Dana White’s help of No. 1 P4P standing ‘an enormous honor’

In current weeks, UFC CEO Dana White has gone out of his strategy to acknowledge heavyweight champion Jon Jones because the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter within the promotion.

White grew to become very vital of media members who dropped Jones just a few spots on the P4P rankings resulting from inactivity when different dominant champions, comparable to Alex Pereira and Islam Makhachev, had been extra energetic.

Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) returns to motion Nov. 16 at UFC 309 to defend his heavyweight title for the primary time in opposition to former champ Stipe Miocic. It’s a matchup slated to happen final 12 months, however a Jones harm delayed the combat. All through all of it, White nonetheless views Jones because the No.1 P4P fighter, which the champ enormously appreciates.

“It’s simply an honor, that’s all,” a smiling Jones advised Kevin Iole. “It’s simply an enormous honor to even be thought of at 37 years outdated one of the crucial well-rounded winners in our sport nonetheless. It’s an enormous honor and I’m simply very grateful that my boss, a person who’s sat entrance row for each combat, all of our fights.

“For him to say, ‘Hey, hear guys, belief me. I do know what I’m watching. I do know what I’m , and for my part, if Jon was the identical measurement as quite a lot of these different guys, Jon can be within the combine.’”

It wasn’t that White merely supported Jones because the P4P king. The UFC boss acquired into intense debates concerning the matter throughout information conferences, a lot in order that White’s stance grew to become a meme in on-line MMA circles.

There’s little question that Jones has a longtime legacy as one of the best gentle heavyweight champion within the sport’s historical past. He added to it by changing into the heavyweight champion final March. Merely put, he’s the consensus GOAT.

Nonetheless, the P4P rating is closely influenced by exercise, and Jones has solely fought as soon as since leaving the sunshine heavyweight division in 2020. His rating of No. 3 on the UFC’s official P4P rating with that schedule is a nod to his legacy as one of many best ever to compete.

“I feel we now have quite a lot of new followers, quite a lot of youthful followers, who, you realize – our sport might be very ‘what have you ever accomplished for me currently,’ and I feel Dana is doing an amazing job of claiming, ‘Hey, let’s wait a minute. Let’s bear in mind what this man has accomplished,’ and I’m grateful,” Jones stated.

“I’m grateful that he’s not permitting the naysayers, or among the followers to simply push me to the aspect, as a result of I’ve accomplished an incredible quantity of labor for this firm. I’ve accomplished it at a really younger age, and I did it at very center age, and I’m doing it at a late age now, and I’m simply grateful to be acknowledged.”