White picks Renan Barao over Jose Aldo for No. 2 spot on pound-for-pound lists

It’s no great surprise that Dana White’s pound-for-pound list is different than the UFC’s media-generated rankings, but the UFC president’s choice for the No. 2 spot might surprise some.

White said he sees UFC bantamweight champ Renan Barao one spot behind top-dog Jon Jones, who defended his light heavyweight title a seventh time at this past month’s UFC 172.

For now, anyway.

“I love watching Renan Barao fight; I’m a big Renan Barao fan,” said White, whose personal rankings can often fluctuate event to event, even day to day. “What don’t you love about Renan Barao? He goes out and he finishes and he wrecks people. I still go back and forth with the Jon Jones-Renan Barao thing, but I think without a doubt Renan is the No. 2 ranked (pound-for-pound fighter).

“After Jones’ last performance, he looked so damn good, and he’s just buzzsawed through all the big names at 205. It’s really hard (to not give him the No. 1 spot), and even before that, I was still calling Renan the No. 1 pound-for-pound (fighter), but he is without a doubt the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter. He goes in there, no matter who he faces, he goes in there to finish him, and that’s what he does. I love guys that go in and annihilate people, and that’s what he does.”

White’s choice takes a little luster from the fighter currently ranked No. 2 in the UFC’s official rankings, and it might make for some awkward conversation at the gym. Longtime Barao teammate and featherweight champ Jose Aldo occupies the No. 2 spot, as he does in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA pound-for-pound rankings.

Although Aldo has defended the undisputed featherweight title on six occasions – twice more than Barao’s reign, which includes a stint as interim champ before now-former-titleholder Dominick Cruz was stripped of the belt – White clearly gives points for dominance. Four of Aldo’s six title defenses have been via decision while Barao has stopped all but one of his title opponents.

Despite that, Barao (32-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC), who on May 24 headlines UFC 173 opposite T.J. Dillashaw (9-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC), isn’t even in the top-five in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie’s MMA pound-for-pound rankings. Now-former champ Georges St-Pierre takes No. 3 while flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson and Chris Weidman take the No. 4 and No. 5 spots, respectively.

So, so much for consensus.

Jones (20-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) appears to be the one fighter whose accomplishments are universally recognized. The 26-year-old champ currently is the most dominant in the UFC and is going for his eighth title defense later this year against Alexander Gustafsson (16-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC).

Of course, rankings debates are nothing new in the world of MMA, but criticism of the UFC’s promotional rankings is a recent hot topic with the removal of UFC lightweight Nate Diaz. In any event, fans and media will continue to gnash teeth over who gets placed where, and no one will be happy with the final list.

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