Jon Jones says he’s “grateful” for Dana White reminding everyone that he’s the top pound-for-pound fighter

UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones has nothing but praise for Dana White.

Over the past year, White has been vocal in his support for Jones being the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. White has made the claim at numerous press conferences and even got mad when people questioned if ‘Bones’ should still be considered the top pound-for-pound fighter due to his inactivity.

Ahead of his return, Jon Jones spoke to Kevin Iole and thanked Dana White for continuing to back him and support him.

Jon Jones says he’s grateful that Dana White says he’s the #1 pound-for-pound fighter 🤝

“I’m grateful that [Dana] is not allowing the naysayers to just push me to the side.”

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“It’s just an honor, that’s all. It’s just a huge honor to be even considered at 37 years old, one of the most well-rounded winners in our sport still. It is a huge honor and I’m just grateful that my boss, a man who has sat front-row for every fight, for all of our fights,” Jon Jones said to Kevin Iole. “For him to say, hey guys trust me, I know what I’m watching, I know what I’m looking at, and in my opinion, if Jon was the same size as a lot of these guys, Jon would be in the mix.

“I think we have a lot of new fans. A lot of young fans, and our sport can be a lot of what have you done for me lately,” Jones added. “I think Dana is doing a great job of saying, hey, let’s wait a minute, let’s remember what this guy’s done. I’m grateful and I’m that he’s not allowing the naysayers or some of the fans to push me to the side because I have done a tremendous amount of work for this company.”

Jon Jones is the former UFC light heavyweight and current heavyweight champ. He’s also widely considered to be the greatest fighter of all time.

Jon Jones hints at retirement after UFC 309

Although Jon Jones is still the heavyweight champ and one of the best fighters ever, he knows his career is winding down.

Jones is set to take on Miocic next week and he says he won’t fight Tom Aspinall afterwards. Instead, if he is going to fight again, it would be against Alex Pereira.

“So I’m not here to gamble someone else making a name off of me. I’m here to compete against the guys where when we look back 10 years from now, ‘Jon Jones fought this guy, that guy, this legend, this champion…’. If there would to be a fight with a guy that is still on the UFC roster that would be not only financially worth it, but legacy worth it, it would be Alex Pereira…,” Jones said.

“Alex Pereira and I, we’re both 37 years old. Right now, I weigh about 235. I’m an incredibly light heavyweight… that fight would go much farther on my legacy than a young man who is cool today, and maybe gone tomorrow,” Jones added.

Jon Jones is 27-1 and one NC as a pro and coming off a submission win over Ciryl Gane.