Jon Jones recalls seeing his "mother crying" over his bed after fighting a "white version" of him

Jon Jones' preparation for competition is what sets him apart from his counterparts. However, all of that changed, and he had to dig deep when he took on a former UFC rival.

Former 205-pound title challenger Alexander Gustafsson handed Jones one of the toughest tests of his career. Jones recalls the Swede as tall, skilled, confident, and having the same reach as him.

The hype around Gustafsson was growing fast, but Jones felt certain he would win. He trained hard, studied film, but also partied leading into the fight.

Once the fight started, nothing went as expected for Jones. Gustafsson’s jab to the body disrupted his rhythm. Gustafsson was fearless, constantly pressing forward, and Jones quickly realized this was not going to be a comfortable night. He had to dig deep, and the fight turned into a brutal test of grit and mettle.

Reflecting on the fight against Gustafsson in a recent episode of DeepCut with VicBlends, Jones said:

"I fought against Alexander Gustafsson the first time, and at the time, he was getting so much hype around him. I looked at Alexander as being, quite frankly, a white version of me. He was tall, he had swagger, great footwork,and great boxing. He had the same reach as me and everything, but I was like, he's not me."

He added:

"He was a lot more confident than I expected him to be. He was in my face, and he was a person who was expecting to win. I had to pull from something that I didn’t realize that I had... It was the first time that I [had] seen my mother crying over my bed backstage. They put me on morphine, and the morphine was making me shake profusely. My lips were swollen. I couldn’t talk, couldn’t eat, couldn’t use the bathroom on my own."

Check out Jon Jones' comments below (45:50):

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Jon Jones remains noncommittal towards next UFC fight

Jon Jones is keeping fans guessing about his fighting future. The reigning UFC heavyweight champion has yet to confirm whether he will step back into the octagon after defeating Stipe Miocic in November 2024.

In the aforementioned podcast episode, Jones spoke more about love, peace, and self-discovery than competition. While he hasn’t used the word “retirement,” his focus appears elsewhere

"I feel like I have a lot more options than a lot of the other fighters as far as the ability to leave and return and things like that. And so, right now I’m just focusing on love. Happiness, kindness. We’re in the quarter-century mark, this year should be a really special year, so this year I’m saying yes to more opportunities…I’m traveling more, I’m consciously being kinder to people, and that’s just the way of my mind right now is just love and kindness and peace and focusing on family and focusing on me, and my aura.”