UFC Light Heavyweight Jon Jones Speaks Out on UFC 151 Controversy
By Chris Leslie on September 4, 2012
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has faced a mountain of criticism in the wake of UFC 151′s cancellation. The champion has remained relatively quiet on the situation until recently. “Bones” sat down with MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani to talk about the fallout and his future following the event’s demise. The 41-minute interview can be seen below but portions of the interview’s transcript have been posted before the video.
Jones on why he did not take the fight:
“The main reason I didn’t take the fight is basically because I talked to my head coach, my muay thai coach and my boxing coach, they know my weaknesses and strengths, they know how my muscles react. Each coach said, straight away that they think I can win the fight but they ALSO said that the want me to be aware that the styles a different, They have different kinds of clinch games, different takedowns… I’m not going to go through all the details of his game because it will sound tacky to those who don’t understand fighting but to some it up, Chael Sonnen is a southpaw, has different takedowns, different subs, different ground and pound, he’s just a completely different warrior. Taking the fight would be ignorant.”
On whether there was any fighter he would have agreed to face on short notice:
“The only guy I would’ve fought on short notice is Rashad Evans because his style is so similar to Dan Henderson’s. Rashad Evans is a guy who is a good wrestler, has good scrambles in certain positions, has a huge overhand right, his left isn’t really dangerous but it’s there. Anyone else I would’ve said no, you can’t pick fights based on your emotions. I can’t put a multi-million dollar career and title on the line because someone is talking about my momma.”
On Sonnen trying to talk his way into a title shot:
“Another thing I’ve said in the past is that I said I would never allow Sonnen to jump the line by using his mouth and what was he doing? Jumping the line by using his mouth. The guy is a straight punk.”
“When he retires, there wont be any meaningful quotes from him, it will just be silliness all from a guy who likes to troll people.”
On the criticism he has received since the cancellation:
“I fought four times in ten months, at times I didn’t know if I’d win those fights because I was doing so much for the UFC, I do tons of things that I don’t get paid for but putting my livelihood on the line? You can’t ask me to do that, they should’ve understood that and kept the card going.”
“All the fighters that are insulting me on the card, I’m not the one who is saying that you’re not good enough for pay per view.”
“I felt like a piece of meat.”
On his relationship with UFC President Dana White:
“It’s good to know where I stand with Dana White, I don’t want a fake relationship with anybody.”
“I haven’t talked to Dana White, I’ll let him calm down then talk to him. He has his reasons to be upset but I think he has to realize that I have a reason too. I thought he would be more supportive. He thinks I’m scared of Sonnen? I’m not scared, it’s about being smart.”
“My job is not to be popular among fighters, I could care less if any fighter liked me or not, my job is to show up, do my job and go back home.”
On the rumor that he asked White to keep Sonnen from talking trash:
“…that is totally not true, regarding this pro wrestling guy who made this article… can he just make a bogus article like that? That is totally not true, I’ve dealt with Rampage, Rashad why would I do that? It’s not true.”
“Chael Sonnen will not be remembered as the all time greats, he’ll be known as the guy who lost to Anderson Silva and didn’t look good doing it. Every time he gets the opportunity, he comes up short. Keep getting your twitter followers up.”
Jones on the high amount of hatred he receives on a daily basis:
“People who are insulting me… you know sometimes it’s really funny because the jokes are so clever. Sometimes it’s DUI, sometimes it’s people calling me “151 Killer.” I have a big hate fan base, when people hate on me, they’re showing me how much they care about me. My haters know more about me than my supports do, it’s really touching.”
“When you’re hated, you know you’re doing something right. Lebron James, people HATE him, but the dude is still paid, he’s a champion, he’s happy he’s got his family. It just comes with the job. I just focus on the people that love me and realize my message.”
“It’s about changing lives. If I can inspire one person to live happier, be more confident, find Christ, I’ve done my job. If that comes with an army of haters, it’s all good!”
On his comments to former training partner, and UFC 145 opponent, Rashad Evans training Vitor Belfort and his 152 bout with Belfort:
“I did it when I was bored after practice, what I meant by my tweet to Rashad is ‘dude, why are you training Vitor when he’s fighting for what you want?’ Are you going to fight him like you fought me? Or are you going to move down to middleweight.”
“Vitor Belfort is an honorable respectful dude and former UFC champion, I think it’s a better fight than Dan Henderson, has better boxing and is a MUCH harder fight.”
