Jon ‘Bones’ Jones to take on Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machidaat UFC 140 in Toronto Saturday

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir faces jabs, triangle chokes, overhand rights, head kicks and takedowns just about every time he steps into the cage.

But the 32-year-old mixed martial arts star from Las Vegas says brain trauma is not on that list.

“I have no fear whatsoever,” he told a news conference Thursday. “I’m a father of four. I’ll enter the cage every day and brain damage is the least of my worries.”

Added light-heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones: “I think mixed martial arts has been proven time and time again to be one of the safest sports you can play.”

Mir, Jones and UFC president Dana White addressed the issue of fighter safety at Thursday’s news conference after a reporter brought up the issue of concussions in sports, citing hockey players.

“Are you at all worried about your fighters when you see these studies?” White was asked.

The UFC boss pointed to the UFC’s 18-year track record of not a single death or serious injury.

“The reason is because when you take two healthy athletes, you go in and get them medically cleared and checked out the way that you’re supposed to, you don’t cut any corners, you go overboard on it,” he said.

“Then you have the proper medical staff there while they’re fighting. And then you get them checked up after the fight is over. It’s 100 per cent a safe sport.

“People talk about concussions and Parkinson’s and all these others things. This is life, man. Things happen. You never know what’s going to happen, but when you go overboard on safety, things always turn out all right.”

MMA is hardly safe compared to table tennis, or a slew of other sports.

For example, the California State Athletic Commission review of UFC 139 lists everything from possible nasal, skull, finger and thumb fractures to assorted cuts.

And Canadian Julia “The Jewell” Budd had a dislocated arm reset in the cage by a doctor after a recent Strikeforce loss.

“Merely a flesh wound,” she joked via Twitter later.

But White and the other fighters on the podium Thursday defended their combat sport’s safety record, especially compared to boxing where the standing-eight count can allow fighters to stand back up and get knocked out again.

Mir called the concept of the standing-eight count “the most barbaric thing in the world.”

In MMA, referees step in — often flinging themselves between the combatants — as soon as they see a fighter in trouble is not intelligently defending himself.

And with fighters wearing four- or six-ounce gloves, one punch can end things quickly.

“Our sport, a lot of the times the fans are upset because the referees are stopping the fights too soon,” said Jones, who has two football-playing brothers — one with the Baltimore Ravens and the other with the Syracuse Orange.

“Yeah we take risks, but this is what we chose to do with our lives,” he added, echoing what some NHL players said in the wake of a chilling study into former enforcer Derek Boogaard’s brain. “We find it pretty safe or else we wouldn’t be here.”

Former light-heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, whose career was interrupted by neck surgery, credited UFC officials for offering medical help as needed.

“They take care of us,” he said.

White also pointed to medical suspensions in the wake of each UFC fight.

The 24-year-old Jones defends his light-heavyweight title Saturday night against former champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida at UFC 140 in the Air Canada Centre.