“Just don’t choke me out,” NBA winner Jamal Murray nervously chuckles with Jon Jones after beating UFC legend to ‘Comeback Player’ award

NBA star Jamal Murray acknowledged Jon Jones' accomplishments in the Octagon at the ESPY awards 2023.

“Just don’t choke me out,” NBA winner Jamal Murray nervously chuckles with Jon Jones after beating UFC legend to ‘Comeback Player’ award

Jon Jones and Jamal Murray (image credits: kitchenretoday/clutchtown.com)

The Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly (ESPY) is an award ceremony conducted by ESPN in collaboration with the ABC Network. This year’s ‘Comeback Athlete’ award went to Jamal Murray, who immediately addressed Jon Jones, who was in attendance.

The “Blue Arrow” was declared the best sports player by ESPY to make a comeback this year. In his thank you speech, Jamal Murray mentioned his respect for fellow sportsmen, including UFC legend Jon Jones. Murray stated, “We can share this award, just don’t choke me out.” The NBA star also mentioned that he was present for the fight where Jon Jones won the UFC heavyweight title earlier this year.

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Jon Jones had been out of action for a long time recently due to personal issues, and his win against Ciryl Gane was a very reassuring return by the pound-for-pound king of the UFC. But it does make sense that Jones did not win the award against someone like Jamal Murray. The NBA player had played a crucial role in leading his team, Denver Nuggets, to their first-ever NBA championship win.

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Jamal Murray’s performance this year has resulted in him breaking NBA records to accompany legends like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and LeBron James in certain aspects of the game.

Related: “Don’t let this man near his wife” – Fans in fear as Jon Jones filmed downing drinks for the first time since terrible domestic violence case

Jon Jones winning ESPY’s Fighter of the Year award for 2023 – deserving or not?

Jon Jones
Jon Jones (image credits: younghollywood.com)

The ESPY Awards seemed to shock fans with the declaration of the Nominees and the Winner for the ‘Fighter of the Year’ category. Since fighters like Islam Makhachev and Amanda Nunes performed exceptionally well this year, it does seem unreasonable for Jones to win. Makhachev defeated two of the best fighters in the world today, Alexander Volkanovski and Charles Oliveira. The fights established Makhachev as King of the Lightweight division.

Amanda Nunes, another legend in the world of MMA and especially for women’s combat sports, completed her revenge against Julianna Pena to retain her Bantamweight title. She even made light work of her next opponent before retiring with an outstanding legacy in the octagon. In contrast, Jon Jones has only fought once this entire year. Even this one fight wasn’t too exciting. It took Jones under 5 mins to finish his opponent and win the championship.

There is no denying that Jon Jones is an absolute legend in the sport. But in the year 2023, it has to be concluded that Jones did not accomplish enough to overshadow the likes of Islam Makhachev or Amanda Nunes to win an ESPY award.

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