Getty Jon Jones and Conor McGregor
UFC 247 is only a few days away. And headliner UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones has been interviewed by various outlets about his fight with Dominick Reyes, his potential move up to heavyweight and his legacy as one of the greatest MMA athletes ever.
During an interview on ESPN’s First Take, Jones was asked about being one of the perceived greatest fighters of all time. The conversation steered to UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and MMA superstar Conor McGregor, and if Jones wants to be a megastar and blockbuster draw like those two.
Jones tells the panel of journalists: “I look at Khabib and Conor and I see how internationally known they are and it inspires me for sure to try and work on my branding a little bit more outside of fighting. But at the end of the day, for me, it’s not about making the most money. It’s not about being the most famous. It’s about being the guy that people are going to talk about 50 [to] 100 years from now. That’s really what gets me out of the bed in the morning.”
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Jon Jones Doesn’t Believe McGregor Is One of the Greatest in the World
Jones then sets his sights on McGregor, and he says, “No disrespect to Conor because I love what he’s doing for our sport. I don’t think he’s going to be in [the] conversation when people are sitting around at a barbershop talking about the greatest martial artists in the world.”
The UFC light heavyweight champion continues, “I’m very aware of that, and so I think the box office stuff can come eventually.”
Bones is more focused on becoming the consensus greatest of all time, and he says, “I’m only 32, but for the most part, those records are very hard to get, and that’s what really gets me going in the morning.” If Jones defeats Dominick Reyes at UFC 247, he will earn the record for most UFC title fight wins in history with 14.
UFC 247 takes place on February 8 in Houston. The main card starts at 7.p.m. PT/ 10 p.m. ET exclusively on ESPN+ PPV.