Dana White argues Jon Jones is No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter

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Dana White argues Jon Jones is No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter

Dana White is once again railing against the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings.

In an Instagram post Monday night, White argued that Jon Jones should be the No. 1 ranked fighter, a stance he also took earlier this year.

Jones defeated Stipe Miocic via a third-round knockout at UFC 309 to defend his heavyweight title. The UFC’s website has not been updated with new rankings since that fight, but a photo shared by White shows that Jones will be moving up from No. 3 to No. 2 in the rankings. However, that apparently isn’t good enough for the CEO of the promotion.

“I have to get rid of these CLOWNS!” White wrote on Instagram, in reference to the panel that votes on the rankings. He then tagged Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s social media handle and added “Let’s get this AI deal done ASAP!”

The UFC rankings are voted on by media members and designed to rank the best active fighters by both weight division and pound-for-pound.

The No. 1 fighter is lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who is on a 14-fight win streak after submitting Dustin Poirier in a title fight at UFC 302 in June.

In the new rankings, Jones will leap over light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who is coming off a knockout victory over Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307 last month.

This isn’t the first time White has argued for Jones to be the No. 1 fighter in the rankings. In June, after Makhachev’s win over Poirier, White said that until Jones retires, no one should overtake him for the top spot.

“I think (Makhachev is) one of the greatest of all time,” White said at the UFC 302 post-fight press conference, according to MMA Fighting.com. “I think he’s incredible. I don’t think he’s the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. For anyone to call Islam the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world when Jon Jones is still (expletive) fighting is nuts and shouldn’t be ranking in the pound-for-pound, or doing any of the (expletive) rankings ever if that’s what you really think.”

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