“He doesn’t necessarily deserve the shot but I’m honored to fight him and it’s a really hard fight, he’s a worthy opponent.”
On a possible future fight with Sonnen:
“I’m not [disappointed] they didn’t book the Chael fight, his time will come and when it does, I’m going to beat him SILLY, I’m going to beat him SILLY.”
“My Mom is very sick and she has an illness where she has come close to not being here several times so to insult my parents is too far. The guy has no class, insulting Anderson Silva’s wife, but people like that! People call me ‘p—-’ but… OK! That just goes to show that I can’t take too many people seriously.”
On any regrets:
“I don’t regret my decision. The only thing I regret in my career is the whole DIU incident. It’s really woken me up and made me mature myself more.”
“The truth lives for ever and the truth about the 151 situation, the people that use logic and their minds to review the situation know I made the right call.”
“It’ll be awkward to talk to Dana leading up to the fight but I’m excited for the fight.”
Special thanks to Mixedmartialarts.com for the transcript
Latest
this guy is a bitch!!!! he’s not a real champion real champions don’t back off from anyone. i cant wait for somebody to kick his ass and take his belt away.
“this guy is a ****!!!! he’s not a real champion real champions don’t back off from anyone. i cant wait for somebody to kick his ass and take his belt away.”
In the vernacular, this is commonly known as hate.
However, it does speak to Jones’ prowess that there is not one individual named to perform this a** kicking work, just a generalized “somebody.”
Keep choking necks and collecting checks, Mr Jones, UFC Champion.
LOL are you aware that you just said that he isn’t a real champion and then followed it up with ” I can’t wait for somebody to kick his ass and take his belt.”?
The man is damn near undefeated. And he has won most by spectacular fashion.
Keep hating but also keep buying his ppv’s…
… This guy is extremly smart. Anyone that achived something in is live understand is decision. Congradulation Jones – your smart.
You can hate Jones for being cocky but everything that he is saying has pretty sound reasoning and its pretty easy to see his point of view. You’d think Dana would try to smooth things over?
Love em’ or hate em’, if most of us intelligent fight fans were in his shoes we would have done the same thing. Jones had everything to lose and nothing to gain-well except maybe a paycheck. As for the UFC 151 event being cancelled, the old adage of putting all of your eggs into one basket comes to mind.
Cheers,
Norton
I will admit, I was a big ‘ol pile of sh!t when the story first broke and ripped into Jones like nothing else. Once the dust settled and more information came to light, I see a lot of people to blame here. If Hendo knew he tore his MCL 3 weeks prior to the event, he should have disclosed that to Dana. Dana could have hit up the Jones camp and mentioned there might be a “possible injury”, not disclosing what it is, and see if Jones was interested in fighting another fighter on short notice.
The UFC needs to reduce the amount of PPV’s per year if they are so thin that one fight could cancel an entire card. PPV’s should be stacked events with top shelf fighters on the card. Up and comers or fighters on the slide should be on the FX or Fuel cards.
Dana White needs to drink a big ol glass of shut the he11 up sometimes. Of course Chael was ready to take the fight, he knew for 3 weeks the possibility and took it to twitter. Jones makes a good point that they are different fighting styles. Sure they are both wrestlers, but when’s the last time Hendo used his wrestling? Chael is a southpaw and allegedly a “Golden Gloves boxer” (according to Joe Rogan). He hits a power double like no one else in the UFC and could easily hold down any fighter, including Jones, for 25 minutes and get a UD.
In the end, it’s Jones’ choice and he will take whatever the aftermath is. In a year’s time we will all forget about this incident when he is still the LHW Champion and fighting in the HW division to hold two straps at the same time.
I’m with you, for the most part. I’m just not totally sure Jones will move up to heavyweight in 2013. He’s expressed interest, so it’s very possible. I think he’ll pass Tito’s record first before moving up. He’ll most likely do that in 2013, so I’m guessing he’ll move up in 2014. It’ll be something to see when it does happen. There’s some real exciting fights for him up there.
When you are the most dominant MMA organization on the planet, and one fight determines the fate of a whole entire card, you got issues.
Yeah jon jones makes a bit of sense but at the end of the day this is fighting and although chael is obviuosly different and all that if jones is as good of a fighter as he says he is he’l be a better fighter than chael and he’l beat chael. End of story.
