This past Thursday, Bellator MMA President Scott Coker announced that – in the coming weeks – the promotion would be releasing its first edition of their own fighter rankings. I think I speak for a vast majority of MMA onlookers when I say nothing, but rather shrug my shoulders instead. Bellator has rankings now? OK. That’s… fine, or whatever.
The pervasive indifference to the announcement isn’t necessarily surprising. Even for people who have long found entertainment, intrigue or even education in MMA top-10 rankings, it’s safe to say that internal promotional rankings never quite have the same impact or relevance. Theoretically, the concept is touted as making MMA companies more legitimate in a sporting sense, while offering transparency and forcing accountability on the promoter to create justifiable and cogent matchups that pit appropriately ranked fighters against one another. However, as we’ve seen over the last eight years with the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s in-house rankings, virtually none of these things hold true.