The religious beliefs of a UFC fighter often become a topic of discussion among fans for various reasons. As such, Jon Jones is not privy to such conversations among UFC fans, some of whom think that the current UFC heavyweight champion and arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time is a Muslim.
Jon Jones was born into a Christian family and is a devout Christian. Thanking the “Lord Jesus Christ” in his most recent post-fight Octagon interview following his win over Ciryl Gane for the Heavyweight title, Jon Jones is quite a religious man.
However, that doesn’t mean he avoids discussing other religions or is blind to different schools of thought.
Jon Jones once said he converted to Islam
The viral video doing the rounds on the Internet shows Jon Jones stating that he converted to Islam. However, to a lot of fans, the comment was just a harmless joke on growing his beard. In a clip shared by YouTube Channel “Islam Channel,” Jones says that to MMA journalist Ariel Helwani while answering the question about the “significance” behind his beard.
“Well, I converted; I am now Muslim,” He said and added, “No real reason. I wanted to grow it out, do a beard swag thing with some of my Twitter followers. When the fight got canceled, I thought, I am just going to keep it going, so it just got out of control.” Jones said.
That’s not all; the argument that Jon Jones could be a Muslim also took steam after he used an Arabic phrase during his post-fight Octagon interview following his knockout victory against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232.
“Oh man, Alhamdulillah. God is so good.” Jones said not long ago, back at UFC 232 in December 2018. This also led many to believe that Jones had indeed converted to Islam.
However, if you look at his most recent post-fight press conference, which came after his fight against Ciryl Gane, it doesn’t appear to be the case. Jones talked about his motivation and preached teachings of Christianity after the historic achievement.
“My motivation is to become the best man that I can be. Be a reflection of God’s love and his forgiveness. And ultimately, have fans around the world to see the Chirst that’s inside of me. None of us are perfect, and we all have ups and downs in life. And I genuinely believe that my imperfection makes me very relatable to a lot of people. One of my goals is for people to one day see if a person like Jon could love Jesus Christ, and a person like Jon could have a relationship like Jesus Christ, then maybe I can too.” He said.
A devout Christian, Jon Jones wishes to be a good representation of his religion. In the past, Jones has also praised Khabib Nurmagomedov for being a true example to all the Muslims in the world.
“We’ve had our differences in the past, I’ve made some quotes about him. But there’s never really been a real beef. I love the way he carries himself as a Muslim, I love the way he represents his country. I love the businessman that he is. He just seems like a stand-up guy, gives back to others. He’s a stand-up guy, an admirable man. I appreciate his existence.” Jones said in an interview with RMC Sport.
While it’s hard to determine Jones’ religious beliefs from the past videos, his most recent interactions with fans and media suggest he follows the Christian faith.