UFC’s Own Rankings go Against Dana White’s Opinion on Jon Jones

UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, a former champion at light heavyweight, too, is inarguably one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time because of his wins over quality opposition, combined with the depth of his resume. In his run, Jones has run a gauntlet, and defeated the likes of Mauricio Rua, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson, Daniel Cormier, and Ciryl Gane.

Dana White has had his run-ins with Jones during their long time together in MMA, and the UFC boss has been championing him like no other recently, proclaiming him to not only be the GOAT, but also the pound-for-pound best fighter, right now.

The fighter’s status is one for debate, though — and that’s largely been down to his inactivity. Jones, after all, has not fought since March, 2023. And the pound-for-pound question, sometimes, is a “what have you done for me lately?” ranking.

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It won’t be long, surely, until White sees Jones slipped a position in the ranking

According to UFC.com:

As you can see, Jones is now in third position — behind Alex Pereira, a two-weight UFC champion who recently beat Jiri Prochazka a second time, and the No.1-ranked fighter Islam Makhachev, who is dominating the lightweight division.

White still backs Jones as the No.1. And even brought the heat in back-to-back post-fight press conferences when reporters brought up Jones as possibly being ranked lower than UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, and UFC light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.

Watch White get heated right here:

White then butted heads with a second reporter on Saturday:

UFC Pound-For-Pound Rankings

There’s a very simple formula that White is ignoring when it comes to his pound-for-pound list

What’s interesting about Jones’ inactivity, is that Conor McGregor has fought more times than Jones has since 2020. Fighters who have been consistently dominant are Makhachev, Pereira, and even Leon Edwards among others.

Yes, looking at Jones’ entire body of work sets him ahead of the aforementioned fighters, but staying healthy and on schedule is a big part of his pound-for-pound ranking versus all-time career ranking.

In the GOAT conversation, Jones is atop many pundits’ list and with another dominant victory or two, he will find himself back among the UFC’s best.