Dana White excited the entire world when he declared his $100M worth collaboration with Mark Zuckerberg to revamp the rankings system. He claimed, “We’ve already started to work on some innovations with Meta around a new fighter rankings system that will debut later this year.” What would they bring out of this collaboration? 

However, the new pound-for-pound rankings failed miserably to please the fighting community. And calls began to mount against the rankings as the undisputed flyweight champion, Alexandre Pantoja, went to the 10th spot on the list. 

For Pantoja’s fans, UFC 310 should have ideally pushed ‘The Cannibal’ to the top 5 position in the pound-for-pound rankings. However, he got the 9th spot. Upset with the rankings, Gilbert Burns took to X and lashed out at the list for the disrespect. He wrote, “THE LEVEL OF DISRESPECT!! BETTER BUT NOT ENOUGH!! YOUR THOUGHTS.” But now, as Pantoja moved to the 10th position in the P4P rankings, things began to shake with a higher magnitude. 

Following his impressive win at UFC 316, Merab Dvalishvili not only defended his bantamweight title for the second time but also surpassed Jon Jones and Ilia Topuria in the P4P list. A journalist from Brazil, Jose Louis, highlighted this on X, as he tweeted, “Merab Dvalishvili is now number 2 in the P4P ranking.” But Renato Moicano swooped in to bash the rankings system. Replying to Louis, Moicano wrote, “Alexander Pantoja number 10 is a joke! Easily in front of Magomed [Ankalaev].” 

The problem with the current ranking system is that it doesn’t seem to follow any particular criteria. This was the sole reason why the UFC head honcho wanted to stir things up by bringing artificial intelligence into the picture. But it seems like his collaboration with Zuckerberg has yet to yield results. Nevertheless, do you know what ‘The Cannibal’ said about his new spot in the pound-for-pound rankings? 

What does Alexandre Pantoja think of the P4P rankings? 

Talking to Stake.com, Pantoja weighed in on ranking at #10 in the P4P list. He said, “I’m not going to lie, I think the big measurement for this should be if you have the belt. If you have the belt, you get 50 points, one title defence, and you get maybe 50 more. I don’t know how they judge the ranking, but at the end of the day, it should be about who is the best fighter in the world.”

Currently on a 7-fight win streak, with a record of 29-5 (8 wins by KO/TKO and 11 by submissions), Alexandre Pantoja received the fans’ backing because he has already defended his flyweight belt thrice. On the other hand, Jones has done that only once. And Magomed Ankalaev is still looking for an opponent for his first title defense. However, the one fighter that got Pantoja’s respect was Islam Makhachev at the top of the P4P list. And Pantoja claimed that he deserved to be in the second spot. He said, “When I stopped and looked at the P4P, I fought everyone in my division, and I won every one. I’m not going to say anything bad about Jon Jones, but who did more in the last years? I think you can take Islam Makachev, but then after that, it is me.” 

Pantoja’s pound-for-pound status might be pretty upsetting for many. But he still has a chance to rise back higher with his upcoming bout against Kai Kara-France at UFC 317. And he knew it pretty well. The flyweight champion continued, “Everyone who understands the game defends me, and after my fight with Kai Kara-France, maybe the P4P will change.” On top of that, with some good timing, White might come forth with an appreciable change in the ranking system. 

What do you think of the P4P rankings? Do you think bringing in artificial intelligence is the right move? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.