UFC 214’s Jon Jones says Conor McGregor has been a ‘tremendous inspiration’ to him

Prior to Conor McGregor taking over the mixed martial arts (MMA) world, Jon Jones was the youngest, brightest star in the game, and one of its biggest box office draws, too.

But, after several in and out of the cage incidents sidelined “Bones,” McGregor took the reins of the sport of MMA and dominated it with relative ease, allowing him to pave the way for a multi-million dollar boxing match against Floyd Mayweather, which is set to go down on Aug. 26, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For Jones, he wasn’t envious of having to sit and watch “Notorious” do his thing while laughing his way to the bank. On the contrary, “Bones” drew inspiration from the fiery Irishman.

“A guy like Conor McGregor, he has been a tremendous inspiration to me,” Jones said during the post-fight presser. “He has shown me, who has been at the upper echelon of this sport for many years now, he has shown me that these huge paydays are possible. I never thought in my time as champion, fighter, that we would be able to see fighters making $70 million, $100 million or whatever he’s making for this Mayweather fight,” said Jones, who defeated Daniel Cormier via knockout at last night’s (Sat., July 29, 2017) UFC 214 event.

Now that McGregor laid the blue print on how to get the most buck(s) for your bang, Jones hopes to cash in on his own multi-million dollar paydays, starting with a potential fight against Brock Lesnar.

“It’s an inspiration that you can do it. It’s like, the first guy to go to the moon, now everyone wants to go to the moon. Or run the five minute mile, now they see it’s possible. I see it as possible, and that’s what McGregor has done for me,” he said.

“So yeah, facing a guy like Lesnar, getting the world excited about an MMA fight and ultimately making some of those “M’s.” That’s what were here for, right? I find inspiration in all of these guys, Demetrious has been an inspiration, and my sister Holly Holm has been an inspiration,” concluded Jones.