Jon Jones reflected on his career when engaging with fan questions on social media.
Jones may have his own MMA Mount Rushmore but for many, ‘Bones’ is the first name on the list after everything that he accomplished.
While Demetrious Johnson believes that Jones shouldn’t be in the GOAT debate, if you put some of his controversies to the side, his accolades speak for themselves.
The former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion may not have retired in style but there has still been a lot of praise for ‘Bones’.
Jones has a lot of impressive wins inside the Octagon but in a recent post, he revealed which one of them, in his opinion, was his best.
Jon Jones says his first fight with Alexander Gustafsson is the performance that he looks back on as his best
For a lot of fans, Jon Jones’ win over Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 would be the fight they’d point to as his career-best performance inside the Octagon.
‘Bones’ may have achieved more dominant victories but against arguably his toughest opponent in a heated grudge match, the defending champion won four of the five rounds on all three scorecards.
Jones, however, gave a different answer when he was asked by a fan on X which performance of his is the one he looks back on as his best.
The 37-year-old gave that tag to his UFC 165 title defense against Alexander Gustafsson, which is widely considered to be one of the greatest UFC title fights of all time.
While the defending champion kept hold of his belt via a unanimous decision, Jones was pushed more in this fight than ever before, having out landed his challenger by 134 significant strikes to 110.
In his response to the fan, ‘Bones’ made reference to the fact that he had to overcome adversity to get his hand raised, proving that he was incredibly tough as well as skilful.
“Gus 1, I had to push through so much to prove to myself how bad I wanted it. A lot of skill went out the window, and I had to fight with my heart.”
Jon Jones answers what the hardest skill to master is in MMA
During his run at light heavyweight in particular, Jon Jones proved himself to be perhaps the most well-rounded mixed martial artist that the Octagon has ever seen.
The champion was able to beat opponents at their own game, making him an incredibly difficult puzzle to solve.
In a follow-up question on X, Jones was asked what he believes is the hardest skillset to master, which he responded to by talking about the calmness that can separate good fighters from great ones.
“I think one of the most interesting skills to master in fighting is the art of staying calm. The more comfortable and calm you become in that octagon, that’s when it really starts to get fun for you. Example prime Anderson Silva. It allows you to start to see everything coming.”
While Jones may have never had the same effortless striking as Anderson Silva, who would seemingly be steps ahead of his opponents at times, there are plenty of examples where Jones dominated fights while making it look easy.