Here’s Alexander Volkanovski’s reaction to Jon Jones’ top pound-for-pound ranking.
After a seemingly easy win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285, Jon Jones not only won the vacant heavyweight title, but he also rocketed back into the UFC’s number one pound-for-pound spot. Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, the man who previously held the big seat at the top, fell down a notch to number two.
Volkanovski recently appeared on Steve-O’s Wild Ride podcast and was asked about these recent developments. Steve-O isn’t fully convinced yet, given that it was Jones’ only showing since his layoff. Volk, however, didn’t debate the new rankings and recognized what “Bones” did in comparison to his accomplishments.
“You’re right, it was just that one (fight), but what he did, moving up. At least he moved up and showed that the pound-for-pound comes into play. The body of work that we’ve done in the last few years, obviously, a lot of people are gonna be like, ‘Look at what Alex has done in the last few years,’ and you can get that.
“But at the same time, look at what Jon Jones has done, as well. So can I really argue that? He’s gonna be one of the greatest of all time. So for him to take that (P4P spot) is like, ‘Dammit! (but) what do you do?’”
Volkanovski understands that present accomplishments bear more weight in terms of rankings.
“You might have done a whole heap four years ago, that’s got nothing to do with now. You are not pound-for-pound, we don’t know what you’re doing right now. That’s still always going to come into play, though.”
Volkanovski wants a rematch with Islam Makhachev after a failed lightweight title bid at UFC 284. The UFC, however, is reportedly targeting Volkanovski’s title defense against interim champion Yair Rodriguez to take place at UFC 290 on July 8th in Las Vegas.
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About the author: Milan Ordoñez has been covering combat sports since 2012 and has been part of the Bloody Elbow staff since 2016. He’s also competed in amateur mixed martial arts and submission grappling tournaments. (full bio)