Mason Jones is a Welsh mixed martial arts fighter who is recently captured the Warriors Welterweight Championship. He became only the third fighter to simultaneously hold two titles for the organization after previously winning the Cage Warriors Lightweight Championship.
Transcrip
Mason Jones: So i am back now for episode. Number 100. I’Ve taken quite some time off. I know i know it’s been a. I don’t know it’s been a long journey. I mean it feels like yesterday. I just got started with this whole thing kind of overwhelmed with how much love this has actually gotten. You know i just did it for fun: it ended up taking off, and i’ve never actually taken the time to thank everybody. Who’S who’s watched it like commented and subscribed. I’Ve never even asked up until now, so appreciate all the love and support. That being said, i took some time off. I wanted to make some some changes here, so i wanted to make it feel more like a podcast. Rather than just having you know, the the skype dividing the screen, so i added a few things here. You know got some themes: uh going uh, you know a logo up in the top, some overlays and obviously some banners like this down below. That being said, i wanted to go big with episode number 100.. I wanted to go for someone who’s kind of achieving greatness, but one of the greatest things i like is to bring in up and coming prospects guys who can eventually make it into the ufc and eventually make it become champion. That being said, i’m very very happy to announce that i have mason jones on for the 100th episode for those of you who haven’t seen. He had a very, very successful uh fight a couple weeks ago becoming champ champ and cage warriors doing something that very few people have ever done, and we are going to talk about that without further ado. I’M going to bring them in hey thanks for watching so uh, so man. I appreciate you taking the time to uh to jump on here. I’Ve made some changes to the the podcast setup before it was just like the the split screen on skype. So i took some time off to make some changes and you’re the first one to come on and and kind of have an interview this way. So i’m happy you came on. I wanted to go big for episode. Number 100, as you can see, episode 100, yeah and uh. I figured what better way to do it than uh to have a champ champ come on and do it man. So how does it feel champ champ? That’S got ta feel great mate. It does feel good. To be honest, if you told me this was episode 100. I wouldn’t stop my head. I mean, like that’s a big thing, so thank you so much for giving me the honor allowing me to be on for this episode. It really does mean a lot and um. I was just sat in the back room then, when you were obviously moving to the back room – and i was like oh episode – 100, so um. Thank you. So much have me on, but yeah so champ jam feels unbelievable for the the first height. I won the lightweight title um that not that it didn’t mean a lot to me, but for me winning that first lightweight title was inevitable. Like sorry, it was something that i planned on the route app and i’ve been on my vision board for ages um. Since i made my debut i knew apart, my steps was going to win the lightweight title. I was going to defend and then i was going to move into the uh into you in the ufc like that was always my goal, then i was going to start chipping away at ufc. I was going to earn my way up to that lightweight title. I was going to win that in the ufc lightweight title and then obviously i was going to fight the best in the world and and i was going to roll the roost um so to win that lightweight title was was just sort of it was enabled for Me it was part of what i wanted to do. It was what i’d always set out to do so if it felt good, but it was just sort of like yeah i’ve done that perfect. They start chipping away and then um the opportunity come out for me to fight for the wild weight. Title um, adam proctor, was meant to fight reese mcgee. Obviously, rhys mcgee fought against hazmat on six days notice. Um, obviously didn’t go well for rhys, but um. He went in in a he got signed and he’s obviously looking to the fight again soon um, so that left a bit of a void um with the whole covet situation. I i personally couldn’t see who cage warriors was going to match me with. There was no one really in the lightweight division that was really pushing his number one contender. They were struggling to bring international fighters in because of the coveted lockdowns introduced in the end of the uk, so it was a bit of a difficult situation, so i was like wait. I was like this is looking good, so um. I rang my manager and said: look um, adam proctor’s out of his title, fight against reece mcgee. I i want to fight for