UFC to Start Media-Based Rankings System
By Chris Leslie on February 1, 2013
Among the many interviews yesterday one interesting bit of information was revealed by UFC president Dana White. The UFC will be creating a media-based rankings system in association with Fight Metric.com.
The rankings system will incorporate 90 members of the MMA media community and will be updated following each fight. The system will allow the media to vote on where fighters stand following fights. The rankings will also include a pound-for-pound category.
While the rankings are expected to help make some fights easier to make, White insisted that the UFC will continue to make the fights “fans want to see.”
The first round of invitations for the voting period have been sent out and debut of the rankings is expected soon.
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This whole rankings system deal isn’t a completely bad idea. But for the UFC specifically let’s be real. “Fights fans want to see” translates to “big name vs big name” fight not “actual deserving Contender vs actual deserving Contender”.
Chael Sonnen vs Jon Jones
Frankie Edgar vs Jose Aldo
Nick Diaz vs GSP
…. these are examples that a UFC Ranking system won’t work and also there is talk that if Rashad Evans defeats Lil Nog he could be the next guy to fight Anderson Silva at a weight class Evans has never fought in just like Edgar facing Aldo this weekend.
The UFC without a doubt has the absolute best fighters in the World in MMA and if they are missing any of them, those guys will eventually come to the UFC anyway. But as far as I am concerned, the UFC went WWE a long time ago in terms of their match making and justification for fights such as the above listed fights.
They are even calling Edgar vs Aldo a “Superfight”…. Edgar has just lost 2 in a row so how is this a “Superfight”?
Like everyone, I am all for a rankings system, but the bottom line is that it will not make a difference at all in terms of who fights who, and who gets next crack at champions. Fans, media, hype, star power and those things will decide who gets awarded title fights because as we all know actually deserving and earning your shot doesn’t matter unless you have a big fan base and or beef with the current champ in that division. Just ask Johny Hendricks who by all rights has earned his shot at GSP but the guy is not marketable, he has no charisma, no beef with anyone, no mic skills which should matter but because he is not a big name or draw he did not get awarded the shot but Nick Diaz who not only lost his shot against Condit but “retired”….
Long story short, the UFC attempting a rankings system is laughable because it will have zero effect on who gets to fight for a Championship.
Wow. People bitch and moan when there’s no rankings. Now they bitch and moan when there will be.
Dana just needs to tell everyone to F- off because he will never make anyone happy.
@factman
Obviously you can’t handle someone who keeps it real. Because the FACT is that the UFC does not base match making on any rankings system especially since they have been suffering in PPV buys recently. Why do you think they have Sonnen and Jones as coaches on TUF? And why do you think they awarded Sonnen a shot at Jones over everyone else at 205 when Sonnen hasn’t fought at 205 in years and is coming off a loss at 185? Also, why do you think Edgar and Nick Diaz got their title shots?
Was it because they were ranked #1 in those divisions? If that’s what you think I simply ask, how is Edgar the number one Contender in a division he has never fought in?
Rankings system for all MMA in general are merely for show. Rankings for the UFC specifically are a joke because the number one ranked guy, unless he can sell tickets and put assses in seats will NOT get a shot at the champ until there’s no other choice.
I guess some guys just can’t handle truth.
I think part of this you aren’t thinking about Marvel is this might give the UFC an opportunity to market a guy like Hendricks to more casual fans. They can market him as the #2 or #3 ranked WW in the world and maybe not have to convince the casual fan as much that this is a deserving contender. A casual fan might be more familiar with Nick Diaz for example so he gets the shot, but this opens another marketing tool for the org.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree with some of your points, but maybe that has more to do with you and I being close followers of the sport and hate seeing guys who have earned their spots getting over looked. And you are right in one point, every now and then this will continue to happen, people will get title shots they haven’t earned, but that is the nature of business it seems.
