Islam Makhachev beat Alexander Volkanovski, the pound-for-pound king, not once but twice to cement his place as the pound-for-pound number one in the sport.
His performance at UFC 302 meant that he held onto that spot beating out the likes of Jon Jones. However, Dana White does not agree with the rankings much to the disapproval of Islam Makhachev and his coach Javier Mendez.
Mendez recently joined ‘Submission Radio’ for an interview. During the interview, the hosts asked Mendez about his take on Dana White’s comments regarding the pound-for-pound rankings, to which he said,
“Well Dana has his points and he has his opinions let’s see what the overall judges say. I have my points, I have my opinions too. Dana made common sense on what he said but I still hold true to my guy. I am loyal to my guy. My guy is p4p that’s it you know. But Dana has got good points.”
In the post-fight press conference at UFC 302, a reporter asked Dana White what he made of Makhachev being considered the pound-for-pound king.
White completely rubbished that notion and took Jon Jones’ example, stating that he has never lost a fight in his life, had had multiple title defenses at 205 pounds and even became a champion at two different weight classes.
Due to these reasons, White believes that Jones deserves to be at the top of the mountain in the P4P rankings. However, the UFC CEO forgot to mention that Jones has fought only four times in the last five years.
That is nothing compared to Islam Makhachev who has won and defended his lightweight belt multiple times in the same time period.
Islam Makhachev retains the top spot despite criticism from Dana White
The pound-for-pound rankings in the sport are updated every Tuesday after a PPV event. Hence, when the UFC updated the rankings on their social media accounts following UFC 302, fans were delighted to see Makhachev in the top spot closely followed by Jon Jones.
Apart from Makhachev and Jones, the top five consisted of Leon Edwards, Alex Pereira, and Ilia Topuria.
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The pound-for-pound rankings are based on the votes of a few journalists and media publications. Hence, with Jon Jones expected to take on Stipe Miocic before the end of this year, a victory should see him jump back to the top spot in no time
