Dan Henderson sees right through Jon “Bones” Jones.
Since ascending to the top of the light heavyweight division, Jones has been vilified by many MMA fans.
Henderson believes Jones’ personality is the main issue. He isn’t being “genuine” about who he really is, and the fans are smart enough to see right through it.
The MMA legend sat down with Ariel Helwani in an episode of The MMA Hour on Monday to give his take on why Jones struggles to connect with fans.
“I think it has to do with being genuine and the fans sense that: when you are and when you’re not. I’m pretty much who I am all the time, and I don’t know if they get that impression from him.”
What impression does Henderson get from Jones? Does he think the young champ is putting up a façade to mask his true identity?
“Not really. I think he was a little better after his fight with Rashad than he had been in the past, but I haven’t got that impression from him, no. I don’t know him personally, so I can’t really say if he’s genuine or not. It’s just the impression that I think fans get.”
Whether or not Jones’ personality is a façade, there is nothing fake about the otherworldly talent he possesses in the Octagon. At UFC 145, he dominated another former champion in “Sugar” Rashad Evans.
The amount of talent Jones has gone through in such a short period of time is astonishing. Fans are already debating whether or not Jones is the greatest of all time, despite him only having three title defenses under his belt.
Can he be stopped?
At 41 years of age, Henderson believes he has the ability to succeed where others have failed.
“Everybody has holes in their game. I just think he matches up style wise well with me. He’s gonna stand and bang a little bit. He gets in there and starts to throw some punches and then gets on the inside a little bit, too, and likes to get into the clinch. Those are places where I’m sure that our fight will go that I’m very comfortable with.”
It could take a perfect game plan to dethrone Jones, but Henderson is fully confident that he is capable of pulling off the upset. He could get his shot as early as July 21 at UFC 149.
“A lot of it is pressuring him, cutting him off. A lot of times it’s tough to do, tough to implement sometimes – to keep a guy always on the defense, keep pressuring him – but against some like Jon, that should be the game plan.”
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