Joe Rogan warned Jon Jones against pursuing a bold course of action that raised plenty of eyebrows in the mixed martial arts community over a decade ago.

Jones has largely achieved all that he set out to in the world of combat sports, starting with his crowning as UFC light heavyweight champion in 2011.

Even today, the Rochester native still holds UFC gold in his possession — though Jones’ controversial reign as UFC heavyweight champ has been largely inactive and clouded by a furious fanbase wanting to see him fight Tom Aspinall.

Thus far, Jones’ combat sports success has been entirely reserved for the MMA realm. But that doesn’t mean ‘Bones’ hasn’t pondered spreading his wings.

That was the case in 2013, when LA Times reporter Lance Pugmire spoke to Jones and reported of his interest in challenging boxing’s most dominant heavyweight force.

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Joe Rogan said Jon Jones was ‘kidding himself’ with Klitschko callout

At the time, Wladimir and Vitaly Klitschko were towards the back end of their decade of utter dominance in the sport of boxing.

The Ukrainian brothers are both among the most successful pugilists in history. The pair even entered the Guinness World Records book in 2011 as the brothers with the most world heavyweight title fight wins. Their tally in that category stands at a remarkable 40 victories.

Despite the pair’s freakish speed, power, and athleticism, the inexperienced Jones seemed confident in achieving what top boxers like Shannon Briggs, Derek Chisora, Hasim Rahman, and David Haye couldn’t.

Among those to quickly laugh off that suggestion, however, was Rogan.

“No, no, no. I think anybody who thinks they can box with one of the very best boxers the heavyweight division has ever seen, without being just a professional boxer for a long period of time, is kind of kidding themselves,” Rogan told TMZ.

“Or [they are] just the type of person who is a real achiever who likes to set very, very high goals for himself and like maybe have a milestone that he likes to put up there as a possible thing he can have his ambitions set on. But I don’t think it’s a good idea.

“Wladimir Klitschko hasn’t lost in a decade and he’s been fighting all of the best heavyweight boxers in the world,” Rogan added.

Jones wasn’t the only UFC star to set their sights on the Ukrainian brothers. Junior dos Santos also called out the Klitschkos, claiming he’d only need four months to prepare in order to beat them.

Jon Jones reversed course on boxing hopes

It ultimately didn’t take Jones long to put any talk of a boxing transition to bed.

A few months after Jones’ memorable victory over Alexander Gustafsson in their Hall of Fame battle at UFC 165, the Rochester native appeared on stage for a Q&A ahead of UFC 169.

When one fan questioned his remarks about boxing against the Klitschkos, Jones gave a more realistic assessment of his chances.

“It was fun [to talk about], it was really fun. But no, I respect those guys so much, what they do is amazing, very high level stuff. I am not trying to get killed. I’ll stick to mixed martial arts.”

So, was Jones joking all along or did comments such as those from Rogan knock some sense into him? We’ll let you decide.