There is something different about Jon Jones these days and he’s wearing the changes well.
While the passion and enthusiasm for his craft is still evident in the way he speaks and the way he performs when he strides into the cage, the exuberance of youth and the bravado of his younger days seems to have faded and been replaced by more of an inward focus.
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It wasn’t that long ago that Jones sat on stage and declared that he’s still a “wild MF’er,” but in the time between that declaration and this weekend’s championship showdown with Anthony Smith in the main event of UFC 235, the now 31-year-old superstar now seems to have little concern for the thoughts and opinions of anyone other than himself and the members of his inner circle.
“Life definitely teaches you lessons and throughout my life, I’ve learned that the thing that matters the most is being the best you can be — the best friend you can be to your actual friends; the best dad you can be to your kids; the best guy you can be,” said Jones, speaking with Sporting News in advance of his title defense this weekend in Las Vegas. “Life has taught me lots of lessons and I am where I am now and I am just grateful. And that’s the key: being grateful for what you do have is eventually how you get more, so I’m grateful for what I have and where I’m going to be.”
In bygone years, Jones seemed deeply invested in the opinions of others.
He wanted to be beloved by fans, respected by his peers and revered as the greatest fighter in the history of the sport.
He tried to be all things to all people and it cost him, dearly, as he burnt the candle from both ends and then watched as a myriad of issues outside of the cage cost him the light heavyweight title on two occasions and limited him to just three appearances in three years.
Rather than spending those years stacking up victories and further establishing his credentials as one of the all-time greats, Jones was answering questions about partying and drug use, his dedication to the sport, and Daniel Cormier, his ever-present chief rival who sat upon the light heavyweight throne in his stead before vacating it the day before Jones faced Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232 in December.
It was in advance of that bout with Gustafsson where the shift in Jones’s focus first appeared.
While he still engaged in some playful banter with “The Mauler” whenever they shared the dais with one another, Jones didn’t talk about the fight as an opportunity to prove something to his critics, his contemporaries or his Swedish opponent, who had push him to the brink in their first encounter five years earlier.
It was all about proving something to himself and that is precisely what he did.
“It was really important to me to have a dominant performance against Alex just to show my progression,” explained Jones, who captured the vacant light heavyweight title with a third-round technical knockout win over Gustaffson in the UFC’s final fight of 2018. “Five years ago, I ended up going to the hospital after the fight. I ended up on morphine and getting stitched up; I couldn’t walk for a week and my face was swollen. I missed time and I couldn't walk for two days because my feet were swollen from kicking him.
“It just showed me my progression and I’m proud of myself,” he added. “At the end of the day, I’ve been through a lot of adversity and to show myself that not only can I survive that adversity, but progress — that’s awesome.”
Back atop the division and poised to defend the light heavyweight title for the first time since his initial meeting with Cormier at UFC 182 more than four years ago, the evidence of Jones’s shift in focus extends to how he wants to remembered when his career is over.
For many years, being recognized as the greatest of all-time seemed to propel the tall, rangy kid from Endicott, New York with a natural gift and uncanny aptitude for fighting inside a cage.
Now, Jones’s focus has shifted to something different and if being declared “The G.O.A.T.” ends up being a byproduct of his efforts, so be it, but that’s not a title he’s actively chasing.
“My idea is just to be the most dominant — to be the most dominant champion ever,” said Jones, who carries a 15-fight unbeaten streak into his fight with Smith at T-Mobile Arena this weekend. “That’s my goal. I just don’t want to compare myself to others at this point. I just want to be the best I can be and the most dominant I can be. I’m focused on things I can control and that’s my own personal storyline, my own personal greatness and that’s where I’m at is just being the best 'Bones' Jones.”
And the best “Bones” Jones is a bad, bad man.
Despite being 17 months removed from his last fight and having competed only two times in the two years prior to stepping into the cage with Gustafsson at UFC 232, Jones looked outstanding, using the majority of the first two rounds to find his range and rhythm before starting to hurt his Swedish adversary late in the second round.
Thirty seconds into the middle stanza, Jones put Gustafsson on the canvas in the center of the cage and “The Mauler” never made it back to his feet. Jones methodically advanced positions, ultimately taking Gustafsson’s back, where a quick series of elbows prompted referee Mike Beltran to step in and stop the fight.
Prior to that contest, Jones spoke of having seen everything Gustafsson had to offer in the cage; not in a cocky, “he’s got nothing for me” type of way, but rather that after more than a decade as a pro and more than half-a-dozen years competing in championship contests, he’d already taken the best Gustafsson and the rest of the light heavyweight elite had to offer and emerged victorious every time.
He echoed those sentiments when speaking about his matchup with Smith this weekend.
“Anthony is young, he’s hungry, he’s determined and he’s dream-chasing and that’s exciting in itself,” Jones said, sharing his thoughts on the surging contender, who earned a shot at the belt by rattling off three finishes in five months after moving up from middleweight. “I believe that he really believes in himself and that excites me.
“As far as his game, I think he has a pretty complete game, but at this stage of my career, I don’t look at people’s talents as being too much,” he added. “It’s just another fight and I try not to make it too much bigger than what it is. I take him seriously, I’ve worked hard and I believe I’m ready to go. I’ve seen it all at this point. As long as I respect him, come in shape and ready to do my art, beautiful art is what’s going to happen.”
Though he didn’t initially seem keen on the idea of defending his light heavyweight title against “Lionheart,” Jones warmed to the idea over time, recognizing this weekend’s championship was both an opportunity to give back to the fans that stood by him throughout his struggles and to compete multiple times this year, provided everything goes according to plan.
“I feel like I have such loyal fans and I haven’t given them much content and I wanted to make up for lost time,” said Jones when asked why he opted to make the 63-day turnaround and face Smith on Saturday night. “I want to have my fans be really proud and (show that sticking by me) has been worth the wait.
He added: “And I’d like to fight three times this year. That’s the goal and I believe I’ll be able to achieve that if I can get through these fights successfully and injury-free.”
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First, he’s got to get through Smith, but if Jones fights up to his potential, that shouldn’t be an issue.
“I really feel like I was put on Earth to be a fighter, so I just need to go out there, let my light shine and just let it happen,” he said. “I do predict I will finish the fight, I just don’t know how it will happen, but I do believe I have what it takes to finish this fight and that’s what’s going to happen.”