Jon Jones | Photo by Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Carver Road Hospitality

Jon Jones has reached rarified air in MMA.

The man known as “Bones” has truly grown up inside the octagon, taking out legend after legend once he became the youngest UFC champion in history at 23 years old. A monumental run that has had some pauses between the highlights, Jones isn’t finished further solidifying his place in the history books.

To reach his status as a must-see superstar, Jones’ opposition was almost as important as the performances he put on against them. In the case of his rivalry with Daniel Cormier, it took each to new heights in terms of popularity that caused ripple effects henceforth. The current UFC heavyweight champion Jones, 36, is now in a position where his career is admittedly winding down ahead of his UFC 295 clash with former two-time champion Stipe Miocic in November. Therefore, it begs the question of whether he’ll stick around to face the rising contenders awaiting him in the land of giants.

“Jon Jones could elevate those guys but why?” Cormier said of the top heavyweight contenders on his YouTube channel. “The difference is this, man. When we were older fighting Jones — I was 35 the first time I fought Jones but he was already the man. [Quinton] ‘Rampage’ [Jackson] was in his 30s when he fought Jones. [Mauricio] ‘Shogun’ [Rua] was young but he had so much mileage. ‘Shogun’ is literally 30 right now (laughs). But he had so much damage from PRIDE that it was different. Rashad [Evans] was in his 30s. Everybody was in their 30s until he got to guys like Anthony Smith and Thiago [Santos], [Dominick] Reyes, and Jones was kind of like, ‘Ah, those guys don’t make me excited. I went from fighting all these legends to fighting these young guys who really don’t get the juices pumping.’”

Jones was very complimentary of the top two leading heavyweight contenders Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall when speaking on the OverDogs podcast earlier this week. The drive to challenge himself is still present but ultimately, the all-time great doesn’t see each as established enough to make proper business sense.

Cormier believes at this point, it doesn’t matter. Jones is Jones and no matter who he’s facing — especially at heavyweight — the intrigue and desire to see Jones while he’s still around will be there.

“In this one, he says about Aspinall and Sergei, who would absolutely get the juices pumping, he just isn’t interested because now he’s weighing the business vs. the actual competition,” Cormier said.

“To me, I feel like Jon Jones as a headliner, it don’t really change much in regards to who he’s fighting. He did over 700,000 buys against Ciryl Gane. He would probably do 700,000 buys against Tom Aspinall or Sergei Pavlovich. So what is he saying? He just doesn’t want to fight those young, hard-punching, hard-charging guys?”

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VIDEO STEW

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MORNING MUSIC

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Emotions.

Slammin’.

Durinho.

Till shots.

Be considerate.

Work.

Diamond.

D’oh.

Champ.

Papa Dan.

Travel.

On the ranch.

Cringe.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Daniel Santos (12-2) vs. Daniel Marcos (15-0); UFC Sao Paulo, Nov. 4

FINAL THOUGHTS

Heavyweight replacement fighter has got to be the best gig in the world. No weight to cut, just show up and get paid to have the chance at winning a world title.

Happy Friday and happy September, everyone. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week.

EXIT POLL

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