Jon Jones Wants You to Know That He is the *Real* Victim of All This UFC 182 Fight Hype

(“Hey pussy, are you still there?” via…who are we kidding, it’s already been taken down.)

The lead-up to Jon Jones‘ title tilt with Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 has been an unusually heated affair for the long-standing light heavyweight champion. While we’ve seen Jones irked in the past, we’ve never seen him break kayfabe in the form of a full-on fist fight at a press conference before, which usually marks the beginning of a new chapter in a person’s life. The beef between Bones and Cormier appears to be legitimate and has earned the matchup a ton of additional eyes, so it would be a huge mistake on the UFC’s part *not* to use this hate-filled storyline to market the fight, right? Especially while in the midst of a(nother) pay-per-view slump?

The Grudge Match™ has been one of the most reliable marketing gimmicks of the Zuffa era — second only to “If ___ beats ___, then pound-for-pound.” — and surely a scheme that will likely earn Jones a hefty bump in his cut of the PPV revenue. But according to the champ himself, all the money in the world isn’t worth everyone knowing that he is a two-faced, fakey fakerson. (Ed note: Sorry, my 7-year-old nephew is in town for the holidays and keeps jacking my laptop.)

As Bones recently told UFC Tonight (via MMAMania):

When I first saw [the now infamous ad for UFC 182] I was a little offended by it. That UFC — someone who is supposed to be backing my brand and making me look good — would put up something like that for the general public to see. I don’t think it’s really healthy for the world to see their champion — for the world to see UFC’s champion — saying I would kill someone. That really took me off guard. I didn’t really think it was in my best interest, but it was for UFC’s best interest, so I kind of had to swallow my pride. I said it.


(“Hey pussy, are you still there?” via…who are we kidding, it’s already been taken down.)

The lead-up to Jon Jones‘ title tilt with Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 has been an unusually heated affair for the long-standing light heavyweight champion. While we’ve seen Jones irked in the past, we’ve never seen him break kayfabe in the form of a full-on fist fight at a press conference before, which usually marks the beginning of a new chapter in a person’s life. The beef between Bones and Cormier appears to be legitimate and has earned the matchup a ton of additional eyes, so it would be a huge mistake on the UFC’s part *not* to use this hate-filled storyline to market the fight, right? Especially while in the midst of a(nother) pay-per-view slump?

The Grudge Match™ has been one of the most reliable marketing gimmicks of the Zuffa era — second only to “If ___ beats ___, then pound-for-pound.” — and surely a scheme that will likely earn Jones a hefty bump in his cut of the PPV revenue. But according to the champ himself, all the money in the world isn’t worth everyone knowing that he is a two-faced, fakey fakerson. (Ed note: Sorry, my 7-year-old nephew is in town for the holidays and keeps jacking my laptop.)

As Bones recently told UFC Tonight (via MMAMania):

When I first saw [the now infamous ad for UFC 182] I was a little offended by it. That UFC — someone who is supposed to be backing my brand and making me look good — would put up something like that for the general public to see. I don’t think it’s really healthy for the world to see their champion — for the world to see UFC’s champion — saying I would kill someone. That really took me off guard. I didn’t really think it was in my best interest, but it was for UFC’s best interest, so I kind of had to swallow my pride. I said it.

Oh, so you don’t wike it dat da UFC is makin’ you wook bad? WELL LOOK AT POWAH WITTLE JAWN. (Ed note: God dammit, Milo! You know that our WordPress can’t handle all these edits!!)

Knock Jones all you want, but you simply have to respect his consistency when it comes to shirking all responsibility for an incident he played a definitive role in and then martyring himself after the fact. For Christ’s sake, Jones said he was caught off guard…by the things he said! What a world!

“I, Jon Jones, am truly the victim here. Yeah, I might have threatened a man’s life on live television moments after starting a fight that I definitely wasn’t proud of, but for the UFC to promote my fight with those things I said and did? To make money? WON’T YOU THINK OF THE CHILDREN, DANA!!!!”

Who knows, maybe this interview was just the latest in what has been a series of blatantly trollish moves by the light heavyweight champion. But if Jones really is still banking on the idea that the masses will suddenly accept him as a genuine, down-to-earth guy at this point in his career, than maybe he’s not trolling us at all. Maybe Jon Jones is just f*cking crazy. And I honestly, I like crazy (minus that whole “defending Bill Cosby” thing).

I guess it isn’t really worth putting that much thought into. If Jones beats DC on January 4th, he’ll probably come out saying what a “really smart personal career decision” this whole thing was and everyone will somehow find it in them to hate him even more.

–J. Jones