There are times when my head tilts when I watch mixed martial arts UFC. In particular, the most incomprehensible thing is the UFC ranking system. It is often questioned whether this ranking system works properly or is it calculated fairly.
For example, this is it. Let’s take a look at the UFC rankings as of July 20. In the UFC featherweight, where Jung Chan-sung and Choi Doo-ho are active, Alexander Volkanovski has been defending the throne for three years and seven months since winning the championship by beating Max Holloway in December 2019.
Max Holloway came in first and Yair Rodriguez came in second. I have no intention of challenging Holloway. Rodríguez recently challenged Volkanovski and was completely defeated. Still, I’ve beaten Josh Emmett and Brian Ortega in the past year, so it’s acceptable.
Ortega came in 3rd? You can’t help but doubt your eyes. I reviewed Ortega’s record. Ortega challenged Volkanovski in September 2021 and lost. He also lost to Rodriguez in July last year. What is Ortega’s last victory? In October 2020, he beat “Korean Zombie” Jung Chan-sung by a decision. He has recorded one win and three losses in the past four games, including his previous loss to Holloway. Still, it is ranked third.
The same goes for Jung Chan-sung, who is currently ranked eighth. His last victory came in June 2021. Of course, Jung Chan-sung and Ortega also have something to say. He fought against the top-class strongmen, and there were other variables such as injuries. Still, this ranking still has a lot of question marks. 바카라사이트
On the other hand, Park Joon-yong, who plays in the UFC middleweight, won all four fights in 14 months from Eric Anders in May last year to Albert Duraev on the 16th. The four-game winning streak ranks second in the UFC middleweight record.
Kang Kyung-ho of the UFC bantamweight also had an excellent performance of 8 wins and 2 losses in the last 10 games. However, entering the rankings is a long way off. Henry Sehudo, the third-ranked bantamweight champion, is a former champion, but the last victory recorded at the UFC is 2020. Under such an irrational system, players like Park Joon-yong and Kang Kyung-ho cannot enter the rankings until they retire.
How on earth does this happen to the UFC ranking system. The answer is simple. UFC rankings are not determined by objective evaluation or data. In fact, it is decided by popularity vote.
The players who determine the UFC rankings are more than 20 media members covering mixed martial arts. There are also powerful media members such as ESPN, but most of them are martial arts media such as MMA Weekly and Fight News. It includes media members from various regions, including Brazil, Russia, and Australia, as well as the United States. In 2013, when the UFC ranking was first introduced, more than 100 people participated in the vote. The scale is now greatly reduced.
They vote every month to select the UFC rankings. In the early days, media members revealed who they voted for and how. However, the policy has recently changed to private. There are no strict standards for voting. There are only vague guidelines that say, “You have to be strictly neutral.”
They use data such as winning or losing. However, the biggest influence on voting is the player’s reputation, personal preference, and friendship. Therefore, when a well-known player goes up to the rankings, he rarely comes down. On the contrary, it is not usually difficult for a new player to enter the rankings. In particular, it is not easy for Asian fighters such as Park Joon-yong and Kang Kyung-ho.
This is completely different from FIFA rankings and tennis world rankings. The FIFA rankings are calculated by considering the importance of the game, the opponent’s skills, and the power of each continent on the A-match points played by each country over the past four years. Ranked according to an objective system.
Tennis is similar. The ranking points of the last 52 weeks (1 year) will be accumulated and the ranking will be announced. If your recent performance is good, you will get a lot of ranking points, so your ranking will go up. On the other hand, no matter how good the past performance is, if the recent one-year record is bad, even Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal will fall in the rankings.
Unlike the FIFA rankings and tennis rankings, human subjective evaluation plays an absolute role in the UFC rankings. The problem is that the value of the player is determined by this clumsy ranking. This soon affects the opportunity to challenge the title or fight money. This is good for some players, but it is bound to be a frustrating experience for some players.
UFC has become a popular professional sport. However, shouldn’t the ranking system be changed in a fairer direction to become a true professional sport.