Meh. Fedor had more fights and wins in 10 years than Jones has his entire career. Both with only 1 dubious loss.
Fedor did it against the same number of legends, all times greats, top 10 opponents and champions and did it all while being the smaller fighter, whiles Jones has had the size and reach advantage every time.
Had fedor retired at 33 fights Jones would barely be entering the GOAT convo now, kinda
Nah, he isn't. Fedor had a legitimate loss from TKO... Fedor had pretty much the same record Jon Jones has now, except Fedor had one loss. He had 1 win more than JJ, but one loss, which JJ lacks. When he lost to Werdum, even if his career ended there, it'd be still two losses. But the many losses after kinda stained it a little. Like, he lost twice later on to Ryan Badder, the first opponent in the UFC JJ had faced who was both a young up and comer like JJ back then and also undefeated, like 11-0 or so. JJ decimating him earned him the title shot vs Shogun. The fact that JJ went on to face different kind of monsters and the prospect up comer Ryan Badder did good but not that much, still ending up with 2 wins over Fedor... Kinda hard to put Fedor above imo.
Even more so because JJ faced generations of fighters. High level UFC fighters, with an advanced training, understanding of modern mma, and an increasing level of competition, who was constantly studying Jon Jones, with generally way better methods of breaking down one's style with advancing coaching methods, technology, data analyses being used with a storm camping... The fact that JJ appeared like a monster dominating the reigning era where Lyoto, Rampage Jackson, Shogun, etc. seemed like the best of the best was just... Like, "can this kid be beaten?" ... He then went into a new era with different kind of monsters, like Gustafson, DC (Gus was same age as JJ and DC got into mma later, so he is still of a newer era than JJ) and he prevailed in each of these ones, even if it meant almost losing an eye vs Gus or going through extremes vs DC, he kept it.
Then to to on a new era and defeat them all too — Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos, Reyes... All of them who were obsessing with JJ, breaking down his style, having their peak cycle to fight him, burning it all on him, they still couldn't defeat him. And ppl say Lionheart was just a mismatch, but months after Anthony Smith lost to JJ, he faced Gustafson, whose last fight was also JJ and he finished Gustafson in round 3... Which means he didn't suck, he was just part of a new era that was at his peak in those fights, was younger, and studied a lot those then dominant styles, like Gus, JJ... But JJ over prepared for Anthony Smith, so he froze him.
Thiago was also on an amazing streak, he had defeated Smith after beating Gustafson, he then KO'd Jan Blacowicz at the third round and fought JJ in his best... JJ won, tougher than most thought, but that's the new era... And after that, Thiago wasn't the same... His knee got fucked and he had neurological problems as in, he couldn't fight without doing a lot of involuntary movements, almost if he were shaking, but his muscles would be kinda moving without control. Reyes was unbeaten by then, and Reyes said even after his last 3 wins streak, that the peak of his performance was JJ... But ppl don't talk about the fact Reyes was unbeaten, had faced high tier opponents mostly and was obsessed with Jon Jones ever since the JJ vs DC fight. He said he since then would watch all of JJ fights. Would also analyse them as in depth, picking with his coaches all they could on how he reacts to certain attacks,etc..
... And Reyes was also obsessed psychologically with JJ. He said he followed JJ all the way... That he watched all interviews of him, that he would take notes of info on what JJ said about his parents, he said he'd look at JJ's kids, his wife, he'd try to know what he takes as supplements for certain fights... And even searched and read the books JJ mentioned in interviews to try to "understand" JJ psychologically... The fact he lost to JJ, and he knows he lost but denied it a long time, broke him. Now after his last fight, Reyes said one thing that helped him was embracing that loss, was seeing that it wasn't what he thought, instead it was a close fight which JJ managed to outdo him. And he said he just embraced the fact he gave JJ one of his toughest challenges and was like, "be the Reyes of that night", which to him helped even more in his last performance flash KO...
