Jon Jones has become a lightning rod within the world of mixed martial arts.
The man that once saved a woman from an attempted mugging hours before becoming the UFC light heavyweight champion has placed himself in a position to be hated. Every move he makes in the public eye causes the situation to worsen. Everything from deleted Instagram posts and tweets to mentioning his championship reign as destiny has given off a bad impression to the fight community.
As the world awaits his eighth title defense against Daniel Cormier at UFC 182, it seems as if the champion has not had much to say, which is a very good thing at this point in time.
It is a fact that Jon Jones is an athletic force within the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He has dominated the 205-pound weight class in a way that has never been done before. At just 27 years of age, he has shown flashes of the potential to go down in history as the greatest fighter of all time. Still, those points have not saved him from the ridicule that has become customary in recent years.
Unfortunately, Jones brings much of this situation on himself. The initial controversy started with his 2012 DUI arrest in New York, per MMA Fighting. From that point on it seemed as if the relationship between Jones and the fans began to sour.
“It seems oxy-moronic to say this, but the most well-sponsored man in the sport is one of the most disliked,” Dane Curley of Fan Rag wrote in 2013. “Jon Jones has been rubbing people the wrong way ever since he took home a DUI for crashing his Bentley with two female passengers inside.”
Compound this situation with the cancellation of UFC 151 and the issue involving contract negotiations to sign Alexander Gustafsson, and it seemed as if Jones further fell into the role of the bad guy. As fate would place him against Daniel Cormier for UFC 178, a fight that would be nixed due to Jones suffering a knee injury, his public persona would continue to suffer via his words and actions.
No one will forget the run-in that occurred during the lead-up to UFC 178. Many expected the media brawl with Cormier to have a negative backlash on the sport of MMA, according to MMA Fighting.
“I think it's ridiculous,” UFC personality, Joe Rogan said during his podcast (via David St. Martin of MMA Fighting). “This can't happen. You can't do that. This is real bad for the sport. It's real bad. It's real bad for public perception. It's a weapon to be used against MMA. It's unfortunate."
While Jones would go on to apologize for the situation, via MMA Weekly, footage of Cormier and Jones arguing after an ESPN segment would just make the situation worse. It seems true that these two men are not fond of each other in any way, but their actions in the public eye have not been positive at all.
Since then it seems as if Jon Jones has been relatively quiet. While he is still active with his social media profiles, he has not resorted to responding to fans in controversial fashion like he has in the past.
Perhaps this change is for the best to let the air settle after the way the UFC 178 promotion nearly got out of hand. Jones can benefit from this newfound silence to emerge as a “focused champion” before what may be his toughest title defense to date.
Whatever the reason may be for his growing public hatred, Jon Jones may be the best fighter in the sport today—and ever when his career is over. For all his skills in the cage, he hasn't shown the ability to present himself in the same way to the public. This newfound silence may be a smart move for the time being, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun.
