« Exodus: Kathi Burns, Sarah Waklee out at CSAC office | Home | Dana White: “Spuke TV” is leaking negativity about TUF »
“I’m hoping that people are grateful for me being here & being able to entertain them”
By Zach Arnold | September 20, 2012
Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com w/ Bones Knows Beards
Jon Jones wants to meet up with Dana White. So, what will they say to each other?
ARIEL HELWANI: “What are you going to say to him?”
JON JONES: “I’m going to say, Dana… you know, I’m just going to tell him that I forgive him, pretty much. I have a general intention of what I want to happen and basically it’s going to based on forgiveness. I’m not expecting him to apologize but I’m moving forward, you know, I’m moving forward and Dana… spoke his mind and, you know, ultimately he can’t take back what happened, I can’t take back what happened. I don’t think he wants to and I don’t want to, so, we’re just going to be men and keep this great journey that we have going. You know, we’re both ambassadors for the UFC and as for not being on the same page, as I said (Tuesday) on Sportscenter it makes no sense for us MMA fans, MMA nation so, uh, you know, I want to do great things and I think having them on my side or working with them and not being known as like, you know, a troublemaker with him will be beneficial for both of us.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “How do you forgive someone who hasn’t apologized?”
JON JONES: “You know, I don’t know. I don’t know how that works but I want to try it.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “How do you think the fans here in Toronto will react to you? Because obviously you’ve become this kind of polarizing figure but if it wasn’t for your decision, they wouldn’t have the chance to see a UFC Light Heavyweight title fight. So, do you think they actually greet you with cheers as opposed to boos here in Toronto?”
JON JONES: “Um, you know, I’m hoping that people are grateful for me being here and being able to entertain them, ultimately. But, uh, I’m predicting that I’ll probably get booed more than cheered. But I’m OK with it. I’ve come to terms with it and I’ll still compete at (my) best.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “I’ve noticed a different Jon Jones. I said last week after the conference call, that was the most real Jon Jones we’ve ever seen because it seemed like you were finally just saying what was on your mind and not worrying about what people would think about what you say. You said some strong things about Dana, the fans and whatnot. Has something happened? Has someone told you to act a little more like yourself? What’s going on here? Because it seems like finally we’re getting The Real Deal Holyfield.”
JON JONES: “Well, I think I’ve always tried to be real, you know, I think Rashad (Evans) called me “fake” at one point, really made this illusion of me being totally fake. But, you know, I think I’ve always been pretty legit with the things that I say. I think that’s why a lot of people maybe don’t like me. You know, they find some of my statements to be a little arrogant or not but that’s just me being, you know, truthful in a lot of cases but, you know, I’m just becoming more and more comfortable in my own skin. As things happen I realize more and more each scenario, each fight that you know I can’t make people like me or not so I’m just being myself, being comfortable in my own skin and let people be the judge and ultimately it’s really not my business what people think about me anyways.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Vitor (Belfort) keeps saying, ‘I”m not a diva, I’m not a diva, I step up with the UFC wants me to step up.’ He doesn’t call YOU a diva but it seems like he’s sort of insinuating that. What do you make of that?”
JON JONES: “It’s all right. You know, I could keep saying, ‘I don’t do steroids or anything like that,’ you know what I mean? I’m not saying he does, but say what you want. But it’s like, we’re here to fight and, uh, you know, camp is over. The hard part is over and, uh… ultimately we’re going to see who’s the better martial artist and I’m not going to let any words between me and him, you know, become a factor now this close to the fight. I’m days away from my goal.”
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 35 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I saw that he said the UFC stuff was just MMA drama not real life type issue. This guy is Mitt Romney bad in the stuff he says. Of course it is serious business. Many people lost lots of money because the show was cancelled.
He has the biggest ratio in MMA of talent to brains. And mainly because he is a mental midget.
And yet Romney has so much more political experience than Jones. If he’s already the equal of Romney as a 25 year old kid the sky is the limit!
Jones merely signed a contract to fight Hendo on a particular date. Unfortunately such plans can frequently be derailed and Hendo suffered an injury.
