Dana White goes on epic rant about Jon Jones being the best combat sports athlete of all time

Jon Jones is regarded by many as the greatest MMA fighter of all time, with the two-division UFC champion holding numerous promotional records. But UFC CEO Dana White went one step further by declaring him the best combat sports athlete of all time.

White appeared in front of the media following UFC 302, which saw Islam Makhachev retain his lightweight title against Dustin Poirier. During his media appearance, the promotion's CEO discussed why Makhachev had not surpassed Jones as the No.1 pound-for-pound fighter in the promotion.

Many fans and pundits currently have the Dagestani sitting atop their P4P lists, due to 'Bones' having only competed once since 2020. But, White does not believe that inactivity warrants Makhachev being placed above Jones on the list, explaining why:

"When you think about what pound-for-pound really means, [Makhachev] fought Volkanovski, who's a weight class lower than him. Jon Jones beat everybody at light heavyweight, then beat the best heavyweight in the division like it was nothing - at a higher weight class. Jones is absolutely, positively the best fighter in the world, and probably the greatest fighter of all time in any sport."

He continued:

"You put two guys in a room and who walks out? Jones walks out of the f***ing room every time. No question about it... Let's talk about activity, three years off, nobody, not even [Muhammad] Ali, nobody's ever come from three years off and looked the same. Jones walked through the number one guy in the heavyweight division like it was nothing... Jon Jones is the best ever, EVER! When I say 'ever', I mean in any combat sport."

Watch Dana White's media appearance below (7:55):

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Islam Makhachev reacts to Dana White listing Jon Jones as the top P4P fighter

Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier went to war in the main event of UFC 302 on June 1, with 'The Diamond' suffering a submission defeat in Round 5.

Makhachev surpassed his close friend and teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov's win streak of 13 in the promotion, with the lightweight champion have secured his 14th consecutive UFC victory after beating Poirier.

During his post-event press conference, the Dagestani was informed of Dana White's comments about Jon Jones being the number one P4P fighter in the world. He said this:

"I don't know, maybe it's his opinion. But I think I saved this card today, because all these fights were boring. The whole arena was almost sleeping, and we put on a great performance. "

Watch Islam Makhachev respond to Dana White below: