Jon Jones’ Worst Nightmare Brought Back by Joe Rogan in Delivering MMA GOAT Verdict

Dana White has often backed Jon Jones as the pound-for-pound greatest fighter of all time. He based his argument on the legacy that the heavyweight champion has built for himself. According to the UFC CEO, Jones was even undefeated with his sole loss against Matt Hamil being a DQ. But when it came to Joe Rogan, the UFC color commentator had quite some trouble picking just one fighter as the P4P GOAT. Although he did back ‘Bones’ as the greatest fighter, his dilemma was clearly visible. Nevertheless, he has now revealed the criteria he uses to judge the fighters. 

In episode #2239 of the JRE, Rogan sat down together with Derek Munro from More Plates More Dates. And no discussion about martial arts was complete without a mention of Jon Jones. The JRE host said, “When you look at a guy like Jon Jones, I don’t think you can make a greatest of all time complete argument because the way I like to look at it, I say, ‘Who had the highest expression of martial arts excellence during their prime?’ Like I don’t mean the entire career, I don’t mean now. I mean when they were hot.” 

The UFC color commentator put forth the example of Anderson Silva. ‘Spider’ dominated the Octagon back when he was in his prime. His tough times began when he returned after healing his broken leg. He continued, “Like when Anderson Silva was hot. How good was that? Was that better than anything that ever existed? Because I think it might have been. And that’s what I look at when I look at like pound-for-pound best.”

Joe Rogan went on to address some controversial wins by ‘Bones’. Like the one against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247. Even though Jon Jones won the bout via unanimous decision, the JRE host claimed that Reyes was equally worthy of getting the win. He claimed that he wouldn’t even be mad if ‘The Devastator’ had received the win from the judges. 

Nevertheless, there was a time when the 57-year-old podcaster faced great difficulty in selecting one fighter to reign the pound-for-pound list. Of course, Jones was one of the choices Rogan put forth. But do you know who was the other fighter in his mind?

Joe Rogan cannot choose only Jon Jones as the P4P GOAT

Talking to Theo Von in a previous JRE episode, the commentator was put in a tough spot. It was nothing short of a nightmare for Rogan to snub one of his favorites for another. He said, “I don’t like only picking one because there’s a bunch of reasons why other guys are in this elite class of being considered as possibly the greatest of all time.” 

The other fighter who secured a place in Rogan’s heart as a GOAT was none other than Demetrious Johnson. The JRE host revealed, “I always say Mighty Mouse [as the greatest] because Mighty Mouse would do things where you’re like, ‘What the f— did he just do?’ When he fought Ray Borg, he tossed him in the air and caught him in a f—ing armbar on the way down… It’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen a guy do inside the cage.”

Needless to say, ‘Mighty Mouse’ secured the championship title in two different MMA promotions – UFC and ONE Championship. But it was his instinctive moves that left the MMA realm in absolute awe. On the other hand, Jones has been dominating the Octagon ever since he stepped foot in it. From becoming the youngest champion in the history of UFC to becoming the oldest active champion in the promotion, ‘Bones’ has certainly come a long way. 

But does that actually make Jones the GOAT? Is there someone else that you’d regard as the P4P GOAT? Drop down to the comments below and keep the debate going.