the title. Um the wild way title and he was like he was like you, don’t think small he’s like look i’ll, have to think i’ll get back to you. He said he said i’ll see what they think. So when i text the matchmaker as well, it’s exactly the same thing just make sure you put it in and he gave me the whole look you’re a lightweight fighter um. I don’t think it’s a good idea to move up the welter and i literally just texted back and said um i was like, can you just put it towards it? I said it. I told my name in the heart: i’m really interested, let me know, and then they come back to ring me and said, look we’ll give you the fight, um and then obviously just went from there. So i went in into the fight as a lightweight um like i did, the normal cut i do for lightweight. I did the workload i didn’t need to the watercolor. I think the night before i ended up going to about six uh 76.8 um, so i managed to drink gap. I drunk up to 7.5 went asleep woke up under again. I had my first recovery shake about nine o’clock we weighed in at 12., so it was an easy way in this time and then um. Obviously he was slightly bigger than me. Um he’s six three, i believe and um by the time we fought. I think the heaviest i went up to i couldn’t get over 80 kilos like normally when i cut the lightweight i go to about 88 81 um, but for some reason for this one for this worldwide contest, i struggled to get my weight over 80k um and I fully expect him to go in there at um at about 88 um, 90 kilos so i’ll see because i’m a brit, i go in kilos. So um i don’t know exactly what a flat is um i put on 3k 2.2 times three. So that’s what six point six pound which he probably put on uh god was eight to ten kilos in pounds: um twenty twenty, two or 18 to 20 pound yeah you’re about an average size, i’d, say an average size lightweight and the fact that you’re moving up Facing a guy who’s, you know when he’s not weighing in yeah could be significantly bigger. I mean, did you what sorts of uh things did you consider taking this fight? I mean you’re 9-0 you’re knocking on the door of the ufc you’re, taking a huge risk here. I mean the only two people who ever done this before you are dan hardy and conor mcgregor. So yeah, it’s amazing for your legacy. But if you lose it, you lose a lot of momentum. You lose a lot of steam and you potentially lose that chance to make it to the ufc. So how? How long did you you know deliberate on whether or not this would be the right move? Uh whole all of five minutes, so i already watched that and proctor’s um stuff. I knew i was better than i had adam um and the way i put it because i had to present so the deal i’ve got my coaching team. It’S a it’s a weird situation, so um whenever they’ll give me fights and stuff they’ll, always ask me what i think and i always say yes to every fight. I’Ve never turned a fight down, and i know you get out a lot, but i’m i’m interested to fight everyone um they after so they deliberate. They look at the fights and they’ll. Give me a yes no answer so the way i talked him into it was like look. I want to go to the ufc um look at james vick. He said james vic is exactly the same statue as um adam proctor. He might just make lightweight he’s gon na be exactly the same thing like if i’m, if i can beat adam proctor, i show i can contain with a proper with a proper lightweight like i can pretend with the strongest there is. I can sort of contain with all these guys um and they were like they were like look we’ll, take a look, get back to you and when they look, they said, look you’re better than me everywhere. Um he’s going to be bigger than you he’s going to be stronger, so it’s up to you and i said um i said: look i’ll smash him in two rounds. Easy as i said so. We had this game plan set in place and um. We had a game plan set in place. We we sort of did a lot of work. We broke him down, we had situations for if he come out or stalks, we had situations where he came out, southport and to be fair. If he come out with the most comfortable for me, like um, i do a lot of box inspiring with them. Jamie cox, uh, jamie cox is 25 and two he lost the george groves for the the world title um on a high. I was literally, i was like look, i’m not going to get better sparring, like he’s he’s a big big, powerful hitter, and so if he comes out, southport i’ll i’ll actually destroy our adam and um. It went exactly like we planned like to be fair. My last my well, my two title fights have got exactly like. We gave planned to um the last one went better than a game plan because i expected to have to hit him with four shots and the fifth to knock him out, whereas i hit him with two shots and big left talked to him to sleep well. To put him down, and then i sort of kept