Tom Aspinall is still the UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion, having successfully defended his belt approximately six months ago during UFC 304 in Manchester, England. That summer night, Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) needed just a scant 60 seconds to dispose of Curtis Blaydes (18-5, 1 NC MMA, 13-5, 1 NC UFC) during the co-headlining affair of the evening.
While no date for a championship unification bout against permanent titleholder Jon Jones (28-1, 1 NC MMA, 22-1, 1 NC UFC) has been confirmed, a pairing between Aspinall and the one nicknamed “Bones” will be happening at some point in the future. For a long while, UFC CEO Dana White has asserted that Jon Jones should be the man standing atop the organization’s pound-for-pound rankings, even though Makhachev was voted as such by members of the press.
Dana White Considers Islam Makhachev as Pound-for-Pound No. 1, Tom Aspinall Takes Exception
During his post-fight press conference in the aftermath of UFC 311, White changed his tune on the status of the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC, upsetting Tom Aspinall in the process.
In the run-up to UFC 311, the main event of the evening was to have been a battle for the UFC Lightweight Championship between current titleholder at 155 lbs, Islam Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) and No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC). On Friday morning, approximately 36 hours before the show took place, Tsarukyan was forced out of UFC 311 due to back issues.
Instead, No. 10 contender Renato Moicano (20-6-1 MMA, 12-6 UFC) moved up from the prelims to take the main event slot, with Makhachev locking in a submission by way of D’arce choke to retain the championship. Upon Dana White taking the podium for the post-fight press conference late night Saturday, he was grilled by John Morgan about Islam Makhachev’s status as the No. 1 pound-for-pound competitor in the UFC.
White Discusses Makhachev’s Willingness to Accept Moicano Fight
“For the champ, I told you, I said it publicly”, White began. “He said ‘Brother, I am the champion. I’m going to bed. Whoever I’m fighting tomorrow, I don’t care. I’ll wake up and fight anybody.’ So, he came out and did what you’re supposed to do in that position.”
Upon Morgan asking him about Makhachev’s pound-for-pound ranking, White simply said “He’s already the pound-for-pound No. 1 ranking,” followed by the lightweight champion receiving the CEO’s personal pound-for-pound No. 1 ranking.
“Yeah, I’ll give it to him,” White concluded. As expected, this news didn’t sit well with Tom Aspinall.
Tom Aspinall’s Response to Dana White’s Comments
In a Sunday video uploaded to YouTube, the sound byte of Dana White giving Islam Makhachev his personal pound-for-pound No. 1 spot was used at the beginning of the clip, followed by Tom Aspinall delivering a monologue on White’s comments while walking a dog.
“There was always a chance that he could have lost the fight just because it’s an MMA fight,” Tom Aspinall began. “It would have been a bad fight to lose to, but now we’re seeing Dana White coming out and saying that he’s the pound-for-pound No. 1 in the world, Islam Makhachev. As we all know, to me, pound-for-pound is a lot of made-up stuff. I don’t look into that, but it’s just funny how he’s kind of jumped ship now from Jon Jones to Islam.”
Tom Aspinall took time out to give Makhachev some plaudit in the aftermath of UFC 311.
“Islam did what he was supposed to do,” he remarked. “[He] went out there, fought whoever was put in front of him, which is what a champion’s supposed to do, fought a guy that the UFC told him to fight, got the win, and he’s levels ahead of anybody else in that division.”