'The other Jon Jones' has no intention of giving up his Twitter handle

Being “the other Jon Jones” is an adventure every few months for the man who controls the @jonjones Twitter handle.

Jones the 30-year-old art management specialist for Epic Games is the kind of tech geek who stakes claim to his name on websites, social media and other sites. That’s not uncommon, but it is uncommon to share your name with one of the most talented – and controversial – fighters in MMA history.

When Jon Jones (21-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) the fighter was named a suspect in a hit-and-run accident that left a pregnant woman with a broken arm, it was to be expected the video game professional would be taking some harassment on Twitter.

“I’m up about – I think I lost count at like 10,000-plus tweets, 550 new followers,” Jones told MMAjunkie Radio. “All because I’m not somebody. Is it weird that I’m almost used to it?”

The tweets he receives are often hateful and nasty, but Jones has learned to laugh off the death threats intended for an entirely different human being.

“Originally it started out as a lot more hate,” Jones said. “Basically, I would find out news about the other Jon Jones by all the stupid people who would tweet me without checking first. It was when he canceled UFC 151 when I got 6,000 hate tweets in three days. It was like, ‘You suck. You’re a piece of crap. Stop using Jesus that way. What are you doing? I hate you. I hope you die. I want your family dead.’”

Still, Jones has no intention of letting go of the handle, even if asked or if he’s offered money. He said he simply has too much fun with it.

“At this point I think it’s a lot more fun,” Jones said. “I never try to pretend I’m actually him. First I’d respond saying, ‘What? Who wants to hurt me? Why should I die? You want me to poo blood? I’m so sorry. What did I do?’ But now it just turned more into making fun of dumb people then kind of smiling along with them when they realize, ‘Oh, I just threw shame at this guy I didn’t even look up. I’m not a smart man.’”

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