Mocking Khabib Nurmagomedov has been Jon Jones’ favourite pastime for as long as most of us can remember.

The American fighter throughout the years has taken plenty of digs at the Russian, mainly stemming from a lot of UFC fans calling the lightweight the GOAT of the company.

Khabib has never really claimed to be the greatest, or tried disputing Jones’ status as the statistical GOAT, so quite why the latter has such a problem with the former is still unknown.

Much like this video that he recorded for BT Sport, where he says: “15 title fights to your guy’s four; are you guys really talking about who is the best fighter ever?”

Since then, he has had another Instagram post - now deleted - that stated the same fact. He posted the famous Olympic podium meme that featured him at the very top with his 14 titles and Khabib at the bottom with four.

The caption, meanwhile, read: “Nothing wrong with going out on top, enjoy retirement champ.”

It was a salty-ish kind of post which could and should have been avoided, which is probably why he decided to delete it eventually, especially considering he posted it at the time of Khabib’s retirement.

Let’s be honest, Khabib is a proper modern-day giant. The fans rate him, as do most who have been associated with the sport. That doesn’t mean that Jones’ status is being questioned by anyone.

If he does, however, keep on gasconading something that he doesn’t have to, there will come a time where he would have cost himself his own respect. As one of the best, perhaps he could do with respecting and acknowledging his opponents’ achievements.