Jon Jones has had a stellar MMA career but he hadn't reached the #1 spot in our MMA pound-for-pound Top 100. But with his win over previously undefeated Daniel Cormier, Jones has attained that, too.
SportsRatings pound-for-pound MMA top 100, for fights through January 3, 2015
| Jan Rank |
Feb Rank |
Fighter | WC | Rating | Rated Record | January Results |
| 2 | 1 | Jon Jones | LH | 100.42 | 15-1-0 | Beat #7 Daniel Cormier |
| 1 | 2 | Georges St. Pierre | WW | 100.04 | 23-2-0 | last win -14 months. |
| 3 | 3 | Chris Weidman | MW | 87.70 | 8-0-0 | |
| 4 | 4 | Cain Velasquez | HW | 78.78 | 10-1-0 | last win -15 months. |
| 5 | 5 | Fabricio Werdum | HW | 64.43 | 18-5-1 | |
| 6 | 6 | Anthony Pettis | LW | 62.56 | 11-2-0 | |
| 8 | 7 | Jose Aldo | FW | 55.79 | 17-1-0 | |
| 9 | 8 | Rafael dos Anjos | LW | 45.03 | 14-5-0 | |
| 10 | 9 | Anthony Johnson | LH | 43.45 | 15-4-0 | |
| 14 | 10 | Donald Cerrone | LW | 42.80 | 19-6-0 | Beat #71 Myles Jury |
Jones is only the third person to hold the #1 spot in the last decade. Fedor Emeliankenko took over the top spot in March, 2003 by beating Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Fedor was #1 until he lost to Fabricio Werdum in June of 2010; at that time, previous #2 Georges St. Pierre slipped into the top spot.
Jon Jones first cracked the top 10 in March of 2011 when he beat Shogun Rua. He jumped to #3 after his win over Quinton Jackson, and was #2 after he beat Rashad Evans.
Around this time, St. Pierre was inactive due to injury and was losing rating points, but still had enough points to keep the top spot; at #2, Jones was the "interim" pound for pound champ at this time. St. Pierre returned to action with wins over Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz, and Anderson Silva reclaimed the #2 spot by beating Chael Sonnen and Stephan Bonner.
Jones continued to win, beating Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, and Alex Gustafsson, returning to the #2 spot when Anderson Silva lost to Chris Weidman.
Then, following his controversial win over Johny Hendrix, St. Pierre began another long layoff that reached the one year mark in November. Combined with Jones' win over Cormier, St. Pierre's loss of points will drop him to #2 in the February rankings.
If St. Pierre comes back any time soon there could be a back-and-forth at #1, but for now it looks like it's Jones' title to hold until he loses—or decides to take time off himself. So far it doesn't look like he wants to slow down.
Jones also moves up to #3 on our All-Time MMA Rankings, pushing past Anderson Silva:
| ATR last month |
All-time rank | Fighter | Rating | Rated Record | Peak month; highest-rated win |
| 1 | 1 | Fedor Emelianenko | 93.91 | 27-4-0 | peak rating: 11/2009 top win: 3/2003 #5 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira |
| 2 | 2 | Georges St. Pierre | 91.58 | 23-2-0 | peak rating: 11/2013 top win: 11/2006 #19 Matt Hughes |
| 4 | 3 | Jon Jones | 84.91 | 15-1-0 | peak rating: 1/2015 top win: 3/2011 #21 Mauricio Rua |
| 3 | 4 | Anderson Silva | 78.33 | 30-6-0 | peak rating: 10/2012 top win: 8/2001 #32 Hayato Sakurai |
| 5 | 5 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira | 73.78 | 32-9-1 | peak rating: 12/2002 top win: 9/2001 #37 Mark Coleman |
Jones is behind only Emelianenko and St. Pierre on our list. Jones is only 27 years old, so he has a good chance of ending up the #1 all-time if he keeps up his winning ways.