@MarvelKnight4 remember there’s one big thing with an official rankings system, and that’s that it makes it harder to justify the matchups you mentioned. I’m reserving judgement until I see how it works out, however I do like the idea of a rankings system.
Well, it’s MY guess that Edgar got the 145 shot because, even when he was the 155 champ, Dana was trying to get him to move down to 145. In fact, Dana was trying to set up the Edgar/Aldo superfight then.
Just because Edgar lost to a bigger 155er doesn’t mean he won’t still be a beast at 145. In fact, he’s probably the second best (if not the best) at 145 right now.
And Sonnen? Jones has destroyed the entire 205 division, really. The only former champ who hasn’t retired (and that he hasn’t already obliterated) is Griffin and he’s said he wants nothing to do with Bones. You think Gustafson could even make it to the championship rounds against Bones at this point? Cuz he’s the only guy left at 205. I guess it’s better to sit the champ on the shelf while a new 205 contender is created…. Oh, but wait, you’re the one who wasn’t giving Bones his due even after he DEEEEEESSSTTTRRROOOYYYEEEEDDDD Shogun’s overrated ass. That was definitely some “keeping it real” there. Trying to downplay the skills and abilities of the a guy who has beaten 5 former UFC champs in a row (if you count Belfort’s UFC 12 tournament win.
You wanna talk about keeping it real? Here we go: rankings are subjective. Just because someone is “ranked” #2, it doesn’t make him the second best. It just means he won more recently than the last guy to fight the champ. In reality, #1 and #2 likely don’t really change in a weight class all that often. So yes, rankings are bull****, but not for the reasons you specified. It’s because the #2 guy in many cases won’t beat the champ. And after he loses, he’s still the #2 guy. But he can’t keep fighting the champ over and over, so we artificially drop him down the rankings.
Your problem isn’t with the UFC, it’s with sports in general. Guess what? The 2 best teams don’t usually play in the Super Bowl. And they rarely play in an NCAA championship game. There’s too much luck in sports that don’t have championships determined by a best of 7 series.
I know you like the play the “I’m gonna be a straight shooter, I’m gonna keep it real” card around here, but you’re just as much of an ass and a poser as the rest of us. At least the rest of us don’t do this 3rd person, superhero persona crap while they talk about “keeping it real.”
Grow up, stop whining, and just watch the fights, for crying out loud.
@factman
Since you’ve obviously been a fan of MK4’s for a while and have read everything he’s posted on the Forums section you obviously also know that MK4 has been giving Jones his due and is actually become quit a big fan of the guy. And you made MK4’s point by bringing up Gustafsson. Gus, besides Dan Henderson are the only 2 legit Contenders at 205 in the UFC. Despite how badly Jones would defeat them, they like Johny Hendricks has earned their spot and deserve a Title fight. But for marketability reasons won’t get their shot any time soon.
“Sitting the Champ until they build a new Contender” … sadly enough it’s better than giving guys like Vitor Belfort a shot at Jon Jones. Plus, that’s the whole point of “building a Contender”. It works better overall because while they are “building” this guy up he gains traction with fans and builds hype and the anticipation for a fight with the Champion begins to gain momentum which usually equals to positives for all involved.
Instead of just lurking around, and making pathetic attempts at trying to poke fun at MK4, why don’t you man up and post your opinions on the forums instead of just reading someone else’s opinion. Don’t be scared homie.
Here’s my opinion: You’re a bipolar, two-faced hypocrite who can’t remember his persona from one day to the next, hence why you would be OK with giving Fedor a title shot but are opposed to Edgar getting one.
Fedor hasn’t had a decent win since 2007 (and retired after beating up some tomato cans in Russia). Edgar is a former UFC champion who has just changed weight classes. Being OK with Fedor getting a title shot because it is business, while being upset that others can ge title shots in the name of business, makes your opinion completely invalid.
That better for you, comic book boy?
“Fedor, he11, I wouldn’t be opposed to him coming in and getting an immediate Title Shot IN Russia and I doubt anyone else would mind. This is a business and that would be a HUGE PPV money maker with the right opponent.”
Hypocrite much?
@factman
when did I say that? Your putting words in my mouth….. I simply said the idea of rankings is a joke because we all know that the UFC doesn’t work based on rankings. If you’re going to post, don’t put words in people’s mouths, because that’s simply a bittch move….. but it’s obvious that’s your thing.
Since you are not bright enough to realize that while the UFC is officially in WWE mode, why the he11 not give Fedor a shot? That’s the point …… but I guess dudes like you can’t keep up.
For a dude who calls himself “fact” man, you need to really get your facts straight….. because you just come off as a fraud just like your buddy jcohl did……. he11, maybe you ARE jcohl….
Um, you said it two days ago. So you were ok with business deciding title shots two days ago, but not today.
That’s a fact. It’s in black and white.
Actually MK4 he’s right, you said that in the forums in “UFC Russia”
P.S
…… you have officially been DEEEEEEEEEESTROYED …… next time you want to engage in a debate with MK4, make sure you get your facts straight buddy. Because your dealin’ with the Sheriff round these parts son.
Ok, let me spell this out for you. I’d post it in Crayon with a cute comic book style so you could actually understand it, but WordPress doesn’t have that capability….
Here, you said http://mmafrenzy.com/32460/ufc-and-fight-metric-to-start-media-based-rankings-system/#comment-257725
It says that you don’t think the rankings system will matter because fighters who have earned title shots and fought to be the #1 contender will be passed over for title shots (and imply that that isn’t right).
BUT….two days ago, you said….“Fedor, he11, I wouldn’t be opposed to him coming in and getting an immediate Title Shot IN Russia and I doubt anyone else would mind. This is a business and that would be a HUGE PPV money maker with the right opponent.”
Well in that case, you’re ok with a guy who hasn’t even earned a place in the UFC, based on recent history, getting a title shot. Even though he isn’t even the #7 contender.
It shows a lack of coherence day to day. It shows that you have your favorites who should get title shots based on PPV sales (something you decried with the Sonnen-Jones and Edgar-Aldo and Diaz-GSP fights).
You aren’t destroying anything but your own credibility, you fraud.
I’m scared to even get involved with this, but what the hell. The jury sides with factman. ps(MK4 please stop talking in 3rd person, no hate but it bothers me)
Entertaining debate guys, I scored that round for @factman as well.
‘George is getting angry’
Personally, I like the ranking system. @chris leslie do you get a vote? Or do we need to do a twitter campaign to get you added?
I appreciate it, and I will be requesting an invitation actually
I ate a whole bowl of popcorn while reading this thread ;). Actually im siding with @MK4 cuz not only was what he was saying true, he didnt come out and personally attack @factman to get his point across. In order to prove a point you look so much better by sticking by your Facts and keeping your personal insults out of it. I think @MK4 is sayin that based on the fact that no actual contenders have been getting shots at the title that makes a ranking system irrelevant unless they base the matchmaking soley on the ranking system itself and have it as a general rule to never differentiate from it. @factman just wanted a chance to personally insult someone he doesnt like and use this topic as his way of doing so. Like @MK4 said if you lurk around and hardly ever post then crawl back under the rock you popped out from if your going to personally insult someone or take your beef over to sherpup.com. I come to this site because most of the conversation is intelligent and if you wanna troll you usually get put in your place. @MK4 may have said what he said about Fedor but that doesnt even make his comment on this topic irrelevant because of he wasnt saying that he didnt necessarily like the match ups themselves and watching them themselves, he was saying that why make a ranking system when they arent even going to use it anyways. But as @chrisl said we should only pass judgment if we watch it play itself out for a while and see if it makes any difference. Once that happens we can say fuck that rabking system the fighters whi are contenders still arent getting their shot, the system os garbage. Anyways im gonna go have sex with my gf, have a good night fellas. Peace.
Well said… except you let out a little too much info in the end.
;-)