White: Jon Jones is #1 P4P, Renan Barao #2

The Pound For Pound ranking of fighters is a little silly, ultimately meaningless, and kinda fun.

With Anderson Silva losing two in a row and, and George St-Pierre in semi retirement, the #1 spot is subject to debate.

The current list of UFC champions contains a number of P4P contenders:

Heavyweight : Cain Velasquez

Light Heavyweight: Jon Jones

Middleweight: Chris Weidman

Welterweight: Johny Hendricks

Lightweight: Anthony Pettis

Featherweight: José Aldo

Bantamweight: Renan Barão

Women’s Bantamweight: Ronda Rousey

Flyweight: Demetrious Johnson

Back in Jan UFC President Dana White said the P4P #1 was ‘probably’ Renan Barao, who has not lost since his very first fight in 2005, if Barao beats Urijah Faber at UFC 169 in Feb, which he did.

In the same time period White also said [If Chris Weidman beats Vitor Belfort] he’s the best. He’s #1. How is he not #1 pound-for-pound in the world if he beats Vitor Belfort? It’s impossible not to call him the No. 1 pound-for-pound guy.

So according to White’s calculations, Barao is now ‘probably’ the P4P champ, pending Weidman vs. Machida. If “The All American” wins, he is the P4P champ and it is ‘impossible’ to disagree, but… Machida is not coming into the fight with the same momentum that Belfort had, prior to the ban on TRT, so maybe it would be less impossible to disagree.

Then last month Jon Jones put on a masterful display vs. Glover Teixeira of mixed martial arts at its finest.

I love watching Renan Barao fight; I’m a big Renan Barao fan, said White to MMAJunkie. What don’t you love about Renan Barao? He goes out and he finishes and he wrecks people. I’m still going back and forth with the Jon Jones-Renan Barao thing, but I think without a doubt Renan is the No. 2 ranked.

After Jones’ last performance, he looked so damn good, and he’s just buzzsawed through all the big names at 205. It’s really hard (to not give him the No. 1 spot), and even before that, I was still calling Renan the No. 1 pound-for-pound, but he is without a doubt the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter. He goes in there, no matter who he faces, he goes in there to finish him, and that’s what he does. I love guys that go in and annihilate people, and that’s what he does.

So right now, White likes

1. Jon Jones

2. Renan Barao

The UFC’s official media generated Top-10 P4P rankings are a little different, with Barao’s Nova Uniao teammate Jose Aldo at #2.

1 Jon Jones

2 Jose Aldo

3 Renan Barao

4 Cain Velasquez

5 Demetrious Johnson

6 Chris Weidman

7 Anderson Silva

8 Anthony Pettis

9 Johny Hendricks

10 Ronda Rousey

So UG, is Jon Jones #1? Is Renan Barao #2? And if Weidman beats Belfort, how far up does he vault from #6? And where does won 16 in a row and hasn’t lost in eight years Jose Aldo figure in?