UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones knows the end is near, which is why he’s motivated by big fights.
Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) defended his heavyweight title at UFC 309 when he finished Stipe Miocic by Round 3 TKO. The all-time great only has a fight or two left in him, and sees a matchup with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira as more lucrative than interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
“Money is a motivator,” Jones said on Alex Gonzalez’s YouTube channel. “I think most people lie if they said they weren’t motivated by money. But also, I’ve been doing the UFC work just out of love, too. I really love what I do. I really love making money. I really love writing my name down in the history books and being a guy who’ll be able to live forever through the UFC record books. That all means a lot.
“But another thing, Dana White, my boss, he told me a long time ago, he was like, ‘Jon, money will never be your issue because I never want you to worry about money. It will never be your issue. It will always come to you for the rest of your life.’ And it seems like the less I think about money, the more it comes to me. It just starts falling in my hands these days, and I’m grateful for it.”
Jones recently posted behind-the-scenes footage of his role as a Navy Seal in the upcoming movie “Edo’s Crossing.” Acting is something “Bones” would like to dive deeper into eventually.
“Within the next five years I want to win one more fight,” Jones said. “Maybe even two more fights, and try and make as much money as possible in the UFC. I want to launch off my acting career. I’ve always wanted to be an actor. I think I do pretty good on camera, and I’ve done little commercials and things like that.
“Every time I’m on set, everybody’s like, ‘Bro, it’s hard to believe that you’re a fighter. You conduct yourself just like all of our professional actors.’ So that’s my five-year plan. Ten years from now I just want to be the best dad I can be.”
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