Jon Jones's pension from mixed martial arts has an opinion among fans and hunters.
After a long period of uncertainty and frustration in the heavyweight division due to the lack of clarity about the future of the then champion Jones, the weight class finally improves.
Dana White announced that Jones had retired last Saturday and Tom Aspinall rose to the undisputed throne after a record of 19 months as an interim title holder.
The time needed to arrive at that decision-and the fact that it culminated in Jones who did not fought against Aspinall-has said goodbye to the 37-year-old criticized in the MMA community.
But there have been many prominent names to the defense of Jones, including a colleague -spanner.
Jon Jones was surprised to receive praise from Khabib Nurmagomedov
In the response of Khabib Nurmagomedov to Jones's retirement, the Dagestani clarified that he is far from 'friends' with the resident of Rochester before he burns him the goat.
“My congratulation legend, although we were not friends, but you are the best to ever do it in the UFC history and you inspire millions of people around the world. You have nothing to prove in this sport,” posted Nurmagomedov on his Instagram stories.
Jones apparently shared the same sentiment with regard to their lack of friendship and was shocked when he would see 'The Eagle' to social media to crown him as the biggest.
“I didn't expect that from Khabib,” wrote Jones on X. “It was humiliating.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov could have challenged Jon Jones for Goat Status
If he himself had stayed in sport longer, Nurmagomedov could have given the goat status to himself instead of Jones.
Many believe that the Dagestani was on the fast road to an unparalleled quantity when Nurmagomedov Justin Gaethje submitted to defend his title for the third time in October 2020.
But his decision to retire on 29-0 in the aftermath of that result led to many people elimining the legendary lightweight from the comparison and turning to Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva and Demetrious Johnson as the most important rivals of Jones instead.
His legacy is protected for Nurmagomedov. But after a retirement that is a lot premature, he might go one of the best to have ever entered the cage instead of a competition for the largest.