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MMA Fighting

Rankings Show: Does Jon Jones Leave MMA As The Undisputed GOAT?

MMA Fighting

Vox Media Podcast Network

Sports News, Sports, News

4.61.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2025

⏱️ 78 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jon Jones is actually retired. And despite his nearly unmatched in-cage accomplishments, the question remains: Is he truly the greatest fighter to ever compete in MMA? On a special edition of the MMA Fighting Rankings Show, Alexander K. Lee, Damon Martin, Jed Meshew, and E. Casey Leydon revisit the often-discussed topic of Jones’ legacy in regards to how it compares to others in the GOAT conversation. Did the two-division UFC champion do enough to surpass the achievements of Georges St-Pierre, Demetrious Johnson, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Jose Aldo, Fedor Emelianenko, and others? Pound for pound, is Jones the most skilled fighter ever? All four of our panelists put a number next to Jones’ name and make their case as to why he is or isn’t the undisputed GOAT. Plus, in the wake of Ilia Topuria’s game-changing knockout of Charles Oliveira at UFC 317, we suddenly find ourselves with three champions receiving votes for the No. 1 spot in the MMA Fighting Pound-for-Pound Rankings: Topuria, Islam Makhachev, and Alexandre Pantoja. Our panelists explain why their choice deserves to be considered the best overall fighter on the planet. Follow Alexander K. Lee ⁠⁠@AlexanderKLee⁠⁠ Follow Damon Martin @DamonMartin Follow Jed Meshew @JedKMeshew Follow E. Casey Leydon ⁠⁠@ekc⁠⁠ Subscribe: ⁠⁠http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:47.3

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.

1:00.1

Okay.

1:02.0

Hello, hello, everyone.

1:07.3

Welcome to another episode of the MMA fighting rankings show.

1:09.7

This is your host, Alexander K. Lee.

1:44.6

Ready to talk about some of the moving and shaking that has been going on in all of the divisions off from heavyweight, all the way down to straw weight. Some exciting stuff. We have new champions. We have several champions who held on to their spots. Kind of a lot has changed since the last ranking show, but kind of not. That's kind of the state that MMA is in at the moment, right? It feels like there's constant news, it feels there's constant fluctuation, and yet at the end of the day, it also feels like we're a bit stagnant. That's kind of the weird dichotomy of being MMA and being a combat sports fan these days. So we're going to dig into that a little bit. We're going to have two big topics to talk about today.

2:02.7

I'll just tell you guys right off the front. We want to talk about John Jones. Yes, his retirement feels like it happened two months ago now, given the May new cycle. But we never really had the opportunity to sort of break down, you know, now that it's over. Now that it's all said and done. now that Jones is definitely retired and never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever fighting again.

2:36.8

Where does he stand in the all-timeless? Because we saw a ton of reactions for anyone who was on social media when that retirement announcement down saw the immediate reactions. But let's, you know, maybe we can have a little more objectivity. We can kind of take a look back, take a step back, excuse me, and look at it. Now we're a little removed from the news. And also, we'll talk about our number one pound for pound situation, guys. You might have heard, Elitoporja, the new lightweight champion, Islam Makachab out of the division, chasing his own second title sometime later this year. But Topporia's triumph at USC 317 has raised the question of who is number one.

2:41.9

And Makachav has been our number one for over 600 days, but I'm seeing a lot of Tupori number one talk now, guys.

...

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