Why champ Jon Jones was relaxing cageside an hour before UFC 182 main event

Why was UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones cageside – and not backstage warming up – just an hour before his UFC 182 headliner? He said he had a very good reason.

The scene caused a bit of a stir on social media. Just an hour before he was scheduled to fight Daniel Cormier (15-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) in Saturday’s pay-per-view headliner, Jones (21-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) could be seen cageside at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena chatting with fans and signing autographs.

As photos appeared on Twitter and Facebook, many wondered if the champ had lost focus or wasn’t taking the challenge seriously:

Jones, though, said it was quite the opposite.

“I was in the audience,” he said after his eventual unanimous-decision victory and eighth consecutive title defense. “I was trying to sign autographs at each entrance of the arena. That was because – I was cold for some reason. I couldn’t get going. I was like, ‘Ugh.’

“My coach asked me if I wanted a sip of coffee. I was like, ‘Nah, I don’t want to mess with my system.’ So I went out to the arena, and I drew energy from the fans.”

He said it worked. He fed off the crowd’s excitement (which was no small feat considering every main-card fight went to a decision and drew a fair share of boos) and carried him into another brilliant performance (watch the Jones vs. Cormier video highlights).

“Seeing the fans before the fight, they just did not expect to see me in the audience,” he said. “I heard one persons started crying. I mean, how does that not energize you?

“I went back into my locker room, and I felt so much better. I was like, ‘Yeah, this is my arena.'”

For more on UFC 182, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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MMAjunkie’s John Morgan discusses UFC 182:

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