Eleven years after their implementation, it sounds like a major change is coming to the UFC rankings system.
Tuesday, UFC CEO Dana White vented his frustration about Khalil Rountree’s position at No. 8 in the UFC light heavyweight rankings.
Rountree recently had success against champion Alex Pereira before being knocked out in Round 3. He did not shift upward in the rankings.
But it’s not just this issue that White has taken issue with. It’s also Renato Moicano’s stagnation after a dominant win over Benoit Saint Denis in September.
“I just can’t handle incompetence,” White said after Dana White’s Contender Series 76. “I just can’t take it anymore. It’s driving me crazy. I can’t let people that I don’t believe know what the f*ck that they’re talking about deal with the rankings anymore. I just can’t do it. I have to figure out a solution.”
Since 2013, the rankings have been voted upon by a UFC-selected group of outlets, with many others declining participation. Some outlets on the current panel are recognizable or even niche hardcore media. Others are non-MMA-specific radio stations and local newspapers.
While White did not give details into what a replacement system would look like, he indicated he is hearing one idea Wednesday.
“Tomorrow, I have a meeting with a group of people who are coming to me saying they have a solution to this problem,” White said. “God, I hope they are right. Because I’m going to change it. The media will no longer control the rankings in the UFC.”
One solution White pushed back against was internally-controlled rankings. White said he, the matchmakers Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby, and UFC CBO Hunter Campbell should not participate in that process because of bias and that a third party must be in charge.
“We can’t do it,” White said. “I don’t think that it’s right that we would do the rankings. No matter how unbiased you try to be, it’s impossible. I’ll be honest with you, there are some fighters I don’t like. There are fighters that I really like. There are things that are good for the business.
“… I don’t want that on our hands at all. Not mine, not Sean’s (Shelby), not Mick’s, not Hunter’s – nobody’s. There has to be a third party or AI or something that does the rankings. It’s impossible not to biased. I believe there is bias with the media, too. It’s impossible not to be biased.”
