Dana White says that changes are coming soon to the UFC’s rankings system.
Currently, the UFC’s rankings are overseen by a select few media members since the format was adopted about eleven years ago — but in recent months White has expressed considerable frustration at the decision-making process which he says fails to accurately represent divisional hierarchy.
Speaking to the media, including The Mac Life, in Las Vegas on Tuesday, White noted that Khalil Rountree’s positive performance in his losing effort to Alex Pereira recently (in which he took the first two rounds from the champion) didn’t change his position of 8th in the 205-pound field, while also taking issue with Renato Moicano staying in 11th at 155-pounds despite an impressive win against Benoit St-Denis.
“I just can’t handle incompetence,” White said of the current system. “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.
“Tomorrow, I have a meeting with a group of people who are coming to me saying they have a solution to this problem. God, I hope they are right. Because I’m going to change it. The media will no longer control the rankings in the UFC.”
White has previously expressed that artificial intelligence might be used to simplify the rankings process — but did admit that the UFC itself cannot have control over how any new rankings system is implemented.
“We can’t do it,” the UFC president explained. “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.
“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.”