Dana White is severe about altering the rankings.
Over the previous couple of months, the UFC rankings have been a supply of fixed consternation for White, and on Monday that continued as White ripped the rankings for Khalil Rountree Jr. remaining at No. 8 at gentle heavyweight after his thrilling loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 307.
However although White has attacked the rankings earlier than, and even called for A.I. to take over, this time the UFC CEO intends to do one thing about it.
“Should you take a look at who Pereira has beat, and the way he’s beat them main as much as this struggle, [Rountree] was profitable on the scorecards when he obtained stopped,” White mentioned at his Contender Collection media scrum on Tuesday. “He was forward on the scorecards. Stayed within the pocket, placed on one of many biggest fights anyone has ever seen, and he stays at No. 8.
“I can’t deal with incompetence. I can’t take it anymore. It’s driving me loopy. And I can’t let folks that I don’t imagine know what the f*ck they’re speaking about cope with the rankings anymore. I simply can’t do it. I’ve to determine an answer.
“Tomorrow I’ve a gathering with a bunch of individuals which are coming to me saying they’ve an answer to this downside. And God I hope they’re proper, as a result of I’m going to alter it. The media will not management the rankings within the UFC.”
For White, the rankings are vital due to how they play into the UFC’s matchmaking. Whereas White says that rankings are usually not the end-all-be-all in relation to reserving a struggle, he additionally says they’re a part of the dialog he, Mick Maynard, Sean Shelby, and Hunter Campbell have when making these choices. However he additionally needs to attract a transparent line between the promotion and nonetheless the rankings are completed.
“The rankings are crucial,” White mentioned. “It’s vital or I wouldn’t be — the rankings, judging, reffing. There are a number of issues we will’t management. As a result of there ought to by no means be a state of affairs the place we’re personally controlling the rankings. Can’t occur. You need to have one other system in there.
“On the finish of the day, I make fights that folks wish to see anyway, however I imagine that I shouldn’t be the one controlling the rankings. So we’re going to determine a special system, as a result of it might’t be the people who find themselves doing it, as a result of they’re not doing it proper.”
This then begs the query, why can’t the UFC take management of the rankings? And for White it appears to be a hedge in opposition to biases among the many UFC employees.
“We are able to’t do it,” White mentioned. “I don’t suppose that it’s proper that we’d do the rankings. Regardless of how unbiased you attempt to be, it’s not possible. And I’ll be sincere with you, there are some fighters I don’t like. There’s fighters that I actually like. And there’s issues which are good for the enterprise. There are issues that I don’t need in our fingers in any respect. Not mine, not Mick’s, not Sean’s not Hunter’s, no one. There must be a 3rd get together or AI or one thing that does the rankings. It’s not possible to not be biased.”
