UFC rankings system faces imminent overhaul

Eleven years after their implementation, it appears like a significant change is coming to the UFC rankings system.

Tuesday, UFC CEO Dana White vented his frustration about Khalil Rountree’s place at No. 8 within the UFC mild heavyweight rankings.

Rountree just lately had success in opposition to champion Alex Pereira earlier than being knocked out in Spherical 3. He didn’t shift upward within the rankings.

Nevertheless it’s not simply this concern that White has taken concern with. It’s additionally Renato Moicano’s stagnation after a dominant win over Benoit Saint Denis in September.

“I simply can’t deal with incompetence,” White stated after Dana White’s Contender Series 76. “I simply can’t take it anymore. It’s driving me loopy. I can’t let those that I don’t imagine know what the f*ck that they’re speaking about cope with the rankings anymore. I simply can’t do it. I’ve to determine an answer.”

Since 2013, the rankings have been voted upon by a UFC-selected group of shops, with many others declining participation. Some shops on the present panel are recognizable and even area of interest hardcore media. Others are non-MMA-specific radio stations and native newspapers.

Whereas White didn’t give particulars into what a substitute system would appear like, he indicated he’s listening to one concept Wednesday.

“Tomorrow, I’ve a gathering with a bunch of people who find themselves coming to me saying they’ve an answer to this drawback,” White stated. “God, I hope they’re proper. As a result of I’m going to alter it. The media will not management the rankings within the UFC.”

One answer White pushed again in opposition to was internally-controlled rankings. White stated he, the matchmakers Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby, and UFC CBO Hunter Campbell mustn’t take part in that course of due to bias and {that a} third get together should be in cost.

“We are able to’t do it,” White stated. “I don’t assume that it’s proper that we’d do the rankings. Irrespective of how unbiased you attempt to be, it’s inconceivable. I’ll be sincere with you, there are some fighters I don’t like. There are fighters that I actually like. There are issues which might be good for the enterprise.

“… I don’t need that on our fingers in any respect. Not mine, not Sean’s (Shelby), not Mick’s, not Hunter’s – no person’s. There must be a 3rd get together or AI or one thing that does the rankings. It’s inconceivable to not biased. I imagine there’s bias with the media, too. It’s inconceivable to not be biased.”