Despite the fact that UFC star Jon Jones will make his fifth title defense against one of the biggest trash talkers in the sport, the young champion doesn’t care about hyping the fight.
In fact, he says he “couldn’t care less” about it.
Although fans may have expected Jones would respond directly to Chael Sonnen and his latest pre-fight promo from UFC Tonight on Fuel TV, the Greg Jackson’s MMA prodigy told his followers on Twitter that he’s fine with leaving the talking to his challenger.
Nope that’s for you guys to eat up “@simplyslayinem: Are you gonna respond to sonnens latest vlog about you @jonnybones ?” — Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) April 5, 2013
I could care less about promoting my game is winning — Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) April 5, 2013
Winning < finishing people — Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) April 5, 2013
Despite Jones’ claims that he’s unconcerned with hyping his fight, that hasn’t stopped him from giving a scathing review of Sonnen as a fighter.
During a recent UFC interview, Jones stated that the former middleweight contender was simply a ‘weak’ fighter without “a championship soul,” who lost title fights because he didn’t believe in himself:
Guys like Muhammad Ali said a lot of things that were bold statements. The difference between guys like Muhammad Ali and Chael is that guys like Muhammad Ali actually believed. No matter how much [Sonnen] tries to convince himself that he’s going to win this fight or that he’s a champion without a belt, he just doesn’t believe. And that’s why he comes up short in every opportunity he gets to be a champion.
Regardless of what Jones says on Twitter, he and Sonnen have been naturally been ramping up their banter in the build to UFC 159, both off-the-cuff and as part of their contractual duties.
Strangely, Jones and Sonnen seemed to bury the hatchet on their rivalry during The Ultimate Fighter 17 in Episode 9.
But with a manufactured grudge or not, both men will settle things soon enough when they face off on April 27 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Jones will enter UFC 159 on an eight-fight winning streak, including five successful championship bout victories over Mauricio Rua, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans and Vitor Belfort.
Sonnen is 3-2 in his last five fights, with two losses to middleweight champion Anderson Silva—the first of which Sonnen nearly won via unanimous decision before getting caught in a Hail Mary armbar-triangle submission from Silva.
Although Sonnen hasn’t competed in the UFC’s 205-pound division since a 2005 bout against MMA veteran Renato Sobral, the Oregon native became the No. 1 contender to Jones’ title in the wake of the infamously canceled UFC 151 event. With roughly a week to prepare for a new opponent after Dan Henderson turned up injured, Jones ended up pulling out of the card altogether when Sonnen was announced as a last-minute replacement.
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