The UFC finally unveiled its new Meta Rankings that will replace the media-based rankings system. There were some noteworthy differences as the UFC left the media rankings on the website.
Conceptually, this should be better for the sport — but there are some kinks that still need to be worked out. Let’s talk MMA.
What Are The New UFC Meta Rankings?
UFC President Dana White said he was tired of the media rankings more than a year ago. He teased AI-based ranking systems leading up to Monday’s unveiling, but now they’re here and there’s likely no turning back.
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The Meta UFC Rankings launched Monday, built with Meta in an Elo-style model that scores fighters on fight data instead of media votes. Despite White’s “AI” talk, the people behind it say the live system is machine-learning-designed but data-driven, not active AI. It updates automatically every Monday after each event, with the media rankings still visible during the transition.
How Are The Meta Rankings Different From The Media Rankings?
The Meta system removes human bias and overweighting legends’ accomplishments.
Where media voters lean on resume, eye test, and name value, the Meta model rewards recency and activity and follows a rigid rule: you move ahead of anyone you beat. Champions still sit on top of both lists, whether it’s two-time middleweight champ Sean Strickland or any other titleholder. The real gaps show up among contenders, where active risers leap and inactive names fade.
Why Did Some Big Names Drop In The Meta Rankings?
Recency is a huge factor in the Meta rankings. If a fighter hasn’t scored a big win recently or the vast majority of their success has come from victories that happened two or three years ago, it won’t weigh as heavy as someone like Kevin Borjas who just won on Saturday.
However, Borjas also woefully missed weight ahead of his upset victory over André Lima. Clearly, Meta doesn’t penalize for that misstep, though it should.
On the flip side, legacy names slide hard. Former light heavyweight champ Jan Błachowicz sits around No. 15 in Meta versus No. 4 in the media list, and inactive or recently-beaten names like Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez fall well outside the spots voters still hand them. The model simply doesn’t remember old title runs the way humans do, which is why a recent title win means far more than a famous one.
What Kinks Still Need To Be Worked Out?
The rollout was a little clunky with some recent winners like Borjas showing up as champion in the early stages. That was remedied quickly.
From a more permanent standpoint, missing weight should prevent any fighter from gaining points in the ranking system, yet they should be able to lose points. Also, there should be a metric for forward advancement, significant strikes thrown, submissions attempted, takedowns on top of pure wins.
The UFC likes to prioritize finishes, which is a double-edged sword, but rewarding activity and chasing definitive positive results should be rewarded. Wins and losses should remain the biggest pluses and minuses, but the way a fighter wins should also be a factor.
It’s peculiar to see Prates ranked ahead of Ian Machado Garry considering the latter won their head-to-head battle. It’s impossible to obey the rank-above-everyone-you-beat rule throughout, but that one was seemingly too recent to ignore.
There’s also no pound-for-pound ranking yet, since that needs a separate model, and despite the “no human intervention” pitch, White didn’t fully rule out humans staying involved during the transition.