He doesn’t need to fight another random opponent on 3 days notice to keep the event going. Many events are cancelled all the time. It’s just the nature of business and promotion.
It’s also a strange way of looking at it, that Jon LOST people money, considering all of them were trying to MAKE money off him in the first place. They weren’t spending money on the event out of the kindness of their hearts.
Jon was the guy who was enabling them to make all this dough in the first place, and it would be immature to expect him to potentially jeopardise his career by taking a risky fight on no notice, merely so people could line their pockets.
You completely misread what I said. I never blamed Jones. I was saying his lack of empathy for all of the parties involved is downright embarrassing.
“Many people lost lots of money because the show was cancelled.”
Such as? UFC and Mandalay Bay undoubtedly lost lots of money, but it’s a small fraction of what these guys make an annual basis. The hot dog and t-shirt vendors in the Arena? Also, were not dependent on this one night, they will have plenty of others. Undercard fighters? I think nearly all of them are getting a replacement fight within a few months, if not weeks. Who else? Cable distributors? I can sympathize with people, who payed a few hundred dollars for a travel package, but I don’t think Jones should take any challenge thrown at him, especially from a guy like Sonnen who has done everything not to deserve a match, just to keep those can afford to spend a few hundred dollars to see UFC happy.
“…Jones should take any challenge thrown at him, especially from a guy like Sonnen who has done everything not to deserve a match,…”
But 13 year olds,
(and therefor dana),
personally just WANT it!
Like a cookie before bedtime!
Jones did tell Sonnen that he wouldn’t talk his way to the front of the line. Told him he would have to fight for the spot like everyone else. Might of smelled something fishy when Sonnen started cutting wrestling promos out of the blue a few weeks out from UFC 151. It did raise a few Spockian eyebrows around the message boards I recall, mine included.
Jones was true to his word.
I think a lot of you guys listen to the f4wonline.com (Meltzer/Alverez) audio.
If so, yes they talk a lot about ratings and the business side of UFC, but that’s for a reason. UFC is in a bad place right now and who knows what the landscape will be 4 years from now.
Bones needs to turn heel right now. He’s done the nice guy gimmick for so long as he wants sooooo wants to be liked, but I think that whole capturing the robber 8 hours before his fight was all for good publicity as it went viral. They could have gotten a bum in NJ, gave him 3k in cash and let’s stage this thing, you’ll go to jail, but it’s better than sleeping on the ground. I’m probably talking
shitbut who knows.He’s tainted now with all the drama that has gone on for the last year. Josh Koscheck and Michael Bisping get it, and because they get it, they make a
fuckton more $$$$$$. Chael can sell a fight, but he’s really never the “bad guy” he did all the talk because I think the fight was supposed to be in Brazil at one point.Bones will get booooooooooo’d a bit next week, but if he embarrassed it he will get a bigger cut from the PPV buys down the road as people will pay to see him lose, which won’t be anytime soon, yet he, and his camp, try so hard to make him a babyface.
“Bones needs to turn heel right now.”
Said a 13 year old.
Bones only needs to continue being himself!
And not worrying about what 13 year olds want to see!
They shouldn’t even be up late watching a mature sport like MMA!
Jones is a LEGITIMATE CHAMPION AND ATHLETE!
His talent carries itself.
He shouldn’t have to say or do isht until someone can beat him.
As long as he’s still an athlete and hasn’t moved to hollywood and started hanging out with segal yet.
He doesn’t have to pretend to play out dramas,
do silly voices or wear a costume for children in lieu of talent,
like their favorite twitter cartoon character/mma promoter…
“He shouldn’t have to say or do isht until someone can beat him.”
Anything other then accepting and never ducking all LEGITIMATE competition!
WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT HE DID!
And thats how he beat ALL the greatest 205’s in the sport within a year!
And exactly what that PAPER GOAT DOESN’T do!
paper GOATS record is a list whos nots.
Not that he COULDN”T beat some decent comp,
but dana/joel prefer him on a twitter mantlepiece to impress stupid tweens.
