Islam Makhachev continued his impressive UFC career on Saturday night, submitting Dustin Poirier to retain his lightweight championship and win his 14th fight in a row.
UFC president Dana White isn’t ready to crown Makhachev as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport, however (5:00 mark):
“I think he’s one of the greatest of all-time. 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–king 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.”
Jones technically has lost a fight, a disqualification against Matt Hamill back in 2009 for illegal elbows that White has unsuccessfully attempted to get overturned. Outside of that bout, however, he’s undefeated, albeit with the stain of using performance-enhancing drugs during his career.
Either way, Jones appreciated the love:
BONY @JonnyBones
It felt awesome to get that level of recognition from the boss, the man that’s literally been here since UFC 1. I know the haters are not gonna like his comments but Dana’s a pretty hard person to argue with. @danawhite has had a front row seat to my entire career, facts are…
Makhachev had his own take (1:40 mark) on White’s comments:
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s his opinion,” he told reporters. “I saved this cut today [on my face] because all of these fights have been boring.”
Before Poirier took Makhachev into the fifth round, the Russian fighter finished four of his previous five fights in the first or second rounds. He’s also won by stoppages in seven of his past eight fights, with only Alexander Volkanovski taking him the distance in a decision during that run.
He’s now 26-1 in his career, a record extremely close to Jones’ 27-1 (1) mark. Let the debates begin in earnest.
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