The pound-for-pound rankings are the most prestigious in the UFC. All divisions have their own champions, of course. However, there are eight weight classes in the men’s division and four weight classes in the women’s division in the Dana White-led promotion and champions of different weight classes usually do not fight each other.

This would have been possible before 1997 when the UFC had no weight classes, but it is virtually impossible it would happen in the modern UFC. So, the second best thing we have to determine who the best fighter in the UFC, irrespective of weight class, is the pound-for-pound list. It is voted on by 20 media members from various publications every week. But Islam Makhachev‘s manager Ali Abdelaziz is not happy with the latest iteration of the rankings.

Ali Abdelaziz trashes UFC pound-for-pound rankings

After his first-round victory over Ciryl Gane at their heavyweight title bout at UFC 285, Jon Jones displaced featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski as the p4p king, who was no. 1 from August ’22 to March ’23.

His ranking did not suffer even when he went up a weight class and suffered a close loss against lightweight champion and then #2 p4p fighter Islam Makhachev. This is why Makhachev’s manager Abdelaziz is not very happy with the rankings.

“@MAKHACHEVMMA Islam Makhachev was #2 P4P, fought the #1 P4P for his ranking, won and now he’s P4P #3. These rankings are bullsh*t,” he tweeted.

He pointed out that the Dagestani beat Volkanovski in their bout at UFC 284 in February this year. And despite this win, he did not move to the top of the rankings and has now gone to #3 after Jon Jones’s heavyweight victory. Many will point out that ‘Volk’ did not go down in rankings as he fought the champion of a higher weight class, which already put him at a disadvantage, and gave him a close fight.

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While nothing can be done about it now, Islam Makhachev has another important upcoming fight. Will he be able to defend his title again?

Makhachev to defend his title against Charles Oliveira at UFC 294

Makhachev defeated then-lightweight champion Charles Oliveira in their title bout at UFC 280. The Dagestani brought down the Brazilian in the opening round of the fight and dominated the rest of the fight. ‘Do Bronx’ came out with some good punching in the second round, which Makhachev handled well before dropping the champion and ending the bout with an arm-triangle choke.

Oliveira will have the opportunity to right this wrong at UFC 294 on October 21 in the UAE. Oliveira fans will be looking for a stronger performance from the Brazilian this time. However, most fans are looking forward to the rematch between Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski, and a loss might derail that bout.

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