Final 12 months, Dana White couldn’t cease himself from calling Jon Jones the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter on the planet.
Now, the UFC CEO is reversing course after seeing Islam Makhachev make fast work of short-notice alternative opponent Renato Moicano on the promotion’s first pay-per-view of the 12 months.
Makhachev scored a quick-fire submission victory over Moicano after his initially scheduled opponent, Arman Tsarukyan, bowed out of their light-weight championship headliner mere hours earlier than they have been scheduled to make the stroll in Los Angeles.
Notching his fourth-straight protection of the 155-pound crown, Makhachev solidified his spot because the No. 1 ranked P4P fighter on the planet and Dana White couldn’t agree extra.
“There’s little question about it,” White stated through the UFC 311 post-fight press convention. “He’s one of the best pound-for-pound on the planet proper now and he’s the utterly one of the best to ever do it in that division.”
It’s fairly the change from the place we have been only a few months in the past when White was stepping into heated debates with journalists over Jones’ simple standing as the best of all time.
However White’s feedback imply little or no to Tom Aspinall, the person slated to sq. off with ‘Bones’ later this 12 months.
“Now we’re seeing Dana White popping out and saying that he’s the pound-for-pound No. 1 on the planet, Islam Makhachev,” Aspinall stated in a video on his YouTube channel. “As everyone knows, to me, pound-for-pound is quite a lot of made-up stuff. I don’t look into that. Nevertheless it’s simply humorous that he’s type of jumped ship now from Jon Jones to Islam… Islam did what he was alleged to do: went on the market, fought whoever was put in entrance of him, which is what a champion is meant to do.”
Dana White Assured Jones vs. Aspinall goes down in 2025
Following Jon Jones’ win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 309, consideration shortly turned to a long-awaited title indication conflict with Aspinall, the promotion’s interim heavyweight titleholder. Throughout an look on The Jim Rome Present, White expressed confidence that the struggle will get performed in 2025.
“We’re within the works, we’re speaking on it,” White stated. “I imply, I’ve stated that I’m very assured that struggle occurs this 12 months… Nothing’s holding it up. It’s only a matter of getting it performed. , these items, it’s not as straightforward to place these kind of fights collectively as folks suppose they’re. They take time, and we’ll get it performed.”
Only a few brief weeks in the past, rumors started swirling that Jones was in search of a large $30 million payday for his scrap with Aspinall. Nevertheless, Dana White referred to as bullsh*t on the rumors, however solely after Joe Rogan repeated it throughout an episode of his JRE podcast.
