Demetrious Johnson still believes Jon Jones is the greatest of all time after becoming a two-division UFC champion.
A former longtime light heavyweight champion, Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) needed just 2 minutes to claim the vacant heavyweight title when he submitted Ciryl Gane last Saturday at UFC 285.
Johnson, who holds the UFC record for most consecutive title defenses at 11, is in the conversation of greatest of all time. But when asked who’s the greatest, Johnson said he still sees Jones as No. 1.
“Yeah, I said it last time: I always felt that from Jon Jones,” Johnson told TMZ.
“Jon Jones, what he did to Gane Saturday night, I mean, he took him down and choked him out. I truly believe he could’ve done that at 205.”
Johnson, the reigning ONE flyweight champion, acknowledges that out of all the greats, he’s one of the few that haven’t captured a belt in a second weight division during his UFC tenure.
“I’ve had the longest consecutive title defenses, and I’ve also had 14 world title fight wins,” Johnson added. “I believe he’s at 15 now. You look at GSP (St-Pierre), I think he took four years off and he fought in 2013 against Johnny Hendricks then he came back in 2017 and beat Michael Bisping, who was a champion. You look at Anderson Silva, we’ve all done amazing things in mixed martial arts.”
“The one thing that separates those guys from me is those guys have gone up and competed and won a world championship in a different weight class, where I haven’t. Henry Cejudo’s done it, Jon’s done it, Randy Couture’s done it, the list just goes on and on of all the guys who have done it, and that’s one thing I haven’t done.”
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