If you’re on the UFC rankings panel … you have some explaining to do.
That’s according to Dominance MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz, who can’t understand why his star client and current UFC lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, is now ranked No. 3 on the promotion’s pound-for-pound (P4P) list after (narrowly) defeating No. 2-ranked Alex Volkanovski.
I’m not sure why Abdelaziz is suddenly furious over a topic that was already discussed seven months ago, but whatever, be mad and (eventually) show your client you care.
“Islam Makhachev was No. 2 P4P, fought the No. 1 P4P for his ranking, won and now he’s P4P No. 3,” Abdelaziz wrote on social media. “These rankings are bullshit.”
While I do agree that P4P rankings are both subjective and stupid, since they can’t be measured or graded by anything other than the opinion of MMA media members, I’m not sure Makhachev has much of a case to be atop any “best of” lists, outside of his own division.
UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones is currently ranked No. 1 at P4P.
Outside of Charles Oliveira, the 31 year-old Makhachev only has one victory over a lightweight fighter currently ranked in the division Top 10 and that came over No. 9-ranked Dan Hooker at the UFC 267 pay-per-view (PPV) back in late 2021.
Makhachev (24-1) will get a chance to make it two straight against “Do Bronx” when they collide atop the UFC 294 fight card next month in Abu Dhabi, a rematch from their UFC 280 showdown in Oct. 2022, which ended the Brazilian’s reign as lightweight champion.
To see who else is fighting at UFC 294 click here.