Which raises the point I made in the post above. If TNBR does not have mandatories, how would a 'champion ' ever be compelled to defend against the best competition in the division ?
I agree, but it's better than stripping for not facing a mandatory. Like when Lewis got stripped for facing Grant over Ruiz, I don't agree with it. For me the ultimate is what they do in UFC, 1 promoter, 1 belt, 1 ranking system.
Legacy wise.....money wise.......everything wise......Lewis would have been far better off fighting Ruiz. Golota had just exposed Grant as a fraud, and must have had some type of backdoor deal to take the L, b/c very MUCH LIKE Banks v Mitchell 2, Golota literally gave the W to Grant.
Context is everything. At that time, Grant was regarded as a far more worthy contender than Ruiz. Yeah, Golota folded against Grant, but Grant did enough to ensure that Golota would fold. That victory, along with wins over then ranked fighters like Sullivan and Izon were enough for Grant to earn a higher rating than Ruiz, whose best wins to that point where over a faded Tucker and a SD over Thunder.
Not to mention, at that particular time Ruiz was best known for getting blasted out in 19 seconds by David Tua.
How am I supposed to take seriously any rankings where Alexander Povetkin -- two-time drug cheat -- is ranked No 1?
Shouldn't be ranked at all. If he was caught hitting his opponents with a baseball bat, I guess they wouldn't let that bother them either. These ratings have zero credibility with me.