It was as if Lesnar’s previous four years fighting in the UFC, which included two years as the promotion’s heavyweight champion, was all a dream. The WWE fans in attendance at Miami’s American Airlines Arena welcomed Brock like he’d never left, and the Next Big Thing clearly hadn’t lost an ounce of his old swagger. Lesnar entered the ring, and without a whole lot of preamble, picked up Cena, spun him to the mat with his trademark F-5, then soccer-kicked Cena’s stupid little hat.
It was as if Lesnar’s previous four years fighting in the UFC, which included two years as the promotion’s heavyweight champion, was all a dream. The WWE fans in attendance at Miami’s American Airlines Arena welcomed Brock like he’d never left, and the Next Big Thing clearly hadn’t lost an ounce of his old swagger. Lesnar entered the ring, and without a whole lot of preamble, picked up Cena, spun him to the mat with his trademark F-5, then soccer-kicked Cena’s stupid little hat.
(You might look at this picture and see a black guy and a white rabbit. But all I see is two cool friends, hanging out. / Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Weinberg)
It was recently announced that UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones would be participating as an honorary race official for the 2012 Daytona 500, which goes down this Sunday, February 26th, at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida, and will be broadcast on FOX. “I am thrilled to be able to serve as honorary race official at this year’s Daytona 500, NASCAR’s premier event,” Jones said in a press release. “Like the UFC, NASCAR has a passionate and knowledgeable fan base, and I am honored that I will get to share this experience with them.”
It’s funny…when you think of who the UFC might want to represent them at a high-profile NASCAR race, you’d probably assume it would be a woodsy outdoorsman, or an outspoken right-wing patriot. A white guy, is what I’m saying. Then again, Jones is hands-down one of the UFC’s biggest stars, and he adds some racial diversity to a sporting event that desperately needs it. And I mean desperately.
(You might look at this picture and see a black guy and a white rabbit. But all I see is two cool friends, hanging out. / Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Weinberg)
It was recently announced that UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones would be participating as an honorary race official for the 2012 Daytona 500, which goes down this Sunday, February 26th, at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida, and will be broadcast on FOX. “I am thrilled to be able to serve as honorary race official at this year’s Daytona 500, NASCAR’s premier event,” Jones said in a press release. “Like the UFC, NASCAR has a passionate and knowledgeable fan base, and I am honored that I will get to share this experience with them.”
It’s funny…when you think of who the UFC might want to represent them at a high-profile NASCAR race, you’d probably assume it would be a woodsy outdoorsman, or an outspoken right-wing patriot. A white guy, is what I’m saying. Then again, Jones is hands-down one of the UFC’s biggest stars, and he adds some racial diversity to a sporting event that desperately needs it. And I mean desperately.
In case you don’t follow stock-car racing, there haven’t been any black drivers in the highest levels of the sport since Bill Lester left NASCAR in 2007. The Sprint Cup Series has recognized that this is a problem, and has tried to make up for it by launching their Drive for Diversity program, and hiring Lenny Kravitz to perform at Sunday’s pre-race show. So between Jones and Kravitz, they’ve already got 1.5 African-Americans in public positions at the Daytona 500.
So what will Jones be doing in his honorary role? We’re not exactly sure. He definitely won’t be starting the race, though — that honor goes to WWE veteran John Cena. Forget the racial angle for a minute, and consider that UFC champions are still dealing with a different glass ceiling. No matter how successful you become as a cage-fighter, you’re still a second-class citizen compared to an aging pro wrestler. Shame on you, society.
Light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones is incredibly similar to WWE superstar John Cena.Both of these athletes are arguably the most successful in their respected sport/entertainment, but once the music sounds, they usually walk out to a chorus o…
Light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones is incredibly similar to WWE superstar John Cena.
Both of these athletes are arguably the most successful in their respected sport/entertainment, but once the music sounds, they usually walk out to a chorus of boos. So why is that?
Like many good, old-fashioned Americans, my childhood was consumed with wrestling. My passion for wrestling followed me through the years until Cena got the push of a lifetime. I didn’t mind it at first, but then I started noticing the cheers turn to boos.
Once I realized the WWE was trying to reenact the second coming of Hulk Hogan through Cena, my passion for wrestling would never be the same, and I found a new addiction in MMA.
Fast forward five or six years later, and I can’t help but notice the chorus of boos surrounding the UFC’s most marketable superstar. When Cena first came to RAW, he wowed fans with his charisma, hard work and his “raw” abilities to put on a solid match. No pun intended.
The same could be said about Jones when he came to the UFC. His dynamic striking, unorthodox style and ability to toss the likes of Stephan Bonnar and Matt Hammill anywhere he pleased was something MMA fans had never seen before.
Some could make the argument that Jones is the best talent to ever take on MMA, and you wouldn’t get an argument out of me. This guy was all the MMA community was talking about, and his popularity grew immensely with every flashy victory. But then something happened.
The cheers turned to boos, and