Ali Abdelaziz blasts the 'bulls**t' UFC rankings
By Amy Kaplan
On Monday, Sept. 25, the new UFC rankings were announced and not everyone was happy about how they look now.
One of those not happy is famed MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz, who took to Twitter to blast the rankings after his athlete Islam Makhachev dropped down in the rankings.
"Islam Makhachev was No 2 P4P, fought the No 1 P4P for his ranking, won and now he's P4P No 3," he tweeted. "These rankings are bulls**t."
It's worth noting that this isn't a new ranking change for Makhachev, though Abdelaziz's remarks are new.
@MAKHACHEVMMA Islam Makhachev was #2 P4P, fought the #1 P4P for his ranking, won and now he's P4P #3
— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) September 25, 2023
These rankings are bullshit
Makhachev is ranked below Alexander Volkanovski, who he beat at lightweight, which is what is triggering Abdelaziz.
But voters perhaps took into account that the decision was widely contested and Volkanovski went up in weight to fight Makhachev. Additionally Volkanovski has defended his title five times and Makhachev has only defended the title once ... to Volkanovski.
The newest rankings also saw Kamaru Usman drop one spot in the pound for pound rankings. It's worth a note that Usman is also managed by Abdelaziz.
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