Who is the UFC’s pound-for-pound king? While this question has largely been debated in the fighting community, Dana White is adamant in his support for Jon Jones. “Numbers don’t lie. Are you guys that fu—ng stupid? You can’t be that fu—ng stupid to not think Jon Jones is the best fighter in the world!”, the UFC CEO said when a reporter asked him about the P4P GOAT at a DWCS press conference. On the other hand, the committee that puts up the rankings claimed that it’s Islam Makhachev who deserves to be at the top of the P4P list. But the Dagestani has finally confronted White about it.

During the UFC 311 press conference, featuring the main event clash between Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan, a reporter asked the UFC head honcho if he would let the Dagestani override Jones in the P4P rankings. All White had to say was, “We’ll see.” But Makhachev wasn’t going to let this opportunity go. He said, “Dana, you have to be true, man.” 

White has always stood tall in defending his heavyweight champion’s stance as the P4P best. But when it came to Makhachev, all he had to offer was consolation. The UFC head honcho continued, “Listen, Islam knows I love him, man. But you know how I feel about that. Jon Jones is undefeated for however many years. Boo all you want. I don’t give a s–t.” But Makhachev wasn’t ready to give up. The lightweight champ pushed White saying, “Who is the #1? Tell Dana. Who is the #1?” White was indeed left perplexed with the question and slammed the reporter for it.

Needless to say, this wasn’t the first time White stood up for ‘Bones’ being P4P best, often being criticized by fans for ‘glazing’ the two-weight champion. Right after he defeated Stipe Miocic at UFC 309, the UFC CEO expressed his disappointment at the rankings system. After all, Jon Jones’ performance got him the 2nd spot in the men’s pound-for-pound list. Let’s see what White had to say about it.

Dana White wants AI to fix the UFC athlete rankings after Jon Jones failed to claim the #1 P4P spot

Following the heavyweight clash at UFC 309, which witnessed Jones execute a spinning back kick to start the finishing sequence against Miocic, Dana White appeared in an interview with TNT Sports. Therein, he said, “I could go on and on and on, but I won’t. We literally had meetings this week to work on it. I actually talked to Mark Zuckerberg, too, about AI, so yeah. I’m totally going to fix the rankings. We’re going to make a lot of strong moves here coming into 2025.” 

Before that, the UFC head honcho shared a screenshot of the new rankings on his IG story and berated the committee of media outlets for not putting Jones at the top of the P4P list. In the caption of the story, he wrote, “I have to get rid of these CLOWNS!!. @Zuck, let’s get this AI deal done ASAP!!!!”

Many have argued that Jones didn’t deserve the #1 spot as a result of being away from the sport for quite a long time. While on the other hand, Islam Makhachev kept striving to become the best fighter in the UFC, by being an active champion. If we consider their legacies, no doubt, Jones deserves the spot more than anyone else, which is exactly what White has claimed. But is Jones deserving of the spot especially since he repeatedly ducked and tailed at the prospect of facing Tom Aspinall? Furthermore, if we look at the amount of wins the fighters have garnered in the past couple of years, it has to be Makhachev sitting on top. 

What is your take on the P4P rankings? Do you side with Dana White in his stance about Jones being the P4P king? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.