(L-R) Irene Aldana strikes Ketlen Vieira in their women's bantamweight bout during the UFC 245 event at T-Mobile Arena on Dec. 14, 2019 in Las Vegas. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Double champion Amanda Nunes needs challengers. She needs them both at featherweight and at bantamweight.

They might be tougher to come by in the UFC at featherweight because of the promotion’s lack of depth in the 145 pound weight class. At bantamweight, deserving and credible contenders for Nunes are available, but the UFC seems reluctant to promote those who have worked their way into worthy positions as logical next title challengers after Nunes has taken out the biggest known names in the division.

Take, for example, Irene Aldana. The Mexican fighter is on a roll and put a stamp on her status as the true No. 1 contender at bantamweight last month at UFC 245 when she knocked out previously undefeated Ketlen Vieira. Afterward, UFC president Dana White wouldn’t admit she’s deserving a title shot, next.

“We’ll see where you guys rank her. You know?” he told assembled members of the media after the event when asked if Aldana would challenge Nunes, next. “After winning that fight, we’ll see where she gets ranked and we’ll figure out what’s next for her, but yea [her performance was] impressive.”

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The rankings he was referring to were the UFC’s own rankings, which are determined by media member votes, but are ultimately controlled by the UFC itself. Unfortunately, these rankings do not dictate who gets title shots.

For example is White’s current public position that Conor McGregor could potentially get a shot at the lightweight title if he beats Donald Cerrone at welterweight later this month. For those not keeping score, McGregor has not fought in over a year, making him supposedly ineligible for ranking.

Beyond that, he’s lost and been finished three out of the last five times he’s stepped into a professional ring going back to 2016, and his opponent this month Donald Cerrone has lost two-straight fights. Though he hedged on calling Aldana what she deserves to be recognized as — the No. 1 title contender at bantamweight — White didn’t flinch or blush at saying he’s interested in giving former featherweight king Jose Aldo a shot at bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo … after Aldo had just lost to Marlon Moraes.

Though the fight was close, Jose Aldo is officially 0-1 at bantamweight. That’s good enough to potentially make him the No. 1 contender at men’s bantamweight, according to White.

White and Co. are in control of who gets title shots, not the media nor its dubious and inert rankings system. For some reason he and the promotion are avoiding saying the obvious – that Irene Aldana is the No. 1 contender at bantamweight and deserves the next crack at champion Amanda Nunes, who also just recently fought and won.

Aldana has fought and won twice since losing a close decision to former title challenger Raquel Pennington in July. Yet, she has been dropped down a spot in the last rankings adjustment.

Overall, Aldana has won five out of her last six fights and been one of the most active fighters at bantamweight over the past several years. In large part because they’re tampered with and controlled by the promotion itself, the UFC rankings are an incoherent mess.

View photos UFC women's bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes smiles after her unanimous-decision win over Germaine de Randamie during UFC 245 at T-Mobile Arena on Dec. 14, 2019 in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Getty Images) More

Let’s examine the top-five currently ahead of Aldana on those problematic rankings at bantamweight.

Pennington sits at No. 5 ahead of Aldana. She did indeed beat Aldana this past summer, but has not fought again, since, has lost two out of her last three overall, and has already had a recent crack at gold when she was bested by Nunes in 2018.

She’s also lost to the most recent title-challenger Germaine de Randamie. Pennington is an excellent fighter, but she can’t be considered at this point closer to another title shot before Aldana has even received her first.

Story continues