TORONTO – UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was entirely serious when he recently stated his desire to leave the sport of MMA behind by 30 years old.

Jones (19-1 MMA, 13-1 UFC), 26, believes he will be able to accomplish all of his career goals within the next four years, at which point he will make his exit from active competition.

Some fighters try to stay active well past their primes, and after seeing the consequences for those before him, Jones believes it’s most important to retire with a full bill of health.

“I just want to leave the sport with a good head on my shoulders,” Jones told MMAjunkie. “I don’t want to be one of these guys that are taking fights way past their prime.”

The New York native has seen many of his athletic idols continue to compete past their primes for essentially no reason.

With all Jones has already accomplished in his short career, he will go down as one of the most successful fighters ever, regardless of how future bouts play out.

Jones is fully aware of that, and even if he’s still considered the world’s best fighter at 30, he believes continuing beyond that point would only tarnish his reputation.

“I want to leave my legacy in a healthy spot,” Jones said. “I want my legacy to be respected and I just want to leave on top.”

Critics of Jones’ initial statements believe he may be teasing retirement as a negotiation tactic to draw a more lucrative contract from his employers going forward.

The 205-pound champ adamantly denies those claims, saying financials have no barring on the situation.

“No. No I didn’t say that for more money,” Jones said. “Right now, where I’m at financially, I never thought I would be, so I could honestly retire today .”

As the UFC becomes increasingly more popular around the globe, Jones’ star grows brighter and brighter with each passing day.

He has already managed to draw crossover sponsorships into the MMA world from companies such as Nike and Gatorade, and has previously voiced goals that expand beyond the MMA sphere such as modeling and acting.

Those opportunities are ones Jones has created for himself though his efforts in the octagon, and when he walks away from the sport, he’d like to reap the benefits of that work.

“I’ve had a lot of doors be opened through MMA and I just feel like there’s a lot of other business out there,” Jones said. “There’s a lot of other business out there.”

Jones made his UFC debut in 2008, which means by 30 he would have spent nearly nine years of his life fighting the world’s best talent under the UFC banner.

That is nearly one-third of his life in one of the most physically taxing sports, so when the time comes to hang up the gloves, the youngest fighter to ever claim a UFC title believes he’ll deserve to go out on his own terms.

“I feel like its been fun. I’ve got a little bit more to prove, but I’ve also proven a lot already and there’s no need to do it after 30,” Jones said. “I think I’m a smart enough guy to be able to do a lot of other things.”

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