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While Chael Sonnen has long admitted that Jon Jones is the best fighter in the game today, “The American Gangster” has also been very critical of “Bones” for various reasons. Among them is his star power and ability to draw attention to his fights.
To hear Chael tell it, Jones — while dominant — should welcome questions about challenges that lay before him moving forward similar to what Max Holloway does. Instead of getting “upset” at potential questions of troubles that could lie ahead of him, Chael says the current Light Heavyweight champion should meet those questions head on to draw more interest.
“All you want as a fighter is a question,” said Chael (via BJpenn.com) “You want the fans to constantly … as a fighter, as an athlete you wanna make sure there is no question. You wanna prove your point, you wanna shut everybody up, you wanna earn the respect.”
“However, from a business standpoint you don’t ever want that to happen. You want there to always be questions. How will that go? How would this guy do against this opponent?”
Holloway erased all questions regarding whether or not he could stifle Frankie Edgar’s pace and wrestling at UFC 240 last Saturday night (July 27, 2019) with another dominant performance. It was something Max was anxious to do, as he was constantly met with those question prior to that fight. He responded by saying he was up for the task.
According to Chael, however, Jones somehow fails to do that in the leadup to his fights.
“I’ll use Jon Jones on the counter side of this. Jon Jones does not want there to be any questions. If you question Jon Jones, you have then disrespected him. He will then be upset,” said Chael before personally attacking Jon.
“Jon Jones is stupid. Jon Jones is one of the best fighters to ever fight and he doesn’t fight to sold out arenas, and he’s not gonna fight in front of a sold out arena for a meaningful period of time,” he added while saying he needs the help of his arch-rival, Daniel Cormier, to sell out arenas.
“He could not sell out an arena right now unless he was opposite Daniel Cormier. The reason, he’s stupid. He doesn’t understand the questions that the fans have is what makes them sit down and tune in. If they know how the movie ends, they’re not going to want to watch it as much as if they can speculate. So for Max, he’s in a very good spot business-wise because there are still questions.”
Chael and Jon have never had the best of relationships. Even after “Bones” dominated “The American Gangster” at UFC 159 six years ago, the beef between the two men is still alive and well.
Prior to his previous title defense against Thiago Santos, Jon did play down “Marreta’s” punching power after he was asked how he’d do against a hard-hitting man such as him by simply saying he’s done it before. Then again, one can’t blame “Bones” for being too confident in his skills.
His team, meanwhile, gets what Chael is saying as they took it upon themselves to say that Thiago’s punching power was something that worried them. Do you (dis) agree with Chael’s comments?