Still hate him, the arrogance and attitude is too much for me to handle. I think at the core, he’s a child just reciting what his handlers tell him too, every time he opens his mouth up right after the fact, he says moronic things that he has to retract 5 mins later with a “what I meant to say was…”
Also just wanted to say that seens as jones is being petty and talking about how different chaels boxing and takedowns and all the rest are so different to henderson’s its a bit ridiculous that he than says rashad evans is so similar because lets be honest they’re completely different, rashad is a freestyle wrestler while hendo is a grecko and jones himself even said rashads left isn’t dangerous WELL GUESS WHAT? Hendersons definatly is, so that was just a bullshiii comment to make his excuse look more valid.
“It’s really woken me up and made me mature myself more.”
the new jbj tongue twister….made me mature myself more…made me mature myself more…made me mature…
get stuffed chicken bones
edited – Lex415
I really think people fail to realize that just because he would have more time to prepare for a particular fighter doesn’t make it ANY safer of a fight for him unless Chael were to just sit on his ass for another month.After the cancellation if he fought chael on full camp specifically for Chael and lost everybody(I know I would) would be like what an idiot for not fighting him when Chael was fat. The FACT of the matter is that he could lose to Chael or anybody(in the UFC)on any given day, just because he feels more comfortable after he studies his opponents for a longer time period still doesnt guaruntee him the win or even guaruntee that it is less dangerous.
Maybe Im retarded but I just dont see it I think people who are saying that it is safer, smarter decision for him are only looking at the fact that if Jones has more time to prepare for a fight then he would be better off. This is true in most aspects of life but not in competition because you have an opponent that is doing the same thing.If they randomly decided the two teams that are going to play in the Super Bowl this year and its in two weeks wouldnt one team look stupid if they were like well I wont play them in two weeks but Ill play them in four weeks(especially if your the champ). Do you think the other team is just going to sit on their butts for that extra time.
People that use the phrase “everything to lose” while talking about FIGHTING are insane, you have everything to lose in any fight.
Completely agree. I think they tried to make Jones the poster boy way too fast. I think it is getting to his head and I don’t blame him. If I had his fame and fortune I could possibly be worse than him. But the fact of the matter is, it doesn’t matter how old he is or what he has accomplished in his time, the guy is extremely arrogant and selfish. Him saying “haters gonna hate” and stupid lines like that just make him look even more stupid. I remember saying that in high school or something like that. I don’t know what anybody else thinks, but I wouldn’t idolize anybody who says anything like that. It’s not deep or intelligent, yet Jones still tries to sound deep by simply bringing up god, or saying “it wasn’t meant to be.” It’s pretty stupid that everybody is either “ridin his jock” or “hatin.” And yes I respect that he is a great fighter, pound for pound, yada yada yada.
You all realize that these guys are fighting for a living right? Like, their income is made from fighting, so that means they have everything to lose if they’re a champion and take a fight on basically 3 days notice (the other 5 is for weight cut and all that good jazz, not actual training).
Totally different sport for an analogy here but (keep your mind open and it makes sense) Would you want your favorite baseball team to grab some guy that hasn’t pitched in 10 years to start game 7 of the world series? Or bring a QB back to start the Super Bowl? I know, 2 totally different things, but same thing is on the line, a Championship.
It’s like a defense expecting to attack a QB that stays in the pocket, but they substitute a QB like Vick, so they call the whole game off.
I think that’s a better analogy.
It’s amazing, I went from a straight Bones hater to absolutely loving the guy over night. Everything he had said is so spot on. (Minus the whole being a Bible beater while also mixing in Eastern meditation lol, but hey, to each his own.) I would still root for Rashad or Sonnen if they fought, but I completely respect this guy now, and would mode consider myself a fan. Good for him for doing what he think is right and giving the man a big f you.
Kinda surprised thru didn’t offer Rashad the fight. It would’ve saved the card and still would’ve been an excellent fight.
@devin
You finally came out of the closet. ;-)
what did chael say about jones parents? i havent seen anything besides the pizza poster.
This was all I saw/heard, really wasn’t much:
“@JonnyBones Oh I plan too. Btw, how long did it take your parents to come up with your name, JON JONES.. #creative”
huh, i dont see how that can be what he is talking about. i have been searching everywhere and no one seems to know what jon is referring to.
I don’t think so either, but just like you, I cannot find anything.