Jones Reacts To McGregor’s GOAT List: Try Defending A UFC Title

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Conor McGregor did his best to spark a discussion this weekend about the best fighters in the history of mixed martial arts (MMA). The former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion did pretty well with his pound-for-pound (P4P) rankings — even including himself as a potential No. 1 — but not everyone is agreeing with the views of “Notorious.”

Are you surprised?

Out of the names McGregor discussed in his official “GOAT Thread,” reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is the only one to respond via social media thus far. Jones has become quite the Twitter troll these days so fans should have expected a quick rebuttal.

While Jones controlled his emotions and language compared to some other iffy rants in the past, he didn’t hold back in pointing out something McGregor has yet to accomplish in his own UFC career. That, of course, is successfully defending a UFC title.

“And still,” wrote Jones.

“Try that one first lad,” he continued.

Jones, who is arguably the best P4P fighter in the history of the sport and already considered that by many of his UFC peers, didn’t go completely ham on McGregor. Instead, “Bones” is content in letting the fans do the debating.

“I’m not going to debate on who is the goat, I’ll let the fans do that for me,” he said.

Of course, this small clash with McGregor on social media comes days after Jones tried to land a massive superfight with heavyweight superstar Francis Ngannou. UFC officials quickly ended that potential clash with “Predator” before it really even started, but it has Jones wondering how he went from Ngannou to McGregor in less than 24 hours.

“Damn how did I go from Francis to Conner?” ended Jones.

Jones has obviously accomplished more throughout his UFC career than McGregor has, but the champ has struggled of late to separate himself from rising contenders like Dominick Reyes and Thiago Santos. Both of those fighters gave “Bones” a true run for his money and has cast some doubt as to how long Jones can hold onto his 205-pound title.

This lack of certainty regarding Jones’ current Octagon dominance comes after nearly 10 years of UFC title fights so it’s hard to really knock “Bones” too much.

All of that said, Jones does bring up a good point about McGregor. Despite his historic rise to fame and eventually becoming the first fighter in UFC history to simultaneously hold two separate titles, “Notorious” has never actually defended one. I guess that’s what happens when you’re chasing $100 million paydays in the boxing ring and vacating titles left and right.