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Daniel Cormier entered the UFC 241 pay-per-view (PPV) main event as the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter, but then got stopped by Stipe Miocic in the fourth round of their heavyweight title fight, which sent him all the way down to No. 7 in the official rankings.
As I’m sure you’re all aware by now, the promotion’s ranking panel consists of hand-picked members of the mixed martial arts (MMA) media, which doesn’t include me because A) I can’t count to 15 and B) UFC thinks I’m an idiot (can’t imagine why).
Those folks who do make the decisions, however, have some explaining to do.
“I was looking at the rankings today when they came out, it’s just fucking insane to me,” UFC President Dana White told MMA Junkie. “This guy on Saturday night was the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He loses and drops to No. 7, and he loses to the No. 1 heavyweight contender in the world, and the guy who has the most consecutive title defenses in UFC history, and Cormier drops to No. 7? It’s crazy. He’s much higher than that, and he’s one of the best to ever do it. He’s still one of the best in the world.”
White also voted against Cormier’s retirement.
While I got flamed for suggesting that “DC” should call it a career, I certainly wasn’t alone. Longtime American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) teammate, Khabib Nurmagomedov, was also in favor of having the Olympian walk away from combat sports.
Something Cormier wanted to do last March anyway.
As for the pound-for-pound rankings, reigning UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, was hoping to do away with the subjective chart after “DC” was dethroned, but I have a feeling the weekly list is here to stay, as is the “insane” MMA media.