The who should be pound-for-pound number 1 ranked fighter debate has been brought back up once again. Current UFC Heavyweight champion Jon Jones has made his thoughts on the situation known.
UFC 302 has finished and UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev was able to get his third title defence. Islam was able to get this with a 5th-round submission victory against Dustin Poirier. Makhachev was able to get a D’Arce choke to be able to equal the record for the most title defences in the lightweight division. However, while Makhachev was able to defend his title he did get dinged up in the progress however, that just goes to show how tough he really is.
Islam Makhachev will most likely remain at the top of the official UFC pound-for-pound list. However, UFC CEO Dana White spoke at the UFC 302 post-fight press conference stating that Jon Jones deserves that spot.
Jon Jones Sides with Dana White
The current UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, went onto his X account to respond to the comments by Dana White. Jon Jones was appreciative of Dana White’s comments and agreed with his statement. Going onto X Jones stated;
“It felt awesome to get that level of recognition from the boss, the man that’s literally been here since UFC 1. I know the haters are not gonna like his comments but Dana’s a pretty hard person to argue with. @danawhite has had a front row seat to my entire career, facts are facts.”
Jon Jones has not competed in the UFC since clinching the title in March 2023 against Ciryl Gane. Jon Jones was able to clinch the title by defeating Gane due to a guillotine choke in the first round. Jones was scheduled to defend his title against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295. However, Jon Jones would go on to tear his pectoral muscle to stop this from happening. The UFC is looking to reschedule this fight to happen in 2024 despite Tom Aspinall being the interim champion.
There have been calls for Jon Jones to be stripped of the title. This is due to inactivity due to his victory against Gane being back in April 2023. There has also been no official fight announcement for a title defence shortly. However, Dana White has ignored these ideas of stripping Jon Jones and has booked Tom Aspinall to defend his interim title against Curtis Blaydes. This will happen in the co-main of UFC 304 in Manchester.
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