hiding on him and finish him off. I didn’t quite put him to sleep, need to build our life talk. I think what i love about. I mean i’ve been watching your career for a little while now and it just seemed like the harder the competition on paper, the better you perform. What is that? Why is that? Do you just feel like your your class better than these guys, regardless? Why is it that the better the opposition, the better you look um? It’S not even even now, like i’ve, been doing elite sports since i was 14 and like the the more dangerous. These guys are. The more alert i have to be so, like donald desmond, i would say, is probably the toughest competition i’ve fought um. I don’t know whether him or um adam proctor, up up there but um the des may fight. He was the cleanest i’ve done because, no matter where i went he was dangerous. He was very, very strong. He had dangerous power in his hands um and he was quite smart, so i stayed clean, i stayed and let the goal – and i stayed professional – i just literally just picked him up and i just run. I dropped him three or four times in that fight and i just stayed really clean and i didn’t take a single big shot and then i come out out there with a three-five massacre, a three-round massacre for a decision but like when, when i get in the Ufc, because it is only a matter of time until i get in ufc you’re really gon na see like the the higher level opposition you match against me, the better version of me you see because i understand how to beat good people and when i fight people Who i don’t rate this highly? I make more mistakes because i just i enjoy myself too much i get in there. I try stupid stuff. I experiment with things like i, i sort of take a few uh a few shots and like some of the guys i thought coming through my career. I’Ve done so with injuries. Um i’ve got this thing against pulling out in in injured. I think if you, if you sort of you, you sign for a fight, you should follow that fight through and like injuries are just something you have to deal with. So, like um, i took um two fights early on in my career with a broken hand, um that didn’t really slow me down um i run to all those guys. I think the only person who’s who i’ve lost around to was one one. Uh one judge gave donald desmond one round all the last time. I’Ve won every single round, um, even the one, obviously even the ones i stopped eventually so um. Just looking up at my last six fights my last six fights if you took their records before i went in in there, there was 59 17 on one uh. I didn’t know i did they, they sort of dropped. That quote, that run fact on me and i’ve liked it ever since, like that just shows like i want to fight the best people like. I don’t want to go into into the ufc whenever that comes and fight someone who’s and two or six and three or ten and four. I want to be fighting these boys, who are on 18 19 fight win streaks. Those are the ones i want to fight. It’S it’s funny. You mentioned how dominant you are. I mean the comparisons to guys like connor to dan hardy. To michael bisping, i mean the road you’re taking is very similar, similar to theirs you’re dominating everybody. However, when they came in, they did have some hurdles with the exception of connor, i mean how do you get over these comparisons and at the same time, is there one of these guys or maybe all of these guys that you kind of model your career after And you kind of want to you learned a little bit of each from uh from each of those guys. So three questions. You give me that sorry about that man so uh, no, it’s cool! So um the hurdles! Question um! I fully expect to hit um these problems like i, i wan na hit these problems, like i wan na, be literally taken to the point where i struggle to win these fights. I only challenge that extent because the best way to improve and the fastest way to figure out what you need to improve on and to find these gaps and the the quickest way to wait to improve yourself as a fighter and become a dangerous dangerous guy is To be pushed and to be pressured and to find these people who literally pressure the most, so i won’t be fighting these boys that make me struggle um, i don’t. I don’t model my career on anyone. Obviously they do they’ve done things. I’D like to do. Um. Obviously, mike bispin the way he won his title, it was insane obviously conor mcgregor’s the money fights and the way he’s built it build his his way up is, is something very very well done. I think no one will ever do it again, but yeah. I am. I never we have to say in here where um we don’t idolize, we just pick um, we just find targets and we just we sort of we break fighters down. So like um like in boxing, i love vacilla style um, but we we don’t idolize. We figure out, why he’s as well and we imitate or we we sort of uh? What’S what’s the word um, we take it apart um and i can’t remember the third question you asked. I guess like how do you i mean you kind of answered it. How do you avoid those comparisons? I mean, and you said it i mean you, the goal isn’t to be compared to them it’s to kind of make your own road learn from those pick things apart, but but grow from from their experiences. I guess sorry being generally sort of compared to these is always gon na, be a good thing like if i ever get compared to george to um mike bispin. I hope they say that my pound off of my back is as good as mike bisman’s, because i think he had the best ground and pound off his back in anywhere in the ufc conor mcgregor. The way he strikes like hate him. I love him because i know a lot of my coaches hate him and the way he he finds these angles. The way he hits people is just perfect like it takes a very, very good fire to do what he does he’s done to the people he’s done. It to like um, jose aldo justin pouring max holloway, like all these guys, um nate diaz, i’m sure he’s nate on nick his nate was his name yeah um. I always get confused with the two of them. But yeah do you mean like the way? The way he’s done this to these people is just it is special and it i understand why he’s made the way he has, but i’m here to be to sort of write my own legacy and i’m here to sort of tear my own way through and um. You are gon na. You are gon na see a different sort of a different generation. I mean you are gon na, see a different legacy being built and i’m excited to go out there and just put on a show for people. So after your last fight you, you made a huge statement. You you asked dana white sean. Shelby, listen, hey look! I just proved my shot. I i deserve it. I deserve it. That being said, how ready are you i mean? Do you have any injuries if you were to get a call for fight island? Are you good to go? I started camp on the monday after the fight, so i had sunday off after the fight and i was back in campbell monday, so my weight’s good um. I just been sparring today i spa monday uh, it’s bad sunday before that i got sparring sunday um, i’m training three friends a day. My runs are good, um, everything’s, good, everything’s, really good um. I feel good. I just it’s just staying ready, that’s the thing and, like i i love this like this is my life. This is my dream. I’M living i’m literally living the perfect lifestyle. Like someone asked me a question the other day and said, if you had unlimited amounts of money, what would you do, and my answer was i’d – do everything the same just in better clothes in a better car and my coaches would be comfier? That would that’d be it like. I like everything, the way it is, i eat. Well um. I have good training partners um. Obviously it could always be better. There’S always people i could fly in, but um. It’S just part of the way. It is like i’d love to get back out in california um. I love sacramento. I i love obviously, training team alpha male. I love the whole lifestyle. It’S really relaxed really chilled out and um there’s nothing to do with sacramento, which is what i love, because, when you’re in camp it’s just train sleep and train. So it’s one of my favorite places and um. I i can’t wait to go back. You mentioned team alpha male and uh, there’s a there’s, another welsh fighter who who trains there she’s fighting out of there, but i want to ask what is it with this? Like surge of welsh talent, i mean it just seemed to come out of nowhere. I mean for a long time, will’s mma just seemed to be like not not really there and now you’ve got corey mckenna. Um, you jack, marshman, there’s this crazy influx. What is the reason for that? Sorry? I really do apologize for that. My phone just rang, so i don’t know who’s writing me. I just didn’t really find it quickly. Um, so corey mckenna lives actually 10 minutes away from me and she well. She lived in cumbria, um she’s out in california full-time now, um jack shaw. His gym is actually a 15-minute drive, jack marshman. I’Ve literally just been training in jack, marshman’s hometown brett jones lives an hour away, but um. He literally um. He trains in jack’s, gym as well, which is literally out of the road and, like whale’s, been all what time it was the fine irish and they got their time and um we’ve always been a nation of fires like we are. We are an unconquerable people, um we’ve always been sort of a tough tough people and, like i grew up fighting and whether it was fighting gyms, whether it’s fighting um like or people outside, like we’re fighting we’re fighting nation. Do you mean and um? That’S not a bragging like i’m, not gon na turn around and try telling you wow, and this or nah or like people, try and style themselves as gangsters or whatever they do like. I’M just a a lad from uh the amount, a small amount in town who just loves a good punch-up, and i love breaking people down. I love breaking styles down and i love out thinking people like for me being in in there being able to outwit my opponent and out think their style is the greatest thing in the world, and i just can’t wait to get on that big stage and start Doing it to the best fighters in the world yeah it’s funny, because when i think of like welsh sports uh, you know obviously my mind goes to guys like gareth bale and in football and then rugby and or cricket rugby, usually mma isn’t the first thing. First thing: in my mind, that being said, how did you said you fought on the streets and all that stuff, but how did someone who’s kind of in in a country where these other sports tend to be the the main focus? How did you end up finding the sport so first thing um give us five years, and i think you will start to think of wales for mma um, where we’re really ready to explode now the amount of guys coming through you’re really going to be standing without The good fighters coming through um, but how i found it so uh when i was seven, my dad had tried me in football and rugby, and i was just i was only a young kid i just wanted to scrap so um he took me to, i think, Was younger than actually, i think, just just before myself, he took me to one a small grappling hole that um did just literally, he was just people trying to start trying to learn how to fight and um. They told me to come back when i was an adult so um. He took me to a kickboxing gym that kickboxing gym. I trained that um had jack marshman there, richard shaw, jack, shaw’s, dad jack shaw, um uh. It had some other local fighters. It had um joseph duffy, i’ve seen joseph duffy’s, just retired. He was um, obviously um, one of the last people he beat mcgregor back in the day in cage warriors before run coming into ufc in his own right, um, like it had very, very high level people and all of us were pushing hard um. I ended up going into judo, i’m the very, very good jude career in judo um. I won national championships um i meddled uh in european competitions. I was in team gb. I was in the welsh team um. I pushed it at a high level. I competed all over europe, then um. I i went into i started boxing started with thai boxing. I got a bj black belt, i pro box for three years after two years. Um i’ve won three fights. I know it doesn’t sound like much in two years, but i had i had six cancelled fights so um. I was very active. They just couldn’t find me opponents, so um like i’ve done my ground works. I’Ve been training for 18 years. Um. I’Ve got three black belts, one in judo, one in bjj, went in kickboxing, i’m a very good boxer um my knees. My thai game is quite strong. I work. I’Ve worked at a taekwondo player for a taekwondo coach for seven or eight years, um like i’m, i’m perfecting my game and i’m not just a striker, i’m a wrestler, i’m a jiu-jitsu fighter, i’m good at everywhere and i’m dangerous everywhere. So it doesn’t matter where they go i’ll, just finish it. I think that’s what’s really so exciting about about this new wave of mma. I mean when i got into it: i’m i’m still young too, i’m young, but when i started watching it was like these specialists and now it’s really coming from circle and people are learning it at such a young age, and it makes it way more dangerous for When guys like you make it to the ufc, i mean, if you’re, to fight these guys, who have only specialized in one discipline. You know it’s uh, it’s a lot of years. That being said um, i kind of built this platform on making match-ups. If, right now, you could say you know what before my career is over, there is one person who i’d like to test justin gate there. It is just engaging, i love it beautiful violence, i i i i i won that that he mean like um. He literally comes the same mentality of it. Doesn’T matter whether you win, it doesn’t matter whether you lose and that’s from an undefeated fighter. I genuinely don’t care to lose like i go in in there with the mindset of i prepared the best extent of my ability. I’M gon na go in there and do whatever i can to beat you and i’m gon na. Thank you and if, if you beat me, then you’re gon na beat me because the batman one i’m not gon na make any excuses, be like. Oh my weight cat or i had this injury or that i’m gon na come out there and you’re gon na be, and if, if from when, i lose, i’m just gon na turn around and be like look. You beat me today: um i’ll, come i’ll i’ll, be i’ll, beat you next time sort of thing, but uh i’ll go back to the gym and i’ll work on what i’ve done wrong. But i’m gon na tell you now: you’re gon na have to knock me out or you’re gon na have to snap something to get me to finish your name, because i i am not gon na stop that’s the way i go. I’M i’m not gon na tap. Unless you put me to sleep and i’m i’m going to keep coming out at you, so that’s just the way it’s going to be and i’m going to go out there and always put on on the line. I’M always i’m always, and i i always have given exciting fights. So if, if you’re going to do anything, then tune in my next fight, um fingers crossed it’s going to be on ufc, i’m still waiting for my um, my sign up, but it is it’s not long. I think it’s just got lost in a post at the moment, but then, as soon as this, as soon as it’s done as soon as i’m i mean um, you’ll you’ll see someone special coming through and um, i’m just i’m just gon na go out out there To smash eve, everyone – and i wan na i wan na start taking through that top twenty rankings, that style as well bosses fans, love and it’s also what dana white and the ufc are looking for. So i like, like i said, i think it’s really only a matter of time. If it’s not coming already it will. I mean the double chance status is uh. You know it’s really special, especially today. There’S not many people who can say they’ve done that even outside the ufc there’s only been three in uh in cage warriors to do it. You mentioned justin gaichi. I can’t i can’t let you go without asking the fight’s next weekend. Who do you have kaveeb nurmagomedov? I think it’s 28, no against justin gates, like you said, is probably one of the most exciting fighters to ever understand through the ufc. So my head says habib uh, my heart says: gaichi, like i’d love to see um win that fight just because the uh, the way it spiced the division up but um habib is a expert at his own. At his own game plan. He he literally makes good fighters look bad because he drags him into his game. So to beat him you have to make him uncomfortable. You have to. You have to sort of drive him into deep borders and you have to make him suffer for every round and you have to hurt him and it’s very hard to do um. So the best um analysis we’ve done on it is you have to drown a shark um. So it’s not easy he’s easy. Do you mean so um i’d love to see he beat him, but i am. I could see um happy winning again. I think it’ll be a decision, but um it’s a fight, i’m very, very looking forward to watching. This is what i like about. Ufc there’s, never um, they don’t do the whole guaranteed win thing anymore. Like um, you see a lot of organizations and they mismatch a lot um ufc don’t do that. It is just whoever wants to fight fights. It’S easy as that, like um, they don’t sort of hide people if someone’s willing to sign a piece of paper to say that they’re willing to put on on the line they’ll. Let those guys fight – and i i love that um like the arasania fight um against costume acosta, that was a brilliant fight and then when they showed everyone he’s beaten in the top in the top 10 or the top 20. It is insane like i think, there’s like something like in the top 20 there’s like six or seven fights, yet he hasn’t actually fight fighters. He hasn’t actually beat yet so um ufc again it’s it’s just the greatest organization in the world at the moment, and i can’t see it being anything different i’ll. Ask you one last question and i’ll: let you go so if dana white mick maynard and sean shelby were listening to this right now which they aren’t, but if they were, what would the message be uh, if you don’t know who i am you’ll know who i Am soon enough, and i look forward to working with you thanks man, i appreciate you taking the time, i’m glad to have you on episode. 100. I’Ve been a fan for a while and as soon as you got that second belt i was like, if i can get them on, i got to get them on because i expect greatness. I know great things are coming your way, so i i really appreciate it and uh. Hopefully, hopefully we’ll see you out there soon in the ufc. I i’m sure it won’t be long. Thank you so much for having me on, and i hope you have a great day, all right man, all the best stay safe. Thank you bye. All right. There you have it episode. 100. Just concluded. We had mason jones come on um, highly highly recommend watching his fights. If you haven’t he’s very, very dangerous, expect great things from him. We can see him in the ufc soon. That being said, i usually don’t do this. I haven’t done it up until now, but i’m asking, can you please like comment and subscribe? It means a lot it’ll go a long way. Obviously i’m funding a lot of this by myself, but i can do it without your support. So that being said, thank you guys again for episode, 100 and uh. We’Ll see you guys soon.
