UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones will face undefeated challenger Dominick Reyes on Saturday night in Houston at UFC 247, and for Jones, his latest title defense is just another opportunity to add to his resume as one of the greatest champions in the history of the sport.
Jones discussed how he wants to be remembered a century from now during an appearance on ESPN’s First Take, and contrasted his legacy to that of Conor McGregor. Jones praised McGregor for his box office power and branding outside the fight game, but said McGregor isn’t likely to go down as a legendary martial artist. For Jones, his record in the octagon is the only thing that matters.
“I look at Khabib and Conor and I see how internationally known they are, and it inspires me for sure to try to 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, 100 years from now. That’s really what gets me out of the bed in the morning.
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 going to be in the conversation, when people are sitting around in a barbershop talking about the greatest martial artists in the world. And so, I’m very aware of that, and so I think the box office stuff can come eventually. I’m only 32. But for the most part, those records…. those records are very hard to get, and that’s what really gets me going in the morning.”
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