Prior to his first round submission victory over Chael Sonnen at Bellator 170 on Saturday night, UFC hall of famer Tito Ortiz scoffed at the thought that former light-heavyweight Jon Jones was of legendary stature.
Jones was somewhat of a target as Ortiz looked to begin his self-promotion and pre-fight trash talk as he drew ever closer to his final fight before retirement. Ortiz now retired, spoke with FightHype prior to his final bout on Saturday mentioning Jones in relation to his own career and time under the UFC banner.
“I’ve had this weight class since, gosh… 2001 when the UFC made this weight class for me. They made this weight class because of me. I was the first light heavyweight champion. I was the longest-reigning light heavyweight champion until Jon Jones.”
Jon “Bones” Jones currently holds a 13 fight win streak including victories over a host of former UFC champions including Rampage Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Shogun Rua, Rashad Evans and Vitor Belfort. He has achieved eight successful title defences which is the most in light-heavyweight history but despite this Ortiz doesn’t see the 29-year old as a legend.
“He says he is the greatest, he was never the greatest,” (via Fight Hype). “He’s never done anything. He says he calls himself a legend. What kind of legendary stuff has he ever done? Nothing.
“PEOPLE CALL ME A LEGEND, I DON’T NEED TO CALL MYSELF A LEGEND BECAUSE I’VE DONE LEGENDARY STUFF IN MY CAREER. I’VE SET THE BAR. I SET THE STAGE FOR EVERY ONE OF THESE MMA GUYS – RONDA ROUSEY, CONOR MCGREGOR… MYSELF.”
It didn’t take long before the former light-heavyweight kingpin took to twitter to fire back and even went on to challenge “The Huntingdon Beach Bad Boy” to a jui-jistu match.
Jones is currently serving a one-year disciplinary suspension for which dates back to July however, did hint at a potential grappling match for Submission Underground; he currently holds a record of 1-0 under the FloGrappling banner after defeating Dan Henderson and will hope to add a victory over another legend to his resume.
