Power Behind the Rankings
By Eddie Sanchez
One of the best traits about the UFC has to be the fact that their rankings truly matter.
Sure, there are ranking systems within boxing, but with four major sanctioning bodies, The Ring Magazine and Box Rec, there are clear agendas and various different opinions that go into how the lists are constructed. This doesn’t even mention the fact that fights are rarely, if ever, made based on the rankings within a weight class in the sweet science.
Dana White however has made the rankings his bread-and-butter for fight-scheduling and managing individual egos. Although they are not followed to the letter of the law, they serve as a functioning backbone for the organization and are generally respected.
At risk of being a devil’s advocate douche, I will say that the P4P rankings show a little too much change on a day-to-day basis for fighters that don’t fight as often to justify the movement.
For instance, I have seen the 7th-15th spots shift multiple times each week over the past month-plus, which was a time where none of those men had actually competed. Did one of them have a better night of training than the other, or what gives?
For context, here are the current Top 15 P4P fighters in the world as of October 26, 2020.
All of this got me to question: who really is behind the rankings?
With some elementary sleuthing on the rankings section of the UFC’s website, you will find the following noted.
You will see that the rankings are “generated by a voting panel of media members.” This clearly makes sense, as most ranking systems are constructed by members of the media, such as with Top University lists or the NCAA Football AP Poll.
I am not here to channel the don’t trust the media persona, but I think it is fair to question if there are ulterior motives. I believe many are having similar thoughts right about now, because of Khabib’s recent post-fight comments following UFC 254.
During his retirement speech, he specifically said the following: “It was my last fight here. I know only one thing that I want from UFC, Tuesday. You guys have to put me as number one pound for pound fighter in the world because I deserve this.”
In no way would this be blasphemous, Khabib has earned the GOAT claims that many are chanting at this time and quite frankly, he likely does deserve the number one P4P status given the previous two performances from Jon Jones, which by his excellent standard, were sub-par. After all the P4P list is supposed to be a here-and-now sort of thing as opposed to a career recognition.
As we sit here on Monday the 26th, we will see what Tuesday holds in store for us, but if Jon Jones has a say, he let it be known on Twitter.
Jon Jones long-standing dominance has been well represented over the years and his frustration is valid. No star of his caliber is willing to step-aside for the relatively new(er) kid on the block. But given the plea from Khabib, and the visual frustration from Jon Jones, it will be interesting to see what happens with the rankings.
On one hand the UFC has admired Khabib’s professionalism and would likely offer anything they possibly can to the star as he exits stage-left, while Jon Jones has had a love-but-mostly-hate relationship with the media because of his past use of performance enhancing drugs, cocaine, driving under the influence and battery issues (quite a mouthful am I right?).
The UFC’s ranking system, as well as any ranking system will be far from perfect.
There will always be human error and natural biases that impact decisions, but given the climate of seeking transparency and the recent vocalization from the two best fighters in the world, this is an interesting time to take a moment and think, as a fan, who really is P4P Number 1 in the World right now.
So before any possible changes are made, who do you have sitting in the number one spot?
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UPDATED 10/27/2020
As predicted, the UFC rankings were updated this fine Tuesday and Khabib Nurmagomedov received his wish and sits on top as the Number 1 P4P Fighter in the World.
For his part, Justin Gaethje dropped to tenth and still looks to be in the thick of title contention going forward.
This status is well deserved and will suit as a nice send-off for the champion that will ultimately be short lived as he heads into retirement.
Khabib had the following to say on Instagram:
“It was work of my life, I never got anything easy, and nothing was given to me because I’m nice guy. Hard work, hope for Allah and patience, this three ingredient helps me to get successful, and of course, control and advises from my Father, who invested in me a lot of time and work.”
Once again, thank you for the great career champ, enjoy your time on top of the mountain.
