Depending on who you ask, the official UFC rankings either mean nothing or everything. Some fighters insist they’re meaningless, others point to their value as a negotiating tool for more money or better fights. There’s been a big trend lately toward some UFC athletes refusing to “fight down” (a.k.a. take opponents ranked lower than themselves). And that may seem like a good idea ... but only when implemented correctly.
At this point we think it’s safe to say No. 3-ranked UFC Welterweight Leon Edwards has not pulled this off correctly.
Or should we say formerly No. 3-ranked UFC Welterweight Leon Edwards, because he’s now officially been pulled from the rankings all together because of “inactivity.”
Leon Edwards confirms to me over text he has been removed from the UFC rankings due to inactivity. #UFC
— Cole Shelton (@ColeShelton91) October 22, 2020
Edwards’ last fight was a win over Rafael Dos Anjos back in July 2019. He was scheduled to face Tyron Woodley in March 2020, but that fight was canceled as the coronavirus locked down borders around the world. Since then, UFC has reportedly offered him several opponents, none of which were satisfying enough for “Rocky” to accept.
The most recent was Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, ranked No. 5. Edwards replied, “Fighting you right now does nothing for me.”
I may be new to this but it’s definitely me...my tweet game is better than I though lol. Whelp I guess the gym is where you’ll be “staying”! Like you said “nobody” wants to fight you...except me but that ain’t good enough for ya. Maybe we’ll see you in 2021! #StruckANerve pic.twitter.com/fE47uNewd7
— Stephen Thompson (@WonderboyMMA) October 6, 2020
Thompson seems to have called it right: that bold strategy didn’t pay off for Edwards.
As far as how rankings and inactivity goes, there’s no hard line as to when UFC yanks a fighter from the listings because of inactivity. The general rule of thumb seems to be one year without a fight. But fighters like Jon Jones, Dominick Cruz, Anderson Silva and Conor McGregor have all survived much longer lulls in activity without being removed from the rankings.
Most recently, Brian Ortega went 22 months between his loss to Max Holloway at UFC 231 and his win over “The Korean Zombie” at UFC Fight Island 6 without dropping his No. 2 Featherweight seed.
So let’s be clear: removing fighters from the rankings because of inactivity is absolutely at UFC’s discretion. Is it really fair to Edwards to have his No. 3 ranking removed when he was days away from competing in March, seven months ago? Or is 21 months just too long to sit out while healthy and turning down opponents?
Update: Ariel Helwani adds some more info to the UFC’s decision:
UFC officials have told Leon Edwards’ team that he is being removed from the UFC rankings, sources say. This comes following frustrations surrounding not being able to book his next fight. No comment yet from Edwards or UFC. Of course, they can do this since it is their rankings.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 22, 2020
After the Woodley fight fell through in March, the next offer came on short notice to fight Usman in July, then Covington when Woodley fight was iffy, then Geoff Neal and then Khamzat Chimaev on 12/19. Edwards didn’t agree to those fights.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 22, 2020
After the Chimaev fight was finally turned down, the rankings removal happened.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 22, 2020
This has happened before (Diaz, Nathan), and it doesn’t mean he’s released. He’s not. But it will be interesting to see how they repair the relationship.