Training with UFC Heavyweight King Jon Jones Has Maurice Greene Feeling Ready for Anything
Maurice Greene feels inspired by training daily with Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight king Jon Jones, whom Greene considers to be the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.
Greene (11-7, 1-1 PFL) will look to consolidate his position in the Professional Fighters League heavyweight playoff standings and make a statement with a victory over 2022 heavyweight titleholder Ante Delija on June 16 in Atlanta. "The Crochet Boss” made his promotional last year when he dropped a unanimous decision to Denis Goltsov. This year, Greene scored a second-round technical-knockout victory when he smashed Marcelo Nunes in his first seasonal assignment. Greene attributes his improved performance to his training with current Jones and the inspiration he draws from watching the mentality and work ethic of “Bones.” While talking with Sherdog, Greene emphasizes the importance of outworking his opponents. He mentions that family is the main motivation for continuing his MMA career and expresses a desire to become a world champion.
“Jon went into a fight camp, and I, for lack of better words, did most of the sessions with him. Most of the sessions, I was at almost all of the sessions, and I don't miss practice. Just watching his mentality change and hearing him talk about it and hearing him talk about how he goes through his process and being able to be a part of seeing how a champion. The best, the f-cking Floyd Mayweather of what we do, the Muhammad Ali, the greatest of all time, if it doesn't inspire you in some sort of way or it doesn't light a little bit of a fire under your ass, to be better the next year, then maybe you shouldn't be doing this. You're almost 37, maybe it's time to hang it up. My body reacted totally different and I feel amazing. I'll be 37 this year; I feel amazing.”
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro(00:36) Feeling excellent ahead of his fight
(01:22) Training with Jones
(04:31) Being prepared for anything
(09:30) Hoping for a rematch with Goltsov
(12:24) Outro