Tapology has debuted its new UFC rankings system, and it’s seen some notable names drop down divisional pecking orders.
Not many topics are as consistently polarizing and debated as the UFC rankings, which are used by top fighters to justify claims to title shots and others to question who the promotion gives opportunities to.
The current rankings are decided by a select group of media members, most of whom are from little-known local radio stations and outlets. The system has been long due for an overhaul, with UFC CEO Dana White himself among the most publicly critical of the rankings panel for its recent voting habits.
Now, one of MMA’s top record-keeping sites has released its alternative.
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Tapology reveals ‘groundbreaking’ system amid criticism of official UFC rankings
White raged over the UFC rankings last October after taking issue with Islam Makhachev being placed above Jon Jones on the pound-for-pound ladder. Though he dismissed talk of the promotion taking over, White teased AI rankings aided by Mark Zuckerberg instead.
The brains behind Tapology, however, have dismissed artificial intelligence being a potential answer to the issue. Instead, the record-keeping site has introduced a new system that it claims eliminates bias and emotion from the process.
One notable difference from the official UFC rankings is the inclusion of every fighter in each division. While the promotion only has 15 contenders ranked, Tapology has every fighter ordered in their weight classes.
The rankings were released on August 4 and plenty of eyebrow-raising changes are visible when compared with the UFC rankings. Among those deemed to be ranked too highly based on Tapology’s metrics is welterweight Shavkat Rakhmonov, who is four places worse off at No. 7.
Reinier de Ridder recently beat Robert Whittaker to break into the middleweight top five, but the new Tapology system would put ‘The Dutch Knight’ back to No. 6.
At 155 pounds, meanwhile, Justin Gaethje would take a hit were the UFC to adopt the system. While Gaethje insists he is owed a title shot, Tapology has dropped ‘The Highlight’ out of the top five to No. 6.
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Tapology founder explains UFC rankings system that has been 5 years in the making
Tapology founder Gregory Saks spoke to Ben Fowlkes for Uncrowned to detail the lengthy five-year process that went into creating a system he claims to be totally unbiased and “unemotional.”
“We want the system to be consistent and unemotional,” Saks said. “That sounds a little bit boring and robotic, but it is, we think, the best thing when you’re talking about rankings.
“The early versions were unsuccessful and not very good. Like many people out there, both sort of hobbyists who like stats and playing around with data, as well as more serious people who are running websites about this kind of thing, we started with an Elo rating system because this is kind of the go-to mathematical approach for how you might rank competitors in competitions.
“These are used in chess and tennis. These used to be used for college football. The Elo ratings are kind of the default place to start. We tried that and we were not getting results that were acceptable,” Saks added. “I mean, lots of it would look good, but then you’d have way too many things that were just ludicrous, where a fighter that nobody would think was a top-15 fighter, not even close, would appear as No. 3 for some strange reason.”
Though Saks would not reveal the “secret sauce” that has created the final product, he did tout its fairness and ability to help those outside the top 15 in the UFC pursue logical matchups.
“We believe that the new Tapology system, with rankings for the entire division, can give new exposure and ammunition to athletes who are not in the top 15 of the media rankings,” Saks said. “Now they can say, ‘Hey, I’m No. 17 or No. 22 in Tapology, so I’m right on the cusp.’ And maybe they can use that as far as their PR campaign to justify why they think they need a bigger fight or a more compelling fight.
“We also think it can play hopefully a useful role for fans who are trying to just put meaning behind what they’re watching. Now they’ll understand why each fight means something, because the winner might move up in these rankings.
“But then also the fighters and their teams (can use it) in justifying why perhaps they should be lined up for a bigger fight next,” he concluded.