UFC partners with Meta to overhaul ranking system

...and while I was initially in a "say it aint so!" sort of mindset when the partnership was announced by CEO Dana White, once I read into it I think that this is actually a good idea.

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My initial disgust was put at ease when it was revealed that the main reason for this alignment is so that UFC can move to a more objective ranking system that AI will determine and move away from the press and other pundits determining the rankings. I have long thought that the ranking systems were rigged based on feelings rather than actual skill and that certain fighters who fail to build some sort of WWE-like persona end up getting ranked lower than those who put on some sort of gimmick spectacle and say nasty, yet creative things on the microphone.

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While the official word about why this happened is shown to us as Mark simply being an MMA fan for a long time they also reveal that before this went down, Dana White was given a seat on the board of directors of Meta, but I am sure this is just a coincidence (sarcasm.) If there is one thing that Dana likes more than anything else, it is money.

Now there are reasons why this partnership is good and reasons why it is bad. The good is that we have a real shot at getting an objective ranking system that is based on stats and actual performance as far as fighting is concerned and things like antics, taunting, and doing stupid shit like drinking beer out of a shoe after a victory will not play a part in determining a fighter's ranking globally. They do admit in the pressers that the model MAY prioritize "marketable narratives and excitement" and if it does that, nothing will have really changed. At the end of the day I understand that UFC, as well as any other MMA promotion, their prime directive is to make money and therefore, this is always going to be a part of it. I suppose this will never change but it will be good if AI can make the distinction between "octagon control" and someone who just shoots for a takedown, gets it, and then proceeds to do nothing on the ground other than stay there for points.

The bad that could come from this is that Meta, like any profitable company, doesn't do things out of the goodness of their hearts and there is little doubt that this will be used in some way to integrate Facebook, Instagram, and the god-awful Threads into UFC the way in which UFC exclusively features Bud Light at their events. I don't personally know anyone that uses threads, but it wouldn't surprise me if all of a sudden a bunch of UFC stars are obligated to use it in the near future.

So on one side, I am really happy that the rankings system has a chance for an objective overhaul that can be unaffected by office politics and whichever star has better social-media, and perhaps we can focus on which fighters is objectively better and more deserving of a higher rank.

I don't know much about AI, but I do feel as though it can be programmed to be completely unbiased and not have any personal feeling associated with its decisions.

Time will tell, but in the coming months one thing is for sure, we are going to get bombarded with advertisements from Meta during all UFC events.

This will serve mostly to just annoy me because I am already the type of person where if some product is the reason behind why the UFC events are stretched out to 6 hours instead of 3, I go out of my way to never purchase whatever product is being forced upon us while we watch it. It must have the opposite effect though, because otherwise these companies wouldn't spend millions upon millions of dollars to be featured there.