There was a time when Jon Jones would be the first to tell you that he is the greatest of all time, and he would direct any doubters to the list of names he’s defeated to illustrate why that is. But in a UFC 239 media scrum, Jones changed his tune, believing that there is much work left to be done for him to claim that honor:
“I don’t feel like I’m the best ever,” Jones told reporters. “I feel like I have a lot to prove. And I feel like if I can retire doing the right things and continue to win fights, then maybe I’ll allow other people to call me that.”
And those fights appear to be locked at light heavyweight for the foreseeable future. Jon Jones believes that by continuing to defend the light heavyweight championship until he has at least 20 career championship victories will be an achievement very difficult for anyone to replicate, and Jones knows that to achieve such heights he will need an attack mindset:
“My coach always tells me, especially my coach Brandon Gibson, he says to me, Jon, we’re not taking title defenses. We’re taking title offenses,” Jones said. “We’re out there trying to conquer more. We’re not there trying to protect what we already have.
“I always remember that these young boys are coming for us and to not be sitting fat and complacent at the castle but meet them halfway on the battlefield.”
The next contender for Jon Jones’s light heavyweight championship is Thiago Santos, who challenges Jon Jones tonight at UFC 239 live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main card kicks off tonight at 10:00 PM ET and streams exclusively on ESPN+.
Do you believe Jon Jones will retire as the greatest of all time?
