UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings showcase the top ten athletes in the company, regardless of their weight and gender. However, ever since their inception, they have always been a controversial subject. This is because many question their credibility and methods of evaluation.
There is an ongoing dispute as to how Alexander Volkanovski is still the P4P best in the company, despite having lost a decision to Islam Makhachev.
The two dueled at UFC 284, which was marketed as the first-ever outing between the two best combatants in the world. This might’ve been a flub by the marketing department considering this has happened before when Jones met Cormier.
Islam, who was ranked second before UFC 284, continues to remain in that position despite his victory. It was understood that he’d climb up the rankings since he bested Volkanovski. He even bragged about it to his coach.
After Islam’s win, the UFC even tweeted the following:
“The new world P4P #1 and NOBODY can take that away from @MakhachevMMA 💪 #UFC284”
However, the company’s official P4P rankings saw no changes in the top two spots. This doesn’t mean that they weren’t updated at all.
Jon Jones moved up a spot to number ten, replacing Jiri Prochazka who dropped down to eleven. Max Holloway also replaced Deiveson Figueiredo to get back in the rankings. As a result, Figueiredo is out of the list.
While it is intriguing that Volkanovski retains his number one spot, it should be noted that there’s been a lot of controversy surrounding Islam’s win. There are many who were surprised by the judges’ decision, and feel like Volkanovski did enough to get the win.
They think that Volk should retain his spot for dishing out enough damage to a larger opponent and improving the overall perception of his skills. This is probably what the ‘experts’ responsible for the rankings think as well.
Another interesting development is in the featherweight division. Despite winning the interim title Yair Rodriguez is still ranked beneath Max Holloway.
