At UFC 302, Islam Makhachev defended his lightweight title against Dustin Poirier and won the fight. The victory extended the winning streak of the Russian to 14, officially making him the No.1 pound-for-pound fighter, according to the UFC rankings. But does that make him the best P4P fighter in the world? Well, not according to Dana White, considering a certain Jon Jones is still active!

In an appearance on the Flagarant podcast, the UFC CEO vehemently disagreed with Makhachev’s current standing in the league. Although he appreciated the Dagestani, no one comes close to Jon Jones. “Jon Jones beats the fu** out of people,” White remarked. “When you talk about truly [who the best P4P fighter is] right now… Islam, I love you and everything. The fact that Jon Jones is No.2 on the pound-for-pound list just goes to show that the media (who vote on the list) know nothing about this sport.” But what makes White hold Jones in such high regard?

“Jon Jones has never lost a fight. Ever,” White explained. “When you talked about what it means to be pound-for-pound… Jon Jones moved up and absolutely f**king decimated the greatest heavyweight that was out there.” He was referring to the 36-year-old’s move up to the heavyweight division in 2023, following which he submitted Ciryl Gane in the first round at UFC 285 to become the heavyweight champion. That made the UFC CEO say, “When it comes to pound-for-pound, Jon Jones is the best.” 

After complimenting ‘Bones’ and even describing his “dark side,” White talked about the next step in the legend’s career. He explained, “What I want and what’s gonna happen are two different things. I don’t know; that’s the other thing dealing with  Jon Jones. You don’t know what’s gonna happen.” But what is almost certain is his long-overdue fight against Stipe Miočić. Initially scheduled to happen at UFC 295, Jones suffered a pectoral injury just two weeks before the event and has been on the road to recovery since then.

Dana White has immense faith in the 36-year-old and awaits the next bout. While it’s more than likely that Jones’ fight against Miočić will happen sooner rather than later, what about that fight with Tom Aspinall? Well, ‘Bones’ sort of agreed to it back in March. In a visit to Birmingham for the Arnold Sports Festival, the heavyweight champion crossed paths with Aspinall. As they met, the Britisher put his hand on Jones’ shoulder and asked, “Are we going to do this thing? I would love to have the honor one day, respect man.” 

‘Bones’ replied, “Maybe one day.” That was enough to get Aspinall to believe the fight would happen. Reflecting on his interaction with Jon Jones, Aspinall made a bold prediction. “That was the first time I’ve met him. He’s nowhere near as big as I thought. I guess when you fight at light heavyweight your whole career – I mean, he’s 6’4” – you look really tall. But I’m a full-grown heavyweight, aren’t I? He’s nowhere near as big as me. I think I’ll beat him, definitely,”

As for Jon Jones, he’s been busy training in the gym since he recovered from his pectoral injury. On top of that, he even commented on his opponent’s training!

Jon Jones criticized Stipe Miočić’s training

Jones saw his opponent’s training videos, and he believes that Miočić is pretending to be weak while training as a tactic to get inside Jones’ head. ‘Bones’ perceives this as a mind game by his opponent, and in the video, Miočić looked to be struggling to throw perfect jabs at the training pad. This was particularly odd for a professional UFC fighter.

As a result, Jones decided to talk about his opponent’s training method on Instagram. He commented, “I’m not a historian of war or anything, but I have learned a thing or two in my day. A big part of combat strategy is timing and deception. To make a long story short, if your opponent appears weak, prepare even harder. Complacency is the greatest enemy to a fighter like myself.”

The heavyweight fighter does not take his opponent lightly and is cautious about every step that he takes during training. He knows Miočić has one of the best records of 20-4-0, so underestimating a fighter like him would be the wrong move. Do you think that Jones will win against Miočić? Tell us your predictions in the comments!