While this would be the coolest video game feature ever (and I’m getting the game either way) this reeks of video game developers promising features that they will never deliver.

Technology wise it would be very easy to do, however, I highly doubt Joe Silva would handcuff himself in this fashion nor would he let the fighters explicitly know where they were in the numerical order for a title shot. This would remove a lot of his leverage in marketing fights and creating cards on the fly as well as in contractual negotiations with the fighters themselves.

I’m imaging a situation where a fighter uses the fact that he knows Joe Silva ranks him as the number one contender for massive contract negotiation leverage(knowing that by extension everyone in the internet crowd will be aware of the official rankings) or the first time Affliction announces the signing of the UFC’s third best middleweight fighter, and I can see the massive backfire this would entail.

The most likely situation is that the ratings will change based on wins and losses but it won’t be Joe Silva making those changes but THQ themselves (with Silva giving them initial input on the attributes for the game’s release), and that the rankings will not speak to where the fighter sits in line for a title shot but where the overall value of his attributes places him in relation to other fighters (similar to the Overall player value in Madden).

All that being said if the game really does play out as described in the article, Rome is right in stating that this would be the most important sports game ever and I’d happily log on after every card for updates.

.. Joe Silva working tediously at his laptop during a UFC fight, updating the rankings right as the fights happen, just so that millions of fans around the world can share the awesome experience that is the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Actually, I’m pretty sure I was just dreaming right now. I’m sure, like Day Man said above me, that Silva will start with the initial rankings but then THQ will oversee them. If Silva does have a say in the rankings for every single update, that’ll be pretty cool. Silva is the most influential man in the UFC right now, no doubt about that. But there is a backlash to this. Say the #1 contender for a title is pretty close with Joe Silva. They want him to fight but the guy doesn’t want a fight against a guy who has a real chance at beating him. The guy will simply look at the rankings and ask for a sizably lower ranked fighter to face off against rather than another guy in the top five just so that he can protect himself. Then again, I can see Silva telling said fighter that if he wants to maintain his status as the next guy in line for a title shot, he has to fight a guy in the top five. It works both ways. Now we get to see who is closer to a title shot and there’s no excuses for fighters jumping other fighters when they shouldn’t. For instance, Forrest jumping Jardine. It’ll all be out in the open for people to rip apart. And that is never a bad thing.

What if the number 2 fighter did not sign the licensing agreement?

...that they’re reading too much into this. I don’t think that they are suddenly going to make their rankings available…and via video game no less. I’m a video game nerd but I can’t see any way that this is how it actually “works” once the game is out.

Yeah interesting news about Silva being involved in the attributes part of the game, but I’d say the rankings part is speculation

... it sounds like that their overall rating will determine the top ten. Not an actual ranking system. But just the top ten fighters for each division in terms of overall rating.

That’d make more sense.