Jon Jones likes what he’s seeing from Conor McGregor, and it has nothing to do with fighting.
McGregor’s five-year wait ended in 69 seconds at UFC 329, his right knee giving out on the first strike he threw at Max Holloway. He walked out of the octagon looking broken. In the days since, he’s flooded his social media with defiant, faith-heavy messages, and Jones sees something real in that.
Speaking with Ring Magazine, the former two-division champion said the test of a man is what he does when everything falls apart.
Conor has been publicly leaning on Christ. I feel as if when you are trying to resist the world and walk that narrow path, I feel like one of the steps is God asking you, ‘How bad do you want it?’ When you publicly talk about your love for God, and then you turn around and get injured, it’d be really easy to go back to the bar and have this rage and this animosity – and so far, what I’m seeing from Conor is he’s still praising God.
Jones, who has said he’s constantly working to be a better person after his own long list of troubles, drew on his own experience.
That shows me a lot about his character. … I’ve lost my family members, I’ve embarrassed myself, and every time something goes wrong, I always give grace back to God. So, that’s one of the ways I look at Conor’s story. It’s just like, man, can you hold true when the whole world is laughing at you? So far, he is holding true.
To Jones, the scoreboard doesn’t matter anymore.
I think Conor has already won. He has an opportunity to change so many lives in so many different ways. I think he’s a really great example of just how humans can be so imperfect and so unique and special at the same time. I just hope he doesn’t give up.
McGregor, 38, hasn’t won since flattening Donald Cerrone in 40 seconds in January 2020. He’s lost three straight, leaving the cage badly injured in the last two, and is awaiting test results on his knee.
