Jon Jones may have forced Vitor Belfort to submit in the fourth round of Saturday night’s UFC 152 event to retain the title, but Bones Jones isn’t out of the woods yet.
Jones entered Saturday’s fight as the most despised man in the UFC, and despite defending his title in Toronto, Jones’ reputation hasn’t been fully restored.
In case you live under a rock, you know that Jones pulled out of the UFC 151 event, in which he was scheduled to fight Dan Henderson after Henderson removed himself from the card.
Henderson was replaced with Chael Sonnen, which Jones didn’t like, resulting in the 25-year-old refusing to fight Sonnen, which in turn led to the cancellation of the UFC 151 events.
What ensued next has been a war of words between Jones and Sonnen, and Jones and UFC president Dana White.
For a sport that demands toughness, Jones came off as pretty weak by removing himself from the UFC 151 card, thus putting himself in the doghouse with the UFC president.
If Jones wasn’t physically or mentally prepared to fight Sonnen, he should have said so, instead of backing out of the fight and ruining what looked like to be a promising event.
Jones had the obvious reach advantage and was supposed to defeat Belfort and retain his title, so he’s not going to get the credit and respect he so covets for winning that fight.
At this rate, he’ll likely be favored in any match, but I’m not sure he’ll ever live down the Henderson fight (or lack thereof).
Perhaps, if Jones completes each task requested of him by White and the rest of the UFC commission, fans will start to forget about the UFC 151 drama.
But until then, Jones is still the man who was afraid to fight Dan Henderson.
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