Jon Jones Would Rather Be Considered A “Bad Motherf*cker” Than GOAT
Jon Jones is already one of the best mixed martial artists of all time. Nobody has ever knocked him out. The only loss of his career came when he broke the rules versus Matt Hamill at TUF 10 on December 5, 2009. The controversial referee Steve Mazzagatti disqualified him because of 12-6 elbows.
But don’t forget Jones is the only man who was stripped of the title three times. For the first time, it happened due to hit-and-run incident. Jones drove through red light, hit a pregnant woman, and left the crime scene on foot.
The second time, “Bones” was stripped because of letrozole and clomiphene in his body. But third time was the most interesting one. Jon Jones defeated Daniel Cormier via spectacular KO at UFC 214, but the fight was overturned to no contest after his samples were positive on Turinabol, and Jones was punished again.
“Bones” returns to the Octagon next weekend at UFC 232 after a long break to rematch Alexander Gustafsson. The Swede fighter was a great rival at UFC 165, and it was one of the greatest title shots ever. Many even believed judges should have claimed Gustafsson the winner, but Jones earned a victory via unanimous decision. If Jon Jones defeats Gustafsson again, he’ll be promoted to the UFC Light Heavyweight champion.
But it looks like Jon Jones would rather be remembered as a “bad motherf*cker” than the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. “Bones” thinks MMA fans forget fighters’ achievements too swiftly. (h/t MMAMania.com)
“No, I don’t think being considered the best — I don’t think one fight makes you, one fight doesn’t make my career. It’s the journey, it’s not about one fight,” replied Jones during Thursday’s UFC 232 media call (replay here) when asked his thoughts on the being considered the greatest fighter of all-time.
“I feel like there will always be a debate about who is the best, whoever is the best is whoever is hot at the current moment. I feel like MMA fans are very quick to forget a lot of peoples’ accomplishments.”
Jon Jones looked back on Anderson Silva and Jose Aldo, two fighters who were dominating their divisions for a long time, to support his claim.
“For example, Anderson Silva is not even considered to be in the conversation anymore as the GOAT, which is a shame because he’s done so much for our sport. Jose Aldo, these guys have been kicking ass for years, they’ve done so much for our sport and then one defeat, and now they’re not the best any more,” he said.
“I understand that the conversation will always just be an opinion and I’ve just got to focus on the things that I can control, which is preparing myself the best that I can for each fight and making sure my hand is raised at the end of the day.”
So, Jon Jones doesn’t fight to reach the GOAT status. But what would he like to accomplish then? Actually, he wants to be a fighter who demolished every single opponent!
“What is my legacy? What would I want it to be? Let’s see here, just being a bad motherf*cker at the end of the day. Just a bad dude, man. Am I perfect? No. Am I a Christian who swears? Yes. Do I love God? Yes. Do I love my family? Yes. Am I bad motherf*cker in that ring? Yes,” Jones said.
“That’s it, man. One thing I’m realizing is, being the champion, you don’t have to wear a suit everyday, you don’t have to be politically correct and have all the kids look up to you and say that you’re such an angel. Who said that’s what a champion has to be?”
Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson will meet next Saturday in Paradise, Nevada. What do you think, will Jones be remembered as a fighter who destroyed everybody, or a guy who was stopped by “The Mauler”?
