White agreed there’s a problem with the UFC rankings after Renato Moicano didn’t budge at all despite a big win over Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC Paris.
The weekly update of UFC rankings came out early Tuesday morning, and they created a firestorm of controversy after Renato Moicano didn’t move up the lightweight rankings after wrecking Benoit Saint-Denis in Saturday’s UFC Paris main event.
The apparent issue: UFC rankings now largely follow a ‘swap’ system where you beat a higher ranked opponent and take their spot. The best recent example of this is Dan Hooker beating Mateusz Gamrot and jumping from No. 11 to No. 5 in the rankings.
“It’s like seeing a turtle in a tree,” Moicano said after his win on Saturday night. “Have you seen a turtle in a tree? Somebody put him there. That’s the whole thing, you know? He didn’t climb the tree, but he’s on the tree.”
That’s the first time I see somebody destroy their opponent and don’t get up on the rankings… I guess mma journalists love macron too #ufc #mma
— Renato Moicano UFC (@moicanoufc) October 1, 2024
But because No. 11 Moicano fought No. 12 ranked Benoit Saint-Denis, there was no big jump despite his dominant performance. There was no movement at all. Moicano remained at No. 11 and BSD at No. 12. That’s the kind of stupid result you’d expect to see if a computer was in charge, but UFC CEO Dana White says its the very human MMA media messing up the rankings, and computers will soon save us from their lack of knowledge.
“Let’s get into this,” White said when asked about the situation by Kevin Iole. “Khamzat Chimaev is No. 12. Okay? Max Holloway is No. 10. The guy he knocked out is No. 3. So I gotta find some media guys that know the fight sport, that understand the sport of fighting that are actually doing the rankings.”
That sounds like a good idea considering the rankings panel is a hodgepodge that includes local news outlets, radio stations, and a bunch of random MMA websites and podcasts, many of which no longer even exist.
The rankings panel is comprised of media members from the following outlets: KHON Honolulu, MMA Oddsbreaker, CFMU 93.3, Bursprak.se, FightNews, Fight Network, Gazeta Esportiva, Cherokee Scout, Burbank Leader, MMA Weekly, KIOZ 105.3, Vladusport.com, Wrestling Observer, Top Turtle Podcast, My MMA News, MMA Fight Radio, BoxeoMundial, Kimura.se, MMA Soldier, MMA NYTT, Blood & Sweat, Inside Fighting Radio.
So should we blame ‘the MMA media,’ or should we blame the UFC who chose the rankings panel and seemingly haven’t updated it since 2013? Maybe now would be a good time to do that, but White seems more interested in waiting until A.I. can cut out humans all together.
“The rankings are definitely a problem,” White said. “Moicano, I agree with you one hundred percent. But don’t worry, my friend, A.I. will be here soon and this will all be fixed. We get all these bums that know nothing about fighting out of this s— and get A.I. in here, and we can fix all these rankings.”
“I could go through this [ranking] board for a f—ing hour with you about the rankings and the MMA media.”
My brother, YOU picked them!