ZingSync

Jon Jones is now easily one of the greatest mixed martial artists ever.

Now residing in the heavyweight division, he rightly wants to be paid appropriately to face new UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou when he makes his debut.

His accomplishments at light-heavyweight are other worldly compared to his peers and he beat almost multiple generations of stars en route to dominate for more than a decade at 205lbs.

It has been ten years since he became the youngest champion in UFC history at 21 years old when he beat Mauricio Rua at UFC 128 in March, 2011 and then impressed in his second defence against the legend that was Lyoto Machida in December.

“Lyoto actually intimidated me,” Jones told UFC’s YouTube channel. “He’s probably one of the most intimidating guys I’ve ever fought against. I felt like I was this young, raw champion and Lyoto was this very skilled, very clean, well rehearsed champion himself.

“He’s so unorthodox. He fought in the southpaw stance and he could kick very well with both legs, he could punch very well and he was a very educated fighter.

"A lot of mixed martial artists fighters are kind of brawling out there, but Lyoto has been training drills since he was about five years old.”

Jones broke down how Machida was a step ahead of him in the contest, but after he made an adjustment following his coach’s advice, it spelled the end for Machida.

“Everytime I would throw a kick, Lyoto would time it and catch me in the face with a punch. And he did it quite a few times. My kickboxing coach said 'Jon, you either need to set up the kicks with your hands better or fake the kick and throw a punch.'

“I faked the kick and threw a left overhand and it landed hard. It wobbled him and dropped him to his knees. By the time he got back up to his feet I had him in a headlock position. I had his neck pretty tight and I honestly felt like I could have broken his neck at that time. I choked him out, man and it was beautiful.

“When I was young, my coaches always talked about Machida. ‘Lyoto kicks like this’ etc. I answered a lot of questions the night I beat Lyoto Machida. It meant a lot to me,” Jones added.

Machida still competes to this day for Bellator at light-heavyweight, but he did have a spell at middleweight in UFC and even challenged for the title, unsuccessfully.

Jones is now 26-1 with his one loss a DQ against Matt Hamill that UFC president Dana White has wanted overturned for a long time. He also has a no contest on his record from his second victory over Daniel Cormier following a failed drugs test.

And having dominated for so long, is looking to prove himself in the land of the giants.

His debut at heavyweight is set to be an epic fight and it's silly to suggest he is scared of taking on hard-hitting Francis Ngannou given his list of scalps. He just wants to be paid accordingly.

"Spend a little to make a lot," he tweeted in reference to his bosses needing to open their chequebook.

Bro I’ve gotten out of the way from much faster punchers. And I have a pretty solid chin. Let’s not forget fight IQ, reach, speed, distance. I’m not going to just stand there like stipe did. https://t.co/szqyJMtUjA

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