Rankings

Anyone who doesn’t consider themselves a casual MMA fan, should show respect and pump up fighters like Magny. In a time where it’s less and less celebrated, Magny is again fighting down the rankings. This time taking on a killer, that might not have the popularity of Khamzat but might have the skills. And speaking of Khamzat, it must be a bummer for Magny to get passed in the rankings by Khamzat after he has been vocal in his willingness to fight Khamzat. 

Magny has paid his dues, and is showing he truly is willing to fight anyone. 

Counterpoint: He's a boring as **** and nobody is interested in watching him fight. Not saying it's fair, just how it is.

* Edited at 04.14.2022, 6:59 PM ET *

Good shout out.  Respect to Magny.

As far as rankings go, you actually have him lower than the consensus, so I guess the masses are with you.

I have him a little lower.  He's just shy of my gold standard of 6 wins over the last 3 years and there isn't much in the way of wins over opponents with a winning record in that same time frame either.  (I think just Griffin and Neal have winning records in the last few years, and just barely).  Only getting a split over Griffin didn't help either.

He's actually been marketed fairly well, in my opinion, because he's certainly getting more love than someone like Carlston Harris who essentially has the same win/loss and opponent win/loss data over the last few years.  Carlston certainly isn't getting the same support as Magny.

Ironically, Magny will go against Carlston's only recent loss, so they're gaining a common opponent soon.


Again, mad respect to Magny.  Certainly a solid guy.

* Edited at 04.14.2022, 11:03 PM ET *

Magny’s willingness to fight someone lower in his ranking, regardless of his entertainment value, is what should be celebrated. Mentioning if he is boring is feeding into the UFC promotion machine and there are enough casuals that will repeat it. Fighting opponents ranked lower, when most people “think” you shouldn’t creates fights like Burns vs. Khamzat. 

If Magny is boring or not, Magny vs. Rakhmonov will be a good fight that will test the prospect. It will also tell us more about the prospect’s skill level. Magny has been given the opportunity that not many others have shown to be willing to take. As fans, this is something to be celebrated. We are getting a great fight and able to see a prospect versus an established high level veteran.

Also when you say no one wants to watch him fight, I think you really mean casuals because I think we usually do want to see his fights. 

Magny has over 25 fights and 10 years in the UFC. Demonstrating the willingness to stay active (10 fights in 2 years). Therefore if he doesn’t have 6 wins in the last three years, it probably has a lot to do with his inability to stay as active as he would like. Another factor is that he only faces top UFC talent. 

To sum up, he is active, has balls of steel willing to take on anyone, is a veteran, was part of TUF, and seems like a good guy. Guys like Neil Magny are the backbone of the UFC and both the company and fans should be grateful. 

Nothing you said is wrong.  

For now, I think Magny is pretty-much in the right slot.  A little high on the rankings in terms of credentials, but perceived/observed talent, promotion and familiarity likely get him a boost.

Hey, it could be worse.  You could have a grand total of ZERO wins against an opponent with a recent winning record in the last few years and be regarded as top 10, like Covington and Masvidal.  Neither of them have beat someone that could recently be considered as a "rare victory" because neither of them has recently beat someone who has won more than they have lost lately.

I personally don't understand it... how these guys never have to beat an opponent with better recent credentials in order to maintain their high spots, but as you said, the UFC promotion machine is a real thing, and putting butts in seats is very clearly worth something to the promotion and the masses.

If you took away the people's names and organizational references and just compared Fighter A to Fighter B in terms of recent success rates and the recent success rates of their opponents, there's no way guys like Covington and Masvidal land in the top 10.

Obviously it's those extenuating intangibles that get added in, for this sport without any factually-based structure, (save for PFL and Bellator that at least have some logical flow to their seasons/Grand Prixs).

The good news is, Magny gets the best of both worlds in his next fight.  He gets a chance to record another win on a mainstream card, and he gets a chance to beat someone who will give him a factual credentials boost in terms of someone who may offer him a unique victory. 

Being the only loss on someone's extensive track record won't be considered "fighting down" to those of us who still value winners beating winners.  :)

* Edited at 04.15.2022, 2:31 PM ET *

Some people (not me) don't like Magny because they think that, considering the size and reach advantages he has in essentially every fight, he doesn't have anywhere near as many knockout wins as he "should."