It wasn’t too long ago that the adjective most used to describe UFC light heavyweight Jon Jones was humble. These days you would be hard-pressed to find anything written about Jones that uses that word in any way other than “the once-humble Jon Jones.” The current overused descriptions of Jones seem to be cocky and arrogant.
When Jones made his UFC debut at UFC 87, he was a 21-year old kid, with less than one year of training under his belt. Jones entered that August 2008 bout against Andre Gusmao having finished all six of his professional fights since making his MMA debut that same year. Jones, an unknown quantity, entered the fight as the underdog, +200 to Gusmao’s -240.
Jones showed some solid wrestling during the unanimous decision victory, but he was an unpolished fighter, a young man with potential that had not yet been harnessed.
For his next bout, at UFC 94, the promotion matched him up against Stephan Bonnar. Again Jones was the underdog, but not by as much as he was in his UFC debut. The fight against Bonnar would be the last fight that Jones would be the underdog. It would also be a fight where we saw Jones’ confidence and skill take a giant leap forward, foreshadowing the fighter he would become.
Jones’ star would continue to rise at UFC 100, when he earned his first stoppage in the UFC, forcing Jake O’Brien to tap via a guillotine choke. The O’Brien victory would lead to a fight against Matt Hamill. In order to get ready for the Hamill fight, Jones moved his camp to Jackson’s MMA, joining a team that included another top light heavyweight, Rashad Evans.
After dominating Hamill on the ground, Jones made a mistake that cost him the fight, delivering illegal 12-to-6 elbows to Hamill. After the disqualification loss, we got to see the philosophical side of Jones, who despite receiving the first blemish on his record, came across as positive.
Jones told Joe Rogan during his in-cage interview, “I’ve heard so many times that when you lose you come back a better, stronger person. Regardless of the outcome, God is still really good to me and life is so great and I’m just so grateful for being healthy. Everything happens for a reason.”
It was that type of humility that endeared Jones to fans early in his career; there was no bravado, no boasting, just a young man trying to be the best he could be in a violent sport.
In his next fight, Jones faced Brandon Vera and like the fighters before him, Vera could not stop the juggernaut that Jones was becoming. Vera had Jones in his guard, but after eating several strikes to the head, the fighter that was once touted as a possible champion, turned away, looking to referee Herb Dean to save him from further damage.
After the Vera fight, Jones faced veteran Vladimir Matyushenko in the main event of a UFC on Versus card. The fight left no doubt that Jones was ready to take the next step up the ladder as he made quick and easy work of Matyushenko.
After the victory ,Jones was asked some leading questions by Joe Rogan, but he never took the bait, offering praise to his opponent, deferring to the UFC as to who his next opponent should be and then ending the interview with a nod to Anchorman, “Hey, you stay classy, San Diego.”
While Jones was moving up the light heavyweight rankings, his teammate Rashad Evans had lined himself up for a shot at then UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio Rua. Unfortunately, an injury to Rua postponed that bout.
By the time Rua had healed, Jones had sustained a training-camp injury, forcing him out of the fight against Rua. That injury presented an opportunity to Jones, who faced Ryan Bader shortly after the injury to Evans came to light.
Jones took the fight to Bader at UFC 126, forcing him to tap at the 4:20 mark of Round Two. Joe Rogan then revealed that Jones would receive the title shot that Evans had to step away from when he was injured.
During that interview we saw some of the confidence of Jones come out when he said, “I feel so confident every time I come in here, I feel it’s my time and I’m hungry, I’m going for it, I want it.”
Shortly after the announcement that Jones would face Rua, Evans told MMALive that he would change weight classes if Jones would capture the UFC title, something that Evans felt would happen.
Not long after Evans made those statements the friendship between Jones and Evans took a hit.
Jones, who had once said he would not fight his teammate proclaimed, on MMALive, “I respect Dana White a lot. If (the Rashad fight is) what he absolutely wanted to happen, then I guess that’s what would have to happen.”
Evans answered, also on MMALive, “ I am no punk. If Jon wins the (title), I have to sit down with the team and decide what to do.”
Jones’ 180 left some with a bad taste in their mouths, a feeling that was elevated when he revealed during the Countdown special for UFC 128 that he had been signing autographs as “Jon Jones Champion 2011.”
Jones offered that he was attempting to speak the championship into reality. Some, including Rua, found the move disrespectful, presumptuous and a bit cocky.
A bit more of that cockiness crept out when Jones pulled a Rickey Henderson during the same interview, referring to himself in the third person, something that always marks someone as a wee bit overconfident.
Jones did win the title, destroying Rua with relative ease at UFC 128, setting up a fight against Evans. That fight would not come to fruition as an injury to Jones’ hand kept him from competing.
There had been some talk that the fight would then take place in late 2011, but a lingering hand injury to Evans prevented that fight from being scheduled.
During this entire time,the two fighters lobbed insults at each other, with Evans focusing on the cockiness of Jones. Fans began to become more critical of Jones and perceived some of his actions as growing arrogance.
Examples of those actions included his reluctance to look his opponent in the eyes during staredowns and the fact that Jones would also not sign replica UFC title belts for fans, feeling they hadn’t earned the belt.
Another thing that some fans picked up on occurred at the end of his title defense against Lyoto Machida at UFC 140. Jones used a standing guillotine to choke Machida unconscious and then unceremoniously dropped his limp form to the mat, turning and walking away as Machida crumpled.
Jones then headed back to his corner where he heard the cries of his trainer, Greg Jackson, imploring him to “Go check on Lyoto, get some fans.”
The shouts from Jackson may have been misconstrued, as Jackson claimed when speaking to MMAJunkie. However, for many, perception is reality and the exchange, when added to the fact that Jones was already under the microscope, put Jones in a bad light in the minds of many.
So, here we are, debating if this 24-year-old UFC world champion with barely four years of professional experience is cocky or just confident. All the little things do add up, but I have to wonder, put in the same set of circumstances, how would another kid in his early 20s react.
Having such a meteoric rise through the UFC and hearing how you will one day reside among the greatest of all time in the sport would probably inflate the ego of almost anyone, no matter how humble they are.
If you add youth into that mix and the fact that he has never faced any true adversity during his rise to the top, the perceived cockiness of Jon Jones becomes a bit easier to understand.
With all this being said, with the history and the accomplishments, you can call Jones cocky, you can call Jones arrogant or self-centered, but one other thing you have to call him, is UFC light heavyweight champion.
Quotes attributed to MMALive provided by the UFC.
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