Tom Aspinall is surprised to see Dana White now call Islam Makhachev pound-for-pound No. 1 after UFC 311.
Lightweight champion Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) accepted a 24 hour opponent change, switching from Arman Tsarukyan to Renato Moicano in Saturday’s main event at Intuit Dome. He submitted Moicano in Round 1.
Makhachev is already the UFC’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, a decision UFC CEO Dana White lambasted. White has reiterated that UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones should be No. 1, but when asked if Makhachev’s willingness to fight anyone at anytime has changed his mind, he finally caved.
Interim heavyweight champion Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC), who’s gearing up for a potential title-unification bout against Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) this year, finds White’s comments amusing.
“Now we’re seeing Dana White coming out and saying that he’s the pound-for-pound No. 1 in the world, Islam Makhachev,” Aspinall said on his YouTube channel. “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 that he’s kind of jumped ship now from Jon Jones to Islam.
“Islam did what he was supposed to do: went out there, fought whoever was put in front of him, which is what a champion is supposed to do. Fought a guy that the UFC told him to fight, got the win, and he’s levels above anybody else in that division. He’s going to hold the belt for a long, long time, and that is something that I’m very excited for because I’m a massive Islam Makhachev fan.”
Aspinall has ridiculed the pound-for-pound debate on numerous occasions, going off on the idea in a previous interview with MMA Junkie.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 311.
