Aljamain Sterling points to personal experience to argue why Jon Jones should be the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter.
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC), who notched his third title defense by submitting Dustin Poirier in Saturday’s UFC 302 headliner, is currently the promotion’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter.
Despite Makhachev’s impressive finish, UFC CEO Dana White disagrees with the rankings. He thinks former longtime UFC light heavyweight champion and current heavyweight champ Jones should be No. 1, and Sterling agrees.
“If we’re talking pound-for-pound, everyone’s criteria is different,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “But I think pound-for-pound, the way I understand it is, if weight was not a factor, size was not a factor, skill-for-skill, who would be the best guy? And I agree, I think it’s Jon Jones.”
Sterling compared Jones’ comeback after more than a three-year layoff to submit Ciryl Gane and become vacant heavyweight champion to Henry Cejudo’s attempt. Cejudo tried to do the same when he came out of retirement to challenge then-bantamweight champ Sterling after almost three years away but fell short.
“I was about to say, three years off and to come back and do that to the No. 1 guy like Dana said, I actually really agree with that,” Sterling said. “If we’re talking about right now, Jon Jones, what he did is super impressive. Henry Cejudo came back, he tried to do what he tried to do and look what happened. He’s ‘the greatest combat athlete of all time,’ no disrespect to him but …”
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