So PG’s record of legit/valuable wins remains a thumbnail compared to Jones’ record in 1 year!
“As long as he’s still an athlete and hasn’t moved to hollywood and started hanging out with segal yet.”
West Hollywood perse…
Dear god.
I guess I’m 13 years of age. I’m 31, but Jon going heel which he should do, as he can make a lot more $$$$ bit again he played the nice card. Bones will get boooooooo’d for the rest of his life, so now empress as he will get a lot more money.
He doesn’t want to do it, but he should.
Funny the word I had to type in is “carny” to get my post in but that’s my point.
If a card is so dependent on Jon Jones presence that there are no alternatives without him then I think he should be asking for a bigger share to shoulder those responsibilities.
Hell, if all that is true maybe he should start thinking about challenging the champions clause in his contract when it’s up and hiring an independent promoter to promote his fights.
He must be a very popular attraction.
“I’m hoping that people are grateful for me being here & being able to entertain them”
The impression I’m getting is that most 13 year olds are not.
They’re to stupid and selfish to be grateful for anything.
And dana is flooding the MMA audience with 13 year olds.
13 years olds cant tell the difference between a GOAT and a guy who refuses to fight legitimate contenders.
The difference between appreciateing a guy who has beaten the top 205’s in the HISTORY of the sport within a year,
and a guy who has been propped up with propaganda and toyed around in a cleared out division for 4 years fighting stragglers and non-contenders.
13 years who aren’t fans of the sport of MMA,
more then the sideshow of danas twitter.
dana white is killing the sport!
He was once a great asset years ago,
but he will also be the last one to admit that he has become an outdated technology.
He’ll drag the sport down with him before he’ll give it up or admit that.
He’s following the same path of dictorial control and love for money that made Wrestling into pro-rasslin,
but if I wanted to watch pro-rasslin then I’d watch pro-rasslin.
IMO Jones should figure out a way to head over to bellator.
True he would no longer have access to all the best comp,
but he already beat them.
And hopefully it would lead to an exodus from the ufc regime.
Let the 13 year olds have the UFC.
Where they can watch flamderson fight Dan Damm for a world championship.
dan damm = Van Damn, or flam henderson for that matter.
Seriously, people who disagree with you are 13 year olds? That is how you are viewing things? Every once in a while you have an epic meltdown in the comments section on here. This is one of those times.
Benevidez vs. Johnson was a very good title fight. Johnson was giving minutes away from not being active enough, despite having the major speed advantage.
Not sure how to score it. I had Benevidez up 3 to 2…. But I would see it 4 to 1 for either fighter. There really isn’t a wrong decision on that fight.
The 3 Sherdog guys scoring the fight actually mirrored the judges scores.
Dana White should take notes. That was a very solid title fight and the crowd was booing it. The fans have not accepted the smaller weight classes still.
Plus, they need to stop having 6’5″ body guards escorting them out to the cage….
I think the problem is that having top level bantamweights fight one another equals a fight that is nearly a draw with almost no damage inflicted on either side.
On average, they don’t have the power to hurt each other.
Of the 11 title fights from LW and below in 2011 and 2012…. Only 2 of them have not gone to a decision.
Exactly what I was getting at 45.
And if you want to take it a step further…. In 2011 and 2012 combined…
HW, LHW, & MW has had 10 title fights. Only 1 of them has gone the distance. The remaining 5 weight classes have had 13 title fights and only 2 finishes. Complete night and day.
Watching the Flyweights tonight made me think it is probably just too small of a weight class for the UFC. They really do look like kids with muscles fighting. I am slightly below average height, so I am not trying to hate on really short people. But as a fan, I just don’t see the entertainment in it.
Even the Bantamweights are borderline at this point.
The UFC would be much better with 6 weight divisions. Much easier to follow and not forcing fans to watch guys who can’t hurt each other fight. The crowds have been down right board for the last Bantam & Fly title fights.
No it wouldn’t, they are trying to break into Asia & South America, they can’t really do that by just having just 6 divisions and less events, they can take them off PPVs or whatever but the weight classes should exist.
I know Prince Naseem Hamed was a massive draw here in the UK and he weighed the same as the Flyweights, guys like Barrera & Morales as well and even Manny Pacquiao made his name fighting at that weight class.
And yet they fight at the same weight as the great Alexis Arguello and probably walk around heavier than the prime Roberto Duran. Not sure I buy size as the sole reason for the relative lack of finishes. Flyweight has a ridiculously high level of competition right now in UFC, 9 out of the top 10 are signed out of a total of 15 under contract. That’s tough.
They should shrink the size of the damned cage though, and not just for the little guys. I enjoiyed the fight, but it looked like they were fighting in an aircraft hangar.
what’s up with this when loading from Google Chrome
Warning: Something’s Not Right Here!
http://www.fightopinion.com contains content from http://www.mmatycoon.com, a site known to distribute malware. Your computer might catch a virus if you visit this site.
Google has found malicious software may be installed onto your computer if you proceed. If you’ve visited this site in the past or you trust this site, it’s possible that it has just recently been compromised by a hacker. You should not proceed, and perhaps try again tomorrow or go somewhere else.
We have already notified http://www.mmatycoon.com that we found malware on the site. For more about the problems found on http://www.mmatycoon.com, visit the Google Safe Browsing diagnostic page.
Yup, I’ve been away for a few days for the same reason, it’s a malware warning from google. I’m here via internet explorer today.
Should probably stay away I guess.
Saying 2 small guys don’t have the power to hurt each other is about as dumb of a comment as I can recall reading on this site.
The lack of popularity of the flyweights in mma has nothing to do with their power or lack thereof, but rather has to do with the lack of promotion of the little guys; Urijah Faber has no trouble because he is treated/billed as a star. Benavidez, Johnson, etc are not treated as stars, but as little guys who are cute to watch. Once the public gets more used to the idea of small mma fighters, and once they get the attention from the UFC that they deserve, we will see how the public treats them. It doesn’t speak well of the mma fan base that small fighters are booed; when I think of 135 and below in boxing, I think of young Floyd, of Morales/Barrera/JMM/Pac/Darchinian (sp)/Gary Russell/Chico Corrales/JCC.
http://mobile.bloodyelbow.com/2012/7/17/3163315/ufc-2012-fight-statistics-ufc-stats
If you take out the LHW outlier…. The KO/TKO category basically increases as the weight class does. So to call my comment dumb is stastically incorrect.
And I said it to!
The bigger guys are a lot less skilled though, if someone could do what Mighty Mouse or Joe Benavidez do at a higher weight class they would be unbeatable.
They were both great on the ground, rapid transactions, lightning speed etc and basically just really well rounded. Have we even seen JDS on the ground yet? We know Anderson’s wrestling sucks and you can go through most of the top guys and see big holes in their game. You saw what Benavidez did to a lesser skilled guy in Urish itani, it’s just a lot harder to hit a guy like Demetrious Johnson with a clean shot.
I legitimately can’t tell if you are trolling. Not worth my time to explain to you the difference between causation and correlation. Do you not think there are a myriad of reasons why the KO % is often higher at HW division in mma? Do you think on average, the caliber of 250 pound man who makes it to the UFC is the same as that of the caliber of a 150 pound man? Further, LOL at 205 being an outlier; it is a statistic that goes against your “thesis”; 205 has same KO rate as flyweight.
at flyweight, 20% ko, then bantam 18%, then feather 22%, 22.5% at LW, about 27% for WW, 35% for MW, 20% LHW, 68% or so for HW, and 16% for catchweight fights. Regardless, your idea is moronic. Look at boxing; it is a much bigger sample size. You can’t really extrapolate anything from 5 fights at 125.
In sum, every division in the UFC this year saw a KO rate between 16% and 35%, except HW. Thanks for spewing your baseless opinion.
The bigger you are the harder you hit and the more likely you are to KO your opponent. That is both correlation and causation.
You are too dense to talk to. It’s like arguing with a toddler.