Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson says he doesn’t see anybody beating Jon Jones anytime soon.
Johnson is set to challenge Adriano Moraes for the ONE flyweight title in the ONE on TNT 1 main event this Wednesday/Thursday. As for Jones, negotiations between him and the UFC for a title fight with the new heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou appear to have failed, as the promotion is now targeting a fight between ‘The Predator’ and Derrick Lewis.
Jon Jones
Speaking with TMZ Sports (as transcribed by BJPenn.com), Johnson weighed in on the former light heavyweight champion’s chances at heavyweight.
“Jon Jones, I think he’s one of the greatest of all time — he’s probably the GOAT — because each time I’ve seen him fight, I feel like he plays with his opponents. I feel like he’s very dynamic as a light heavyweight. He will be very dynamic as a heavyweight, as long as he keeps speed, which I don’t see perceive him losing his speed. I don’t see anyone beating him anytime soon. He’s been given the gift of being so long and he’s very intelligent as well.”
GOAT Debate
Although Johnson said that Jones is ‘probably the GOAT’, he also thinks that it’s difficult to pick a particular fighter as the GOAT among the number of great athletes from the past and present.
“There’s so many great athletes in mixed martial arts you have Jon Jones, Khabib Nurmagomedov, GSP, I mean you got Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell, if you look at the era my era with me, Khabib, Jon Jones, Izzy (Israel Adesanya),” Johnson explained. “I feel like in my era, I always say like I’m one of the greatest ever do it in my era.
“But to say I’m the greatest of all time, that’s me not putting respect on other guys, other gentlemen’s names who came before me and in this era but when it comes to the flyweights, I would say I’m probably one of the greatest flyweights to ever do it. It just feels like an impossible question, it just feels like an unanswerable question too. When you’re fighting different people, different sizes, I mean how do you even quantify who’s the best, it just seems impossible.”
Where do Demetrious Johnson and Jon Jones rank in your greatest ever MMA fighters?
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