Dana White – “You throw Jon Jones in a room with anybody, Jon Jones walks out of the room.”
UFC CEO Dana White praised UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones as the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet, in any combat sport, on Saturday night.
Following UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev’s submission victory over Dustin Poirier in the UFC 302 main event in Newark, New Jersey, White dismissed the top 155-pounder as the pound-for-pound best. Instead, White reserved that status for Jones.
“I think he’s one of the greatest of all-time,” White said of Makhachev at the UFC 302 post-fight press conference. “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 f*cking fighting is nuts and shouldn’t be ranking in the pound-for-pound, or doing any of the f*cking rankings ever if that’s what you really think.
“Jon Jones has never lost a fight, ever. He’s fought all the baddest dudes in the world, and then when you think about what pound-for-pound rankings really mean — he moved up to heavyweight and destroyed the best guy in the world. As long as Jon Jones is still fighting, active and in the rankings, nobody [else] is pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world.”
The famed UFC frontman continues to stroke Jones’ ego with further discussion on the topic.
“Let’s talk about activity,” White said. “Three years off — nobody, not even [Muhammad] Ali, nobody’s ever come from three years off and looked the same. Jon Jones walked through the No. 1 guy in the heavyweight division like it was nothing with three years off.
“Jon Jones is the best ever. Ever. And when I say ever, I mean in any combat sport. He’s the best ever. You throw Jon Jones in a room with anybody, Jon Jones walks out of the room.”
The conversation did not stop there as White continued to praise Jones, whose only loss was a disqualification to Matt Hamill for illegal strikes.
“When you think about what pound-for-pound really means, [Makhachev] fought [Alexander] Volkanovski, who’s a weight class lower than him,” White explained. “Jon Jones beat everybody at light heavyweight then beat the best heavyweight in the division like it was nothing at a higher weight class.
“Jon Jones is absolutely, positively the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world and probably the greatest fighter of all-time in any sport,” White said. “When you talk about who’s the baddest dude in the world, you put two guys in a row and who walks out? Jon Jones walks out of the f*cking room every time. No question about it.”
