Dana White slams UFC rankings panel: ‘The rankings are definitely a problem’
UFC boss, Dana White has overnight ripped the official rankings panel of the promotion, claiming the way the lists are compiled will likely be phased out in place of an artificial intelligence approach.
The current pound-for-pound rankings, which place undisputed champion, Islam Makhachev as the pole sitter following his dominant run as lightweight pacesetter, have come under fierce scrutiny in recent months — particularly with White’s expression how heavyweight gold holder, Jon Jones should top the rankings instead.
And furthermore, off the back of Renato Moicano’s massive main event victory at UFC Paris against Benoit Saint-Denis over the course of the weekend, which saw the Brazilian remain at number eleven in the lightweight rankings, White has called for a reformation of the rankings system, suggesting AI will take its place instead of a chosen panel of reporters.
Dana White takes issue with UFC rankings panel, calls for AI reformation
“Let’s get into this,” Dana White explained. Khamzat Chimaev is number twelve, okay? Max Holloway is number ten. The guy he knocked out is number three. I gotta find some media guys that know the fight sport, that understand the sport of fighting, that are actually doing the rankings, so the rankings are definitely a problem,” Dana White told Kevin Iole. “But don’t worry, my friend, AI (artificial intelligence) will be here soon and this will all be fixed. We get all of these bums that know nothing about fighting out of this sh*t, and get AI in here and we can fix all these rankings.”
And whilst claiming Jones should usurp Makhachev as the current pound-for-pound number one ahead of his return at UFC 309 next month, the Rochester native is the current number three rated talent in the list ahead of his heavyweight title clash with Stipe Miocic.
And ahead of his return at UFC 307 this weekend, Alex Pereira, the former two-division gold holder is sat at number two in between Makhachev and Jones — with fans making a case for the Sao Paulo native to scale and knock the Russian from his perch should he win against Khalil Rountree this weekend.
