Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
The Khabib claim comes at 04:08.
It’s one thing to be the greatest of our time, but it’s quite another thing to be the greatest of all time. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, is hoping he’s done enough throughout his storied mixed martial arts (MMA) career to be both.
Conor McGregor, on the other hand, is likely to fade from view.
“It’s about being the guy that people are gonna be talking about 50, 100 years from now, that’s really what gets me out of bed in the morning,” Jones told ESPN (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “At the end of the day, no disrespect to Conor because I love what he’s doing for our sport, I don’t think he’s gonna be in the conversation when people are sitting around at a barber shop talking about the greatest martial artists in the world.”
McGregor certainly seemed to be on his way after capturing championship titles in two different weight classes, but the recently-welterweight “Notorious” failed to defend either belt and came up short to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 back in late 2018.
Speaking of “The Eagle” …
“I think Khabib’s an amazing fighter,” Jones insisted (after laughing out loud). “I think he’s done a great job representing the UFC. He’s a great ambassador for our sport. But if you were to ask some MMA experts about myself and Khabib, I think most people would be able to tell our resumes are completely different. So many world champions under my belt that I’ve defeated. Khabib, a lot of his victories are against a lot of people that are relatively unknown. I’ve been fighting legends since I was a young man in my early twenties.”
After getting disqualified for murdering Matt Hamill way back in 2009, Jones (25-1, 1 NC) went undefeated in 17 straight fights against some of the biggest names in the sport. He’ll look to continue his winning ways against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 this weekend in Houston.
For much more on that upcoming showdown click here.