Last year, NBA star James Johnson made major news by claiming he could beat UFC legend Jon Jones at his own game by training hard for a single year. A statement that he made again just a few hours ago. Fans often regard Jones as the best in the world of all time. And right now, he is getting ready to defend his title by taking on Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in the Madison Square Garden in New York on November 11.

So, preparing for that fight, he showed little interest in fighting other people who wanted to be the next heavyweight champion in the UFC. That was the situation until now, as Jones has finally come up with a reply for Johnson. While many expected him to agree to a fight, Jones took a jibe at Johnson instead by stating that he might have a concussion. Jones said, “I didn’t realize until now, basketball players got CTE as well, this man sounds crazy.”

James Johnson firmly believed he could get the better of Jones. He said, “I truly, truly believe that. … I’ve been doing this my whole life. Like, real training would really be for that groundwork. As far as standing up in a fight, I feel like I got an advantage.” The basketball star apparently has a combined 27-0 record in kickboxing and MMA. And standing at 6’7 with a weight of 240 lbs, he truly can be a tough fight. However, in MMA, skills matter more than the build.

Last year, at the Ryan Hollins’ NBA Rookie Life show, Johnson stated he thinks he could beat Jon Jones ‘for real.’ He added, “My standup game is great, but what we all know about Jones is he’s a collegiate wrestler—really good on the ground, and that’s not my forte. I think I could beat him, for real. But like I said, with a year of training defense. I just need ground defense.”

He later said he has been ‘punching and kicking’ since he was five or six years old. So his striking surely would threaten his opponent as per the NBA star. However, the MMA community believes otherwise.

The MMA fraternity comes to the rescue of Jon Jones

As soon as James Johnson made the statement, MMA fans and pundits alike came to share their thoughts on it. One of them was Michael Bisping. In a video that he posted on his YouTube channel right after Johnson’s claim last year, ‘The Count’ said that he tried fact-checking Johnson’s claim of having more than 20 wins in his MMA career; however, he couldn’t find anything that stated an MMA record of 7-0.

Bisping said, “There’s none [James Johnson fighter searches] that are 7-0; there’s none that are 6’8; there’s none that are basketball players. This guy’s having a laugh; he’s out of his goddamn mind.”

He doubled down on the NBA star as he continued, “That’s like me saying, ‘Listen, give me a year; I will learn how to play basketball even though I’ve only got one eye and no depth perception whatsoever. I’ve got the feet; I’ve got the skills; I’ve got the cardio, I’ve got the will to win.”

Bisping further added the kickboxing fights Johnson claims are exaggerated, and it must’ve been a regional competition with less than seven competitors who surely would’ve been out of shape.

Israel Adesanya too shared his support for Jon Jones in the comments to the post where Johnson can be seen making his statement on ‘Bones’. Simply making it a point of mockery, ‘The Last Stylebender’ wrote, “😂 “I see red bro!” 🩸”

Well, it surely looks like no MMA fan or fighter is taking Johnson’s claims seriously. But what do you think? Will the NBA star be able to beat the heavyweight champion inside the Octagon? Let us know in the comments.