UFC to start their own Official Ranking system for fighters

[Tallica1981]

Him saying he'll put together the fights that people want to see just makes the rankings even more pointless but whatever. You're going to see fighters now though saying they are number 1, etc. I think it's going to create issues when fighter are offered fights. A guy is going to say if i'm ranked #3 why am I fighting guy ranked #14

Meh, it's not like the UFC is picking the rankings. It's being voted on by members of the media. A lot (not all) of fighters already know where they land at most websites, so I don't see how this is any different.

[Best80smovieRAD]

Meh, it's not like the UFC is picking the rankings. It's being voted on by members of the media. A lot (not all) of fighters already know where they land at most websites, so I don't see how this is any different.

I dunno, i just think now they have more evidence, not that I guess it matters to Dana. Just it would of been even more annoying hear Hendricks say look at the rankings

[The_Splatoon]

Good to see that Chael will finally be recognized as the world's #2 ranked light-heavyweight.

[split decision]

Good to see that Chael will finally be recognized as the world's #2 ranked light-heavyweight.

Is that Splatoon-casm?

[Spectre]

Is Ariel a reporter or the UFC PR director?

http://www.mmafighting.net/forum/sho...MMA-journalism

[Ash]

Yeah, this'll never happen, at least not with any sort of integrity.

[LordZardoz]

Him saying he'll put together the fights that people want to see just makes the rankings even more pointless but whatever. You're going to see fighters now though saying they are number 1, etc. I think it's going to create issues when fighter are offered fights. A guy is going to say if i'm ranked #3 why am I fighting guy ranked #14

There are a few different way to create a ranking.

If they just go Media opinion + internal ranking, and lay it out as a flat top 10 / 100 / whatever, then its going to look very goddamn strange when they match a guy up ranked at #23 against #8.

But consider the Stick and Ball sports. In the NHL, you get 2 points for a win, and 1 point for a shoot out loss. (points on losing is its own kind of bull****, but stay with me here). Near the end of most seasons, you can see some teams move 3 or 4 ranks up or down in the standings based on one or two wins in a row. If the UFC provides some kind of points system, you might find out that the 'FighterScore' separating #23 and #8 is only a difference of one or two wins.


Fight Magazines rankings look like this for their top 10:

Light Heavyweight (205)
Fighter---------------------Pts----------------High
1. Jon Jones----------------7.724--------------7.724
2. Dan Henderson-----------7.097--------------7.097
3. Alexander Gustafsson------6.683--------------6.683
4. Lyoto Machida------------6.583--------------7.159
5. Rashad Evans-------------6.499--------------6.596
6. Mauricio Rua--------------5.683--------------6.928
7. Muhammed Lawal---------5.681--------------6.113
8. Ryan Bader---------------5.676--------------5.676
9. Thiago Silva--------------5.531--------------5.531
10. Ryan Jimmo-------------5.457--------------5.457

Now, with that kind of info, you can more easily sell the fans on something like Ryan Jimmo vs Shogun despite barely any casual fan knowing who the **** Jimmo is.

Now, Zuffa is probably not going to have that kind of ranking. If they are going to poll the journalists, then the rankings are going to be at least partly subjective. I am not sure what kind of value subjective rankings are going to have. What I can see being useful:


1) Lending credibility to promoter hype / improve the appeal of match making (ie: this card is stacked, it has the #3 vs #5 guy as a co-main, and every main card fighter is within the top 10 of their division...)
2) Easier matchmaking: (If Wiedman is hovering at #2 long enough, Silva may take the fight instead of holding out on a payday. Or if Tito Ortiz doesnt want to fight a TUF finalist, then showing Tito that the finalist is higher ranked then him)
3) Generate conversation: People bitch about which fighter is better all the time. An official ranking that someone doesnt agree with will add fuel to it (ie: No way that Edgar can be ranked higher than Aldo).

The biggest drawback is that it may expose matches like Jon Jones fighting Middleweights as being unwarranted to the casual fans. Also, you may end up with 6 of the top 10 guys in a division being injured while the other 4 already recently lost to the champion.

END COMMUNICATION

[RPD]

To everyone bitching about rankings, how do you think they are done in other sports? Higher seeded teams lose to lower seeded ones all the time.

At least this way, average joe fan can get a semblance on where X fighter stands roughly in relationship with another fighter.

[LordZardoz]

To everyone bitching about rankings, how do you think they are done in other sports? Higher seeded teams lose to lower seeded ones all the time.

At least this way, average joe fan can get a semblance on where X fighter stands roughly in relationship with another fighter.

The use of stats in the stick and ball sports is generally only used for determining who is going to make the playoffs, and for who gets a draft pick. If Average Joe Fan is a fan of the Utah Jazz, then he probably either thinks his team is going to win the goddam championship, or he thinks that his team is generally solid. If the team is tanking, he is probably going to be muttering about a rebuilding year.

That kind of info does not map the same way to MMA.

First, the rankings do not reset at the end of the season, and a challenger is not likely to get a 2nd shot against the champion unless he is Frankie 'The Rematch' Edgar. The next is that there are champions for each division and fighters can move up or down a weight class.

If a fighter is on a win streak, the rankings info should tell a Mr Joe roughly how far away his guy is to getting a title shot. If Shogun or Lyoto Machida put together a 3 fight winning streak, we would expect a title shot. If Ryan Jimmo puts up a 3 fight streak, probably not. So that part of a rankings system could work...

Unless that fighter is Jon Fitch in which case the ranking is going to be locked hard at #2. Or lets say Benavidez beats Ian McCall on Saturday. Joe is the #2 guy, but since he lost to Mighty Mouse, he may need a few more to get a title shot.

The other part is that if a fighter is on a losing streak, we can be pretty sure he wont tank to chase a draft pick. We can expect people in the bottom 5 on a losing streak would be cut, which is something that may keep a fan paying attention. However, it is complicated for mid card guys. If Volkman loses 2 in a row, he may be cut despite being high-ish in the rankings.

One other thing I wonder is will those rankings go for the entire roster or just the top 10?

END COMMUNICATION

[Mephisto]

Why in the hell is everyone comparing team sports to individual sports for these analogies? It is really pissing me off. Tennis uses a ranking system and so does golf. Unless Team Jackson is fighting AKA, team sport metrics bear nothing at all in MMA. So let's look to individual sports for a proper comparative metric. To quote Gordon Ramsay "Fakking bloody 'ell"