I'm not really too worried about the mystique of Jon Jones. Because I know Jon Jones' core. I remember when Jon Jones used to come up to me and say, 'Hey man, what's it like when everybody wants to take pictures with you?' So I know Jon Jones.
Jon has always been able to start off at a certain pace but then pick it up throughout the fight and then, at the end of the fight, his opponents are like, 'Damn, this guy is at another level.' I think that's what makes Jon Jones, Jon Jones.
I lost my fight to Jon Jones because Jon Jones is a better fighter.
Jon Jones' skill set is unique. Jon Jones goes out there and does video game moves that the announcers can't even call because they've never seen them before.
Pay-Per-View is run by drama. It is. It's true. I've done the research for myself. You look at Jon Jones. When Jon Jones fought Machida, probably did about $200,000, $300,000. When he fought Cormier, they made, like, $875,000.
Stylistically, every fight in the division is a hard fight. Lyoto Machida is unorthodox, Jon Jones is long and tall with good wrestling, Ryan Bader has good wrestling. You can't pick one and say, 'I want to fight him.'
"Smooth Sailing" and "Hall of Fame" are my top two nicknames. "Cool Guy." "Jolly Jon." "Fun Jon." There's a lot of derivatives of Jon. "Cool Jon." Some people took "Smooth Sailing" and "Fun Jon" and made "Smooth Jon." That's a good one. It's just starting to catch on with the general public. Just every now and then, "Hey! Smooth Jon!" Or "You're Smooth Jon, right?!" People aren't quite sure. I'm like, "Yeah." "Okay, cool, that's what I thought!"
To be honest, I didn't want to get inside Jones's head. Every time I wrote about Jim Jones I practically had to tie myself to my chair to force myself to do it; I hated him so much. He wanted to go down in history and he did. He's had hundreds of books and articles written about him. I was much more interested in the stories of the rank-and-file members of Peoples Temple, what drew them to Jones, and what they did once they were trapped in Jonestown and realized Jones was intent on killing them.
I can't say enough about 'The First Time.' It was such an awesome experience. Jon Kasdan, the writer/director, was great. He's such a talented guy who's really, truly special.
When you look at my record at 10-0 as a professional and look at Jon Jones' record when he was 10-0, who was his toughest guy? Stephan Bonnar, and he did not finish him. I have fought higher-caliber opponents at this stage in my career than Jon did in his at 9-1; His tenth fight was Matt Hammil.
All my body is ready for Jon Jones. He cannot break me. I will break him.
Years and years ago, Jon Jones was untouchable. You couldn't win a round against him.
Any time, every time, you can damn the Prime Minister and so long as it is not a lie and a criminal lie, nothing happens to you. You can say a lot of things. You can write books about him, damning him. So long as it is not a libel, go ahead.
When Georges St-Pierre retired and Jon Jones was absent, I had Jose Aldo, the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. That's how highly I think of him.
I'd say Jon Stewart has remained funny the entire time. Jon always makes it funny first. And he's just, he's talking about serious things, but in a funny way. Other comedians will talk about serious things in a serious way, and then you don't know what's going on.
If UFC sends me the contract and I fight Jon Jones, me and my team will find a way to beat him. Of course, I would try and knock him out, but I think it would be a similar fight to mine with Israel.