Brendan Allen isn’t a big fan of the official Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) rankings.
Khamzat Chimaev returned to middleweight for his biggest fight at UFC 294 last month (October 21, 2023). As a result of his last-minute majority decision win over former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, Chimaev was ranked eighth in the division when the rankings were updated the following Tuesday.
Allen, who is ranked No. 10 and headlines this weekend (Saturday, November 18, 2023) against Paul Craig at UFC Vegas 82, was not overly impressed with ‘Bolts’ performance.
“That wasn’t a middleweight fight,” Allen said at UFC Vegas 82 media day. “They weigh 85, but they’re both in the 170s. I don’t know how you rank. I don’t know if any of you are on this panel, but if you are, I don’t like you, I’ll be honest.
“It’s a bull,” he continued. “This guy has never beaten an ’85 guy. He’s never beaten an ’85 guy, especially a guy ranked ’85. He beat the No. 1 guy at 170. Nice. Congratulations. I think we all agree that Kamal would win in a 5 round fight, but that was off the couch. Keep him at 70 and rank him number 1. Yeah Please. This is something else.”
Before his return fight with Usman, Chimaev had established himself as a top welterweight contender. Unfortunately for the undefeated up-and-coming superstar, Chimaev suffered a major weigh-in error in his last fight, which led to a weight class change as he was out of action for an entire year.
When it comes to overall rankings, Allen believes there should be more rules about who stays in a given period of time. In addition to Chimaev, fighters like Jack Hermansson and Paulo Costa are also ranked higher than Chimaev, even though they haven’t fought in over a year (Hermansson has until Dec. 3, 2023). (He will be out for a year).
“The rankings are completely political bullshit—t,” Allen said. “What are people walking away from? It’s politics because it’s not taking skill out. There are a lot of players who shouldn’t be involved if you’re going for pure skill.
“How can a fighter who hasn’t fought in two years be ranked? It’s been three years,” he continued. “What do you mean? It can’t even be close. There should be guidelines. We have to fight at least this many times, at least once a year, or we’ll get pulled over.”
MMAmania.com will provide live, round-by-round coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 82 fight card. Here it isstarting with ESPN+Preliminary card matches will be played at 2:00 p.m. ET; ESPN+ The main card starts at 5pm ET.
For the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 82 news and notes, visit our comprehensive event archive. here.Updated and confirmed “Allen vs. Craig” fight card ESPN+ line up click here.
