Dana White is critical 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 mild heavyweight after his thrilling loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 307.
However although White has attacked the rankings earlier than, and even known as for A.I. to take over, this time the UFC CEO intends to do one thing about it.
“Should you have a look at who Pereira has beat, and the way he’s beat them main as much as this battle, [Rountree] was successful on the scorecards when he obtained stopped,” White stated at his Contender Sequence 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 people who I don’t imagine know what the f*ck they’re speaking about take care of 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 can be 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 vary it. The media will now 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 should not the end-all-be-all relating to reserving a battle, he additionally says they’re a part of the dialog he, Mick Maynard, Sean Shelby, and Hunter Campbell have when making these selections. However he additionally desires to attract a transparent line between the promotion and nevertheless the rankings are executed.
“The rankings are crucial,” White stated. “It’s essential or I wouldn’t be — the rankings, judging, reffing. There are a whole lot 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. It’s important to have one other system in there.
“On the finish of the day, I make fights that individuals wish to see anyway, however I imagine that I shouldn’t be the one controlling the rankings. So we’re going to determine a distinct system, as a result of it may’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 stated. “I don’t suppose that it’s proper that we’d do the rankings. Irrespective of how unbiased you attempt to be, it’s unimaginable. And I’ll be trustworthy with you, there are some fighters I don’t like. There’s fighters that I actually like. And there’s issues which can be good for the enterprise. There are issues that I don’t need in our palms in any respect. Not mine, not Mick’s, not Sean’s not Hunter’s, no person. There needs to be a 3rd social gathering or AI or one thing that does the rankings. It’s unimaginable to not be biased.”