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Fighting superstar Conor “Notorious” McGregor, who retired from the sport in June, is still ranked on both the official UFC pound-for-pound rankings as well as the lightweight divisional rankings. As per the UFC, for a fighter to be ranked, they need to be in “active status” in the promotion.
To determine the rankings, the UFC states: “Rankings were generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC.”
Although McGregor announced his retirement over a month ago, the UFC has elected to keep him eligible for voting. The Irishman is currently ranked No. 4 at lightweight and No. 10 pound-for-pound.
To compare the situation, Henry “Triple C” Cejudo officially retired from MMA after defending the bantamweight belt against Dominick Cruz at UFC 249. After he officially vacated the strap, the UFC removed him from both the pound-for-pound rankings and the bantamweight divisional rankings.
Triple C has been vocal on social media about fighting UFC featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski, signifying that he isn’t completely shutting the door on a return.
Does McGregor’s UFC rankings prove anything about his retirement status? No. There could be multiple reasons for McGregor still being a part of the rankings, including the UFC keeping him in because of his star power or the promotion simply neglecting to remove him.
However, it is a glaring sign that the UFC may not consider the former multi-divisional champion retired.
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