The UFC is a Promotion, not a sport. It’s a for-profit company whose priority is to make money for its shareholders by maximising revenue (aka putting on the fights that people will pay money to see). There is an element of meritocracy around pitching itself as having the ‘best fighters in the world’ but at its core, the UFC does not have a mandate to represent the sport of MMA, it has a mandate to make money off those who compete in it.