Jon Jones has only been UFC light heavyweight champion for a little over one year, but he’s had to endure two of the best trash-talkers in the sport during that time frame.
First, there was Quinton Jackson. “Rampage” told the world that Jones was fake, and that the real Jon Jones was a completely different person than the one presented to the public. The war of words between the two heated up quickly, and led to Jones being booed for the first time in his career during the UFC 135 weigh-ins in Denver.
After Jones disposed of Jackson, he faced Lyoto Machida. There was no animosity between the two, and they kept things cordial leading into their December bout.
Then there was Rashad Evans. We all know the story. Jones and Evans were training partners, but a bitter split ended their friendship. The pair traded barbs on Twitter, in media interviews and on television. The rivalry extended a year before they finally stepped in the cage a week ago at UFC 145.
Now, there’s Dan Henderson. He’ll be Jones’ next opponent — likely in August or September — and Jones is excited about the prospect of facing the legendary American. But he’s also calling for a truce, at least when it comes to verbal warfare:
“As far as Dan Henderson, I’m excited about him,” said Jones on ESPN’s MMA Live. “He’s a great fighter. You know, I’ve gone through a lot with Rashad as far as all of the trash talking and I really hope Dan’s listening and I really hope that Dan keeps it classy throughout this fight. I respect him as an older man, I respect him as a warrior and I just hope he keeps it classy and not drag me through another trash-talking bout. Let’s stick to why we’re really here, let’s just fight.”
As I noted earlier today, trash talk is part of the entertainment aspect of the sport. For the most part, it helps build up fights and creates public interest where there may otherwise be very little.
But with Jones and Henderson, it’s different. Any kind of verbal battling between the two would seem contrived, because it would be completely fake. Both fighters are generally respectful of their opponents, and Henderson is a legend of the sport. Getting into multiple verbal confrontations with a guy like Hendo would do Jones zero good from a public relations standpoint.
Sure, they need to hype things up a little bit. Henderson already started the process last week when he said that he doesn’t believe Jones is real. That’s fine. But I’d like to see the fight hype for this one focus on the skills in the cage, not whether or not one of the fighters present a fake image to the public. That’ll get old quick.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com