Dana White teases exciting changes to fighter rankings, fans claim it will pave the way for more competitive divisions - "Makes a ton of sense"

UFC CEO Dana White recently unveiled a plan that may very well change the competitive landscape of the promotion's most stacked divisions. Traditionally, the rankings in every weight class starts at No.15 all the way to No.1. However, this could soon change if White implements his new plan.

At a press conference for 'Dana White's Contender Series', White touched on a discussion that took place in the matchmaking room. The result of that conversation was the idea to potentially extend the fighter rankings down to 20 instead of 15, so each division would have a top 20 instead of top 15.

He referenced the welterweight division as an example, citing the surplus of competitive fighters and the breadth of matchups they've created as a justification for a deeper rankings system:

"The welterweight division would be a good example. We're in matchmaking, and literally the whole division in the top 15 have fights. One of the things that we talked about last week in matchmaking was, now extending our rankings down to 20 instead of 15."

As things stand, the welterweight division will feature several pivotal matchups in the upcoming pay-per-views, namely the 170-pound title fight between Leon Edwards and Colby Covington, a potential title eliminator between Shavkat Rakhmonov and Stephen Thompson, and a clash between Ian Machado Garry and Vicente Luque.

The revelations led to several fan reactions on X (formerly Twitter), with one fan claiming this could be done for most of the promotion's divisions:

"You could do that for every division except men’s flyweight"

Another fan spoke about how sensible the idea is for stacked divisions:

"It makes a ton of sense for stacked weight classes, like 35 and 55."

More fans were complimentary of the idea:

"Not a bad idea if they’re going to sign as many fighters as they do."

Another fan echoed the sentiment:

"This is a good idea"

Check out a collage of fan reactions below:

Fan reactions

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What did Dana White say about Colby Covington's claims about Jon Jones?

Colby Covington was expected to challenge Leon Edwards for the welterweight strap in the co-main event of UFC 295, right under Jon Jones' heavyweight title defense against Stipe Miocic. However, Dana White has since revealed that the pair will instead headline UFC 296.

According to Covington, Jones parlayed his power in the UFC to have 'Chaos' removed from UFC 295 due to the welterweight's threat to trash talk him at the pre-fight press conference. Dana White, however, claimed that Jon Jones made no such demands.

Check out the video below: