Dana White Says He Spoke to Mark Zuckerberg About Fixing UFC's Fighter Ranking System

Dana White says he recently spoke with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about potentially using artificial intelligence to improve UFC rankings.

"We literally had meetings this week to work on [the rankings]," the UFC president and CEO told TNT Sports (4:15 mark of the video below.) "I actually talked to Mark Zuckerberg, too, about AI."

White concluded: "I'm totally going to fix the rankings. We're going to make a lot of strong moves here, coming into '25."

UFC currently ranks Islam Makhachev as the company's top pound-for-pound fighter.

White recently said he believes Jon Jones deserved the No. 1 ranking over Makhachev.

The UFC CEO referenced the UFC 284 fight that took place between Makhachev and featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in February 2023 in his argument against the current No. 1 ranking.

The bout was scored in Makhachev's favor, but the fact that Volkanovski knocked him down in the final round led some fans to question the decision.

"Islam, many people believe, lost to the guy who's a weight class below him," White said in August about the fight with Volkanovski (h/t MMA Junkie's Nolan King and Ken Hathaway.) "Is that how pound-for-pound works?"

The following month White addressed a complaint posted on X by Renato Moicano regarding his ranking, telling the fighter he agreed with the complaint and that "AI will be here soon."

White most recently questioned the rankings system after UFC 307 earlier this month. Khalil Rountree put up a strong showing in a loss to Alex Pereira but maintained his No. 8 ranking.

"The morons strike again," White said in an Instagram story on Oct. 17. "Khalil Rountree fights that badass fight against Pereira, and the morons rank him No. 8—keep him at No. 8. Literally this week, I have a meeting to try to fix the rankings and get all those know-nothing motherf---ers out of it. So, hopefully this week I get this fixed."

UFC rankings, which were first established in 2013, are currently voted on by a panel of journalists.

According to the UFC website, the websites currently represented on the panel are MMA Oddsbreaker, CFMU 93.3, Bursprak.se, FightNews, Fight Network, Gazeta Esportiva, Cherokee Scout, Burbank Leader, MMA Weekly, KIOZ 105.3, Vladusport.com, Wrestling Observer, Top Turtle Podcast, MMA Fight Coverage, BoxeoMundial, Kimura.se, MMA Soldier, MMA NYTT, Blood & Sweat and Inside Fighting Radio.