Former UFC Champion Jon Jones Slides From Pound-For-Pound Top-3 In Rankings Update

Former two-time UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones has dropped from the official pound-for-pound top-3 this morning following an official rankings update from the organization this morning, slipping from #2 to #4 in the official stack.

Jones, who last featured in the main event of UFC 248 in February of last year, took home a successful defense of his light heavyweight crown at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas — besting two-time title challenger, Dominick Reyes with a dubious, often debated unanimous decision victory. 

The Rochester-born fighter officially vacated his light heavyweight championship in August of last year with Jan Blachowicz scooping the gold in September, with sights set on finally making his much-speculated move to the heavyweight division of the promotion.

Initially, UFC president, Dana White confirmed that Jones would likely challenge either Stipe Miocic or Francis Ngannou for heavyweight gold post-UFC 260, until rather public negotiation fallouts involving Jones, White, and UFC officials saw the targeted bout fall to the wayside. 

The promotion instead introduced an interim title into the heavyweight division, which was clinched by the undefeated, Ciryl Gane at UFC 265 in August curtesy of a one-sided third round knockout victory over Derrick Lewis, with the Frenchman meeting with Ngannou at UFC 270 in January in a title unification bout.

For Jones, the former titleholder was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada in September and charged with battery domestic violence allegations against his fiancée, as well as a felony charge of tampering or injuring a vehicle when he is alleged to have headbutted a responding police cruiser, resulting in paint chipping as well as causing a medium-sized dent in the vehicle’s hood.

Jones was in Las Vegas to attend the UFC Hall of Fame ceremony where he was inducted into the Fight Wing for his first title fight against Swedish favorite, Alexander Gustafsson, just hours before his arrest. 

Jon Jones slips beneath both Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya in pound-for-pound rankings

In the latest rankings update following the culmination of UFC Vegas 41 on the weekend, Jones, who was recently dislodged from his #1 spot in the pile by welterweight champion, has since fallen further all the way down to #4, where he was replaced by featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski at #2, and gazumped by middleweight kingpin, Israel Adesanya into the #3 slot.