The UFC rankings system has needed a serious overhaul for several years now and following continuous criticism, Dana White is looking to fix it sooner rather than later.
Earlier this week, UFC CEO Dana White announced that he would be attending meetings to figure out a new system for the rankings, overhauling the current outdated system.
Currently, the rankings are voted on by several media outlets, however, most of the involved outlets no longer exist.
White has continuously laid the blame on the media for picking the rankings, however, the problem could seemingly be overcome if they updated the list of media outlets that were involved in the voting.
Dana White explains why the UFC can’t make their own rankings
White has continuously slated the rankings for not having Jon Jones as the pound-for-pound number one which has caused a feud between him and several media members all year.
Not only that, but Renato Moicano recently picked up his sixth win in a row at lightweight recently and was hardly moved in the rankings. White also believes following Khalil Rountree Jr‘s performance against Alex Pereira at UFC 307, he should’ve been moved up the rankings, despite the loss.
The UFC boss has continuously spoken about the involvement of Artificial Intelligence and how AI will come in and save the rankings.
The question has been asked as to why the UFC doesn’t make its own rankings, however, White has explained why that cannot happen.
“I can’t handle incompetence, I can’t take it anymore, it’s driving me crazy and I can’t let people that I don’t believe know what the f*ck they’re talking about deal with the rankings anymore, I just can’t do it,” White said at the Dana White’s Contender Series post-fight press conference this past Tuesday.
“I have to figure out a solution, tomorrow I have a meeting with a group of people that are saying they have the solution to this problem.
“The media will no longer control the rankings in the UFC… The rankings are very important, it’s important… There should never be a scenario where we are personally controlling the rankings.
“It can’t happen, you have to have another system in there. At the end of the day, I make fights that people wanna see anyway but I should not be the one controlling the rankings… No matter how unbiased you try to be, it’s impossible. I’ll be honest with you, there are some fighters that I don’t like, there are fighters that I really like,” White continued.
The rankings solution still yet to be found as White continues his search
With the UFC boss scheduled to attend further meetings this week with a third party, he is hopeful that they come up with the perfect solution to finally clean up the system.
It seems as though the promotion will undoubtedly integrate AI into their system when it develops further, however, White stated that AI isn’t developing fast enough and he can no longer deal with the issue.
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