UFC: Three rounds with Jon Jones

Jon Jones is recognised as the No 1 pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world. Photo / Getty

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones (20-1) will defend his title against the undefeated Daniel Cormier (15-0) at UFC 182 in Las Vegas tomorrow. Jones, recognised as the No 1 pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world, recently sat down for three rounds of verbal sparring with Daniel Richardson.

DR: Jon, as the champion, you continually have to fight the best of the best in your division, how do you prepare to keep yourself at the top?

JJ: Every time you have a big fight you've got to find your motivation. You've got to remember why you do it, you've got to remember what means the most to you and that's just what I do every time. I just find a reason why I want to win and I stick to it. I remember my kids, I remember goals I set for myself. I remember some of the goals that I knew would never be easy, like being the greatest of all time; that's not an easy thing to try and be but that's what I want to be.

So when I get tired and sometimes you think to yourself: 'Is it worth it to continue to do it?', you've got to remember that it's going to be hard, it's not always going to fun. Sometimes it's going to feel like a job but you've got to get yourself up, blast it out and knock it out and not just for yourself but for the people who believe in you, like your family and stuff like that. So I always find motivation in the people around me.

DR: The only loss in your MMA career came when you were disqualified for the use of illegal elbows against Matt Hamill at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale in 2009, does having that one loss on your record bother you?

JJ: That one? No, man, being undefeated wouldn't change anything. I think being undefeated would probably just make everything harder for me. I'd probably put more pressure on myself, I would look at myself different. I know I'm not invincible, I get my butt kicked at practice all the time.

DR: When you walk out to defend your light heavyweight title you don't carry your belt with you, nor does anybody in your entourage, is there a reason for that?

JJ: When I fought Shogun Rua [for the title in 2011], his brother, Ninja Rua, brought the belt out to the cage and when I was in the cage and I saw Ninja holding the belt over Shogun I remember feeling this feeling in my heart that there was nothing that could happen in that octagon where I wouldn't leave without that belt.

It reminded me of why I was there, what I was there for ... I'm watching Shogun and I just see that belt and all my nervousness went away; everything went away. I was just like: 'Woah, the belt is right there; I can do this, it's so close, I'm fighting for the belt'. I just became superhuman after that and that's why Shogun lost, because of that belt; I got to see it right before the fight.

So I will never bring my belt to the cage because for the contender just to see that right before the match, it's like drinking a gallon of water before walking in to the desert.