Dana White’s Hatred Of The UFC P4P Rankings, Explained

Most MMA fans know about the hatred that UFC
President Dana White

has for the UFC pound-for-pound rankings, which are updated after every PPV event. This is a deeper explanation of why he is so vocal about them on the microphone at many of his press conferences.

Strong Bias Towards Jon Jones

Dana White Believes ‘Bones’ Is The Greatest In The World At All Times

• The UFC President’s bias towards Jones launched a whole year full of memes in 2024, poking fun of his affinity towards the current heavyweight champion.
• Did Jones deserve to be world #1 P4P prior to his last title defense against Stipe? What about after he won?

One of the funnier cycles of content to come out of the UFC in 2024 was all about Dana White talking about Jon Jones and how he is the best fighter in the world. White butted heads with many members of the media at press conferences because Jones continually was not in the #1 spot in the pound-for-pound rankings.

The media members who vote for the UFC pound-for-pound list every month are clearly not as big fans of Jones as the UFC president. Jones hasn’t held that #1 spot since approximately August 2021, after he was again inactive and Kamaru Usman took over the throne.

Jones has a long history of being the world #1 P4P in the UFC since 2013, but then lost his spot due to his own inactivity, suspensions, and unfortunate behavior outside the cage. But even when he is out with an injury, or dealing with legal issues, Dana White will still say, “as long as Jon Jones is still active, fighting, and in the rankings… yeah, nobody is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world.”

What Dana White Thinks About Who Is Voting For P4P Rankings

• The UFC president has called the media members who vote for the UFC rankings some harsh names on multiple occasions.
• Dana White has been actively trying to change how the rankings work for months now going into 2025.

In the embedded YouTube video above, MMA media personality Ariel Helwani dives into how the UFC rankings work and the comments made by Dana White trying to change them.

It’s clear that White doesn’t think the media members are qualified to rank these professional fighters. Does he have a point? It’s safe to say the majority of them have probably never fought in a cage before, and some might not even know what it’s like to do and train in any martial arts.

The UFC website explains that the rankings are determined by a voting panel made up of media members from various outlets. Interestingly, they don’t list anybody by name, only the media outlet they are from. What is really intriguing about this is that none of the listed outlets seem to be a major platform in the sport. Mostly radio shows, and small websites that don’t get much traffic in today’s current era of MMA media.

What Dana White Seems To Be Planning For The Future

• Dana White has been building a relationship with a very influential figure in media, and fellow UFC fan, Mark Zuckerberg.
• White has mentioned publicly he wants to involve the Meta AI technology owned by Zuckerberg to create the ranking lists for the UFC.

White seems to want the involvement of AI technology to be the savior of UFC rankings and provide the most accurate lists possible. This is an interesting idea because, while it does take out most of the subjective opinions of human media members, AI technology might have a knowledge gap with all the nuances of mixed martial arts and how great these athletes are.

But it is safe to say that a strict AI model that is the same across all divisions, including the pound-for-pound list, will be the most consistent way to release athlete rankings weekly.

This post on X highlights much of what this article has mentioned that is happening over the last year. Dana White calling media members “clowns,” while simultaneously calling upon Mark Zuckerberg to quickly get a “AI deal” done. White also has an influence on Meta’s decisions as he is a board member.

The opinions of Dana White on the rankings regarding Jon Jones being the #1 fighter in the world, and how the media members are wrong, draw a lot of differentiating takes from UFC fans around the world. Many agree with the UFC president, while many don’t. There will always be different opinions on a ranking system, because it will always be a subjective action to name the top 15 fighters in the world.