New UFC rankings system: Explaining how it works and everything you need to know

The UFC has a brand new rankings system in place. Since February 2013, a media voting panel has decided which fighters have a quantity subsequent to their identify. Starting on Monday, the Meta UFC Rankings will start changing the outdated system.

Meta designed the Elo ranking system, a mathematical methodology used to calculate the relative talent of athletes, which started growth in February 2025 with the intent to commerce nuance for objectivity when rating fighters inside their division. The media rankings will not be instantly out of date. The UFC will proceed to reference the media rankings whereas matchmaking, and different elements catch up to the brand new system. Both rankings will likely be publicly obtainable, with the outdated system phasing out at a later date.

Ahead of the Meta UFC Rankings debut, CBS Sports was amongst a choose few publications participating in an hour-long Q&A to break down how the brand new system works. Here’s everything you need to know about how the rankings will take form in actual time.

Winning continues to be a very powerful issue

Winning stays a very powerful situation for shifting by way of a division. Numerous elements are taken under consideration beneath the hood, however who you beat carries probably the most weight.

“Did you win, and who do you beat effectively accounts for 95% of why someone is ranked,” a UFC consultant informed CBS Sports in the course of the restricted media Q&A.

Generally, the media rankings reward a lower-ranked opponent who beats a higher-ranked opponent with that larger rating. It’s not a tough rule, however it is traditionally the tenor of how issues play out. The new rankings operate in a different way. A fighter will at all times transfer forward of the opponent they beat, however how far they transfer relies on a broader evaluation of the division. Narrow gaps between fighter rankings can spring greater jumps.

For instance, an eighth-ranked fighter may beat the seventh-ranked fighter of their weight class. The profitable fighter might transfer up larger than No. 7 — as an instance to the No. 5 spot. If that occurs, it’s as a result of the system assessed that the No. 7-ranked fighter was solely incrementally behind No. 6 and No. 5. In idea, the winner proved to be higher than a number of fighters who had been neck-and-neck.

Finishes will apply a small bonus to fighter rankings; However, selections — irrespective of how dominant — won’t consider. The argument in opposition to choice bonuses was the part of human error.

“A unanimous decision is better than a split decision,” the rep argued. “I don’t know. Who were the judges?”

Fight metrics, akin to important strikes or takedowns landed in a combat, additionally aren’t thought of. The designers informed CBS Sports that they tinkered with it however in the end discovered it ineffective for his or her functions.

Activity and inactivity impression rating

The new rating system applies a bonus to energetic athletes. Fighters who compete extra typically will see their scores boosted.

“Create your velocity inside of weight class,” the rep mentioned. “We want to incentivize people who fight often.”

The inverse has the other impact. Two extra features that impression a fighter’s complete ranking are inactivity decay and legacy combat decay. Inactivity decay negatively impacts a fighter’s rating after 18 months with out competitors. Legacy combat decay penalizes the worth of fights which might be 5 years outdated, making them out of date after 10 years.

“Inactivity is not a penalty,” they continued. “It’s a consequence.”

Inactivity is without doubt one of the greatest issues dealing with the present media rankings. A current instance entails now retired welterweight contender Colby Covington. His first years netted him a excessive rating, which he largely held onto by not competing. Decay is the brand new system’s methodology for addressing that challenge, with velocity enjoying an element. Longer stretches of inactivity and older fights will likely be exponentially penalized.

“We don’t want people coasting on reputation,” the rep defined. “Nobody gets to hold their place in line because they beat somebody good…”

UFC determines fighter eligibility

The new system is indiscriminate in direction of inactivity. Injuries, pregnancies, division leaping and contract disputes are handled the identical for fighter decay. A fighter might fall out of the highest 15 from the impression inactivity has on their rating, however how lengthy they need to stay eligible is subjective. UFC matchmakers will determine when a fighter loses rating eligibility.

While UFC determines which divisions fighters competing in a number of weight lessons are eligible for, the brand new mannequin will consider how to handle their rankings. A fighter competing in a brand new division will obtain an adjusted rating, based mostly on their ranking of their unique division, with sure modifiers utilized. From there, a fighter competing in a number of divisions is handled as totally different individuals. What occurs in a single division won’t impression their rating in one other division.

Beyond eligibility, there will likely be no human intervention within the rating course of.

“There’s no failsafe or emergency brake,” the rep mentioned.

Expect surprising shake-ups

Monday morning was like Christmas Day for UFC athletes. Some obtained shiny new rankings, and others awakened ranked decrease than after they fell asleep. This is a results of how the Meta UFC Ranking fashions have rated every fighter.

“The goal was not to try to take human rankings and redo them with math…” they defined. “The goal was to try and do something different, and ideally better. These are not going to look and work exactly like human-style rankings. That’s not a weakness. You can decide if it’s a strength or not when you see it — but it’s not a weakness, which is to say if things are different, that’s intentional.”

For instance, one of many roughly 50 fashions examined had Melquizael Costa ranked forward of Arnold Allen earlier than their UFC Fight Night most important occasion. Allen is ranked No. 7 within the present media rankings, whereas Costa sits at No. 13. The mannequin assessed Costa’s current success and consistency extra favorably than Allen’s complete physique of labor, which noticed nearly all of his success come between 2015 and 2022.

The Meta UFC Rankings launched with the acquainted prime 15. The mannequin has the knowledge and capability to lengthen past 15 in every weight class. The UFC, ought to they ever determine to, might increase the rankings past 15 in every division.

There’s no pound-for-pound

The UFC media rankings embody a pound-for-pound class. The part is particularly subjective, requiring panelists to weigh the accomplishments between athletes in numerous weight lessons, most of whom have not or cannot combat one another. The new rankings will launch and not using a pound-for-pound rating, as it’ll require a totally totally different mannequin to function.

Are these AI rankings?

UFC CEO Dana White has spoken for months about changing the media rankings with a brand new AI-powered rating system. The consultant clarified that the energetic system doesn’t use synthetic intelligence. Machine studying was used to design the mannequin; However, the ultimate product doesn’t use AI.

“We didn’t build an AI to rank fighters,” the rep mentioned. “AI was used in creating the system, but on a week-to-week basis, when you see the rankings come out, it’s not because AI said so.”

“A mathematical model is doing the work on the backend, computing things and spitting out numbers,” they added individually. “Those numbers are ranked.”

There is a trade-off: human nuance for mathematical objectivity. There will likely be situations the place individuals have a look at a rating and argue that subtlety was misplaced. The staff behind the brand new system acknowledges this, however believes accuracy and impartiality are internet advantages.

“There is no intelligence. It’s not smart. It cannot see,” they mentioned. “It doesn’t judge… This is math.”

“There are no decisions made week-to-week. All the decisions have already been made. From now until the death of the universe, there are rules, and the rules will be followed. That’s how mathematical models work. It’s based on assumptions, and those assumptions are baked into the system.”

How did the outdated media rankings work?

Media members from 22 publications comprised a voting panel. Each week, panelists submit their prime 15 for every division, together with pound-for-pound, based mostly on the outcomes of the earlier week. Their rankings are compiled and averaged to produce the official rankings. Only fighters deemed energetic by the UFC will be voted for.