Jon Jones Glad 'Scariest Dude Around' Anthony Johnson Retired

Jon Jones returns this Saturday night at UFC 235 to defend his UFC light heavyweight belt against the surging Anthony Smith, but found the time to make some good-humored observations about a former contender's cannabis ventures and enormous physique.

As in most of his fights, Jones heads into his bout against Smith as the heavy favorite, but is wary of the danger Smith can present given he’s finished his last three opponents in Volkan Oezdemir, Mauricio Rua and Rashad Evans.

Jones visited the UFC Performance Institute in the lead up to his fight with Smith and ran into legendary striking coach Henri Hooft and former opponent and UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans. Hooft has trained some elite strikers down in Florida in his time including knockout artist Anthony Johnson. Jones and Evans reflected on "Rumble" and the power he possessed during his time in the promotion (transcribed by BJPenn.com):

“Thank god that boy retired, I don’t know what got into him…” Jones said on Anatomy of a Fighter. “That weed must have been good! That made no sense, he was right there as the scariest dude around. He ain’t never getting down to light heavyweight again, thank god.”

“Rumble” has said in the past he would be open to a return to MMA although he only wants to fight Jones and at heavyweight. The pair were originally scheduled to meet at UFC 187 where Jones was to defend his title against ‘Rumble’ but it never happened, as Jones was stripped of his title after his hit-and-run incident involving a pregnant woman.