10k and fight alot to fill out space on card because no one care about the fighter that much, It much more about the UFC brand. And that why dana is a genious making himself the biggest star, And not Chuck, Coutour, Huges, GSP ETC because all fighter retire

* Edited at 12.27.2020, 3:58 PM ET *

@DamienHandel420

You're right when you say that Dana is trying to make himself the star of the UFC rather than the fighters, he gets WAY too much press coverage. I don't give a **** about Dana, I want to hear about the fighters and I'd rather the UFC focus more of their press releases on the fighters, especially the lesser known ones so we can learn more about them instead of Dana or the UFC brand. I get why they are doing it because if they made one fighter way too popular and they left the UFC, they would probably drag a lot of fans away from the UFC with them. At this point though, the UFC brand is so big that even if, hypothetically speaking, all of it's biggest stars left for Bellator and they were left with only their lowest level fighters, they would probably still find a way of competing with Bellator simply based off of the strength of the UFC brand. I love the UFC shows but I hate the UFC as a company.

Just needed to get my little "**** the UFC" rant off my chest.

* Edited at 12.27.2020, 7:07 PM ET *

@DamienHandel420

Anyway, back to the topic of the most valuable fighters to the UFC, I like the way you decided to rank it by doing it from a fan's point of view as it's the fans who make the UFC money and so from a business point of view, the most valuable fighters to the UFC would be the ones the fans would pay to see. The UFC would (or at least should) look at who the fans want to see fight and get them to fight in order to sell the PPV's. 

You raise another good point about the fighters who are willing to fight for a low price as I'd assume that the UFC always looks to stage the fights as cheaply as they can. Of the 60 or so fighters getting cut, I doubt that the low cost ones with cheaper contracts will be getting cut. They will look to cut the ones with the more expensive contracts who are also losing their marketability due to age or bad results or just a general decline in popularity.

* Edited at 12.27.2020, 7:17 PM ET *