UFC 152 Pre-Fight Media Conference Call (Audio)

Reigning UFC Light Heavyweight champion, Jon "Bones" Jones, and his challenger, Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort, answered on questions from the media in the official pre-fight conference call dedicated to the upcoming UFC 152 fight card in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Jones and Belfort headline the card, while Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson, who were also on the call, square-off in the co-main event attraction of the night.

On the call, Jon Jones spoke about his preparations for the fight, and the process of "getting" Vitor Belfort as an opponent. Jones and Dana White spoke about their mutual desire to get their friendship back on track, with UFC 152 weekend as the venue.

As for "The Phenom", once again mentioned that the opportunity to fight Jon Jones is a part of his "great journey" in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. Belfort declared he's not fighting for money, fame or position, but for his love to the sport.

Here are some highlights from the call, in text (via MMAmania.com):

Jon Jones

It is what it is. I’m in a spot, a position in my career where every word I say, people hang on it. It’s whatever. It’s flattering at times. At the end of the day, after the adversity, my only job is to stay focused on the goal. I’m focused on the goal.

Not really. I got to watch him fight live when he fought Anthony Johnson. I sat next to his dad. I tried to watch him fight in Brazil live. I remember Wanderlei Silva when he got that fast knockout, an iconic fight in our sport and I watched him fight Anderson Silva because we fought the same night that night. I respect him as a Christian.

I think it’s gonna be great. I think a lot of people are gonna get together and watch this fight. Vitor Belfort is respected among a lot of people. He’s very popular in Brazil. I’m sure people in Brazil are gonna tune in, they love him and Americans are gonna tune in. He’s got fans with the old school and new school and my name is moving around good and bad.

Vitor Belfort

Hello to everyone. It’s a journey for me. I have a culture. I have joy in in the journey. I’m 35 years old. I’ve been fighting for 17 years and I had great fights in my career. I fought guys like Chuck Liddell, had four weeks to prepare. I’m a type of old school guy. I trained two weeks in my camp, then I see the cancellation and I see the buzz on twitter, everyone sells the fight however they want. I felt sorry for the fans and I texted Dana and Lorenzo and said “guys if you need someone, I know his position.” He’s a guy that’s the next big thing, we come from different eras. As an old school guy, I said if you need me to go there, let’s do it. I have a different mentality than anybody else. I don’t fight for the fame and money and position, I fight for the pleasure. I enjoy it. There were times I had depression in the past. Now I’m just there having fun. For me, fighting Jon Jones, I never in my life thought I’d be at the high level I’m at. I’m like a young dinosaur. I thank God every day for still surfing that wave. People turn down fights, I cannot understand, I cannot see that. This is just another challenge.

I had a fight scheduled for Brazil and I’m my own manager.

I was lacking sparring partners and I want to train with the best guys. I had fought Anthony Johnson and was talking and they were nice guys. I went to check it out and came here and I loved it. I love training with amazing athletes. K-1 champions, MMA champions. They have the Brazilian culture here and I’m enjoying it. This team’s amazing. They have a lot of future champions here. I love it.