Jon Jones: 'I could never fight again and be put in the hall of fame'
The way Jon Jones sees it, anything he achieves during his comeback is just gravy.
Eight days away from his long-awaited return to the Octagon, the former champion remains focused on sorting things out in his personal life as opposed to the professional realm he has conquered.
On a conference call Thursday, Jones told the media that his in-cage accomplishments already speak for themselves.
"Only thing I need to do is just right things outside the Octagon," Jones said, according to Chuck Mindenhall of MMA Fighting. "I could never fight again and be put in the hall of fame. I'm not saying that to sound arrogant, but we all know it's true. I have to do the right things outside the Octagon. That's it. Nobody hearing my name in the news ever again, that's a huge victory for me, and I’m going to try my hardest to make sure that happens.
"Outside of that, when it comes to actually fighting, I don't really feel like I have much to prove to anybody. I've done some pretty amazing things in this sport, and fighting is a journey. You have your ups and downs, you have your wins and losses, and fortunately I've never lost.
"But wins and losses at this point in my life doesn't really define who I am. I think I'm a champion the rest of my life. What goes into defining who I am is how I get my life under control outside of fighting."
At 28 years old, Jones has never suffered a true defeat in MMA and he was undefeated as the promotion's champion. He was stripped of the title as a consequence of his involvement in a hit-and-run last April.
Jones fights Ovince St-Preux at UFC 197 on April 23, his first match after serving a year-long suspension.