I obtained into an fascinating trade with UFC CEO Dana White within the aftermath of Islam Makhachev’s title protection towards Poirier in the primary occasion, the place he completed the job with a fifth-round submission.
After White made it clear to MMA Combating’s Jose Youngs that he thought extremely of Makhachev, however didn’t assume he was No. 1 pound-for-pound forward of Jon Jones, I opted to press the difficulty somewhat bit and discover out what it could take to vary his rankings to get to the highest spot.
White was keen to have interaction me once I requested why Jones, who has fought as soon as since February 2020, will get the nod over Makhachev, who has competed eight occasions in that very same stretch, with wins over three opponents who’ve been current within the UFC’s official pound-for-pound rankings (Poirier, Alexander Volkanovski twice and Charles Oliveira). He stood behind his perception in Jones regardless.
Ultimately, pound-for-pound lists are fully subjective, and in some ways meaningless. It’s been that manner without end in boxing, and it’s the identical in MMA. It’s an inconceivable metric to really justify, and everybody goes to have completely different interpretations.
If White is so assured within the stance for his personal listing, then I’m not right here to guage. There could be some flawed logic and whatnot, but it surely’s not essentially value getting labored up over, as a result of there’s no approach to totally show an argument.
There’s a powerful case for Jones to get the nod for his prolonged physique of labor. There’s additionally an amazing argument for Makhachev given what he’s executed inside this 14-fight profitable streak. The upside for Makhachev is that he’s seemingly going to be lively for for much longer than Jones going ahead, giving him extra time to strengthen his resume and argument.
Personally, although, I might at the moment place Makhachev over Jones. That’s not a slight to Jones in any respect. I’ve been across the sport for the whole lot of his UFC tenure and his accomplishments usually are not misplaced on me. Nonetheless, in my very own interpretation of what pound-for-pound means, current occasions are necessary, and the names Makhachev has overwhelmed over the previous few years are unmatched.
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