For years, Dana White remained frustrated with the existing rankings system for UFC, believing it often misplaced fighters and created unnecessary controversy. To address that issue, the UFC this year decided to bring an AI into the process, hoping the problems would eventually disappear. After more than a year of testing and refinement, the UFC officially unveiled its AI-powered rankings system developed by Meta, which began operating on June 22, 2026. However, the promotion’s technological approach to fixing the rankings problem appears to have backfired early, with the new system already showing issues. 

After opening the UFC’s official rankings page, many noticed that the rankings had placed several fighters in positions that did not reflect their actual standing in the promotion. Fighters such as Mitch Raposo, Kevin Borjas, Montel Jackson, and Pat Sabatini were even listed as champions, despite not holding titles in their respective divisions.

“The new #UFC rankings are live, and it looks like the website is broken,” MMA journalist Adam Martin shared on X.

After the initial glitch occurred, the UFC’s website administrators apparently restored the rankings page, with the current champions returning to their proper places. However, the AI-generated rankings still painted a completely different picture that quickly raised eyebrows. According to a Championship Rounds post, multiple athletes appeared to be significantly misplaced despite their recent performances suggesting otherwise.

According to the updated rankings, Alex Pereira was placed at No. 4 in the heavyweight division despite not getting a single victory in the weight class. Carlos Prates also moved ahead of Ian Garry in the welterweight division despite the Irishman previously defeating the Brazilian. But that’s not all. The updated rankings showed Paulo Costa climbing three spots from No. 7 to No. 4 in the light heavyweight division despite only one win. Meanwhile, Bo Nickal moved from No. 15 to No. 12 at middleweight.

At the same time, Derrick Lewis suffered a major drop as the updated rankings pushed him completely out of the heavyweight top 15 following the loss against Josh Hokit at UFC Freedom 250. In fact, Rafael Fiziev, Yair Rodriguez, and Payton Talbott also found themselves unranked in their respective divisions. Well, Jan Blachowicz only narrowly avoided the same fate after dropping from No. 4 all the way to No. 15 in the light heavyweight rankings.

Going even further, the website glitch displayed only 12 or 13 ranked fighters in some divisions, while other weight classes continued to show the full rankings. When it comes to technical glitches, however, the UFC database previously removed Shi Ming from the roster following an apparent error in the system. The UFC has also kept the previous media-based rankings on its website. While it can’t be confirmed whether the latest issue is with the website or the Meta AI-based rankings themselves, fans have appeared highly frustrated with it all.

Fans call out UFC over major ranking errors in the new AI-based system

One fan stated, “The website is absolutely broken.” Then another user, who seemed highly frustrated with Dana White, wrote, “Kevin Borjas and Mitch Raposo ranked? Lmao, delete this ‘AI’ bull–t. Dana White is a moron.”

Keeping the same sentiment, another fan commented, “The rankings are retarted, how the f–k is Mitch Raposo ranked 11 when he is 2-2 with 1 split decision over Allan Nascimento and a decision win over Maksum, who got cut?”

Fans seemed not only upset about AI rankings giving fighters like Raposo getting into the rankings, but they also called out the UFC for placing Alex Pereira at No. 4 in the heavyweight division.

A fan wrote, “Number 4 at heavyweight for losing his only fight there seems pretty dumb lol.” Generally, a fighter needs to win a fight to earn a ranking. However, since Alex Pereira lost to the No. 1 contender in the division, the AI system apparently still recognized him as one of the top heavyweights. That’s probably why the rankings placed him at No. 4 in the division ahead of fighters like Josh Hokit.

Another fan pointed out that Carlos Prates was ranked above Ian Garry at welterweight, writing, “I don’t mean it’s weird seeing people who never fought a ranked opponent ranked highly. As a Pereira fan, why is he ranked 4? It’s weird. As much as I like Prates, how is he over Garry when Garry beat him? I guess maybe it’s going off activity, but we will see.”

According to an MMA Mania report, the AI rankings base much of their evaluation on a fighter’s recent performances. If a fighter secures a dominant victory over a top-five opponent, they can climb the rankings very quickly. 

Since Prates recently dismantled Jack Della Maddalena in the UFC Perth main event, while Ian Garry, who is set to face Islam Makhachev at UFC 330, has not recorded a comparable win since defeating Belal Muhammad last year, the rankings pushed the Brazilian ahead of him despite Garry winning their previous matchup.

After that, another user depicted Jan Blachowicz’s surprising reaction to dropping to No. 15 in the rankings, writing, “Jan waking up to being top 5 and now almost out of the rankings in one night.” Then came another fan posting, “Thank you for kicking out Yair😭😭😭.”

Just like the new AI rankings reward recent performances, they are also designed to demote fighters who are on losing streaks or have been inactive for extended periods. To be fair, Yair Rodriguez has not fought since defeating Patricio Pitbull at UFC 314 in 2025. In that case, the rankings system eventually pushed him out of the top 15 altogether.

While the AI rankings have been receiving plenty of criticism, it is expected that many of the current issues could be resolved once the rollout is fully refined. But it will be interesting to see whether the new system continues to stir controversy or actually improves matchmaking and fighter placement in the long run.