Conor McGregor earns Jon Jones' respect despite Instagram jab

Jon Jones rarely allows what he perceives to be a jab at him slip by without a response. Prior to UFC 196, Conor McGregor was asked by “UFC Tonight” whether he thought Jones was the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

"He's not," McGregor responded. "I'm No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and maybe Jon and 'Mighty Mouse' [Demetrious Johnson] is 10. That's what I feel."

McGregor also suggested that Jones has “threw cards down in the water” by pulling out, speaking specifically toward the cancelation of UFC 151 when Dan Henderson was injured and Jones was unwilling to face late replacement Chael Sonnen.

But after UFC 196, when McGregor was submitted in the second round by late replacement Nate Diaz, Jones had an opportunity to respond to McGregor’s pound-for-pound analysis.

“So much for being 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9,” Jones posted on Instagram with a photo of himself and Demetrious Johnson holding up the numbers 1 and 2, respectively. The photo was posted while cageside at the event and shortly after McGregor lost.

But Jones doubled back on the diss and paid his respect to McGregor in a later post.

“I wanted to take a quick second to shout out Conor McGregor for the way he handled defeat last night,” Jones said in a video posted Sunday evening. “He really handled it like a champion. He took a gamble fighting anyone, anywhere — a gamble he lost. But in a way he won because he really got to show some great character there.”

Jones will make his return to the Octagon on April 23 and look to prove his pound-for-pound dominance and reclaim the light heavyweight title that he was stripped of last year when he faces Daniel Cormier at UFC 197.