"I am the underdog, in my mind, I am the underdog." ~ Jone "Bones" Jones
MMA has a new superstar in the form of a Jon "Bones" Jones. The Rochester, NY. natural, has risen to superstar status in only a little under three years.
Jones has a virtually perfect record, his only loss coming by way of disqualification for some skull-cracking 12-to-6 elbows on Matt "The Hammer" Hamill, in a fight "Bones" was completely dominating.
Now, Jones hasn't risen in the popularity ranks solely by his freakish strikes and unorthodox moves and style--he comes across as a lovable character with good moral values and a easy-going personality.
But, according to fans all over the social medias, that personality appears to have change lately. Some people accuse Jones of becoming an arrogant person. Some others have actually called him a traitor for saying he would face Rashad Evans if Dana White asked him to.
Now, remember, this is the same guy who fell over backwards saying he would never fight his team mates, especially Rashad, who was originally slated to fight "Shogun" for the light heavyweight title.
But you all know all the details about that, let's get back to Jones, shall we?
According to fans and other "reporters", Jones attitude seems to have been changing since he was granted the shot at the title. He has apparently become more sophisticated and "philosophical", like we heard someone comment yesterday at the open workouts while he talked to the press.
At the UFC 128 conference call held last week, a reporter asked Jones if he would taking Rashad into the cage with him.
"No I won't. Rashad is my friend, he's my boy, but I definitely won't be thinking about Rashad at all at this fight...
You're only as good as the people you're around, Rashad being one of them, but I have a lot of people outside of him who I can draw energy and power from, and they'll all be with me" says Jones.
In the words of ProMMARadio's Larry Pepe, "sounds a little chilly." Rashad told Pepe on this week's ProMMARadio edition; "that does sound cold-hearted."
In that same conference call for UFC 128, after being asked, again, if he would indeed fight Rashad Evans, Jones fires back aiming at all the media in the call saying "with all due respect to you as a reporter, and I want to make it clear to all other reporters, but I absolutely hate when people mention Rashad Evans, especially throughout this training camp.
He's a friend of mine, but I'm fighting Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, one of the best fighters that's been around for a long time, and for people to be even mentioning Rashad Evans right now, I think it's ludicrous. Rashad is not in my mind, he's not in my game, he has absolutely zero to do with my heart and who I am right now.
This guy [Rashad Evans] has nothing to do with "Shogun" and I think from here on out I won't even answer a question about Rashad."
Rashad Evans only response to this comment from Jones was "it sounds like he wants to fight."
Moving forward, at the UFC 128 pre-fight press conference, Jones was asked about his thoughts on looking across the Octagon and seeing a fighter like Rua standing in front of him.
"He wakes up in the morning and puts his pants on, just like I do. I'm sure he poops just like I poop. It's another fight. I try not to fight the face, I try not to fight the name. I fight the body."
Jones interrupts his line of thinking and addressed the crowd... "You guys like that 'how I poop thing?"
It seems for a few guys in the crowd the comment might have been funny, but it didn't come across as proper to many people in the crowd and the reaction was not exactly a show of support. It is actually the first time I ever hear a crowd booing Jones.
So, would you think it's a matter o him becoming arrogant due to his new found star status, or maybe an age thing like implied by Rashad Evans on ProMMARadio. Maybe a lack of maturity?
Or has early success gone up to Jone Jones' head?
Whatever it is, I can only imagine the kind of pressure he must be feeling right now, only a day before his first title shot.
Jones told Larry Pepe a few weeks ago on ProMMARadio that going into his first fight he felt like it was too good to be true, the he couldn't almost believe he was finally there.
In my opinion, I don't think he is turning arrogant, nor I think he isn't a humble guy anymore. I think he's got a lot on his plate, a lot of people asking questions about someone who is not even on this card, and it must get bothersome after a while.
"I am the underdog, in my mind, I am the underdog."
I don't think a man that thinks of himself as underdog coming into a fight is showing signs of not being a humble person.
What do you think?:
Thanks for reading.
To listen to ProMMARadio's interviews with Jon Jones and Rashad Evans go to http://prommaradio.com or go to our hompage and click on the big red and black banner on the side bar.
Originally posted at The MMA Truth
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