Jon Jones’ recent inactivity isn’t doing his pound-for-pound candidacy any favours.

The longtime former UFC light heavyweight champion has now held the promotion’s heavyweight championship since March 2023, competing just once since then — a TKO win over Stipe Miocic this past November in what was just his second fight since before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jones has stood firm, however, so far appearing to resist moves to pair him with interim champion Tom Aspinall much to the apparent frustration of the Englishman and, apparently, UFC brass.

Dana White told the media in New Jersey this past weekend that Jones has indeed ‘agreed’ to fight Aspinall but stopped short of annoucing a particular timeline for when that fight may (or may not) take place.

But either way, Jones’ status as the unanimous pound-for-pound king in the sport has dipped in recent months and following Merab Dvalishvili’s conclusive defence of his bantamweight title at last weekend’s UFC 316 in New Jersey, arguably the greatest fighter in the UFC history now finds himself in the unfamiliar position of #3 in the P4P ladder.

The (soon to be ) former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev retains the top spot in the most recent list issued this week, with Dvalishvili leaping into second place overtaking Jones and the former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, who drops to fourth.

Dricus du Plessis takes the fifth spot, with Magomed Ankalaev, Alex Volkanovski, Jack Della Maddalena, Alex Pereira and Alexandre Pantoja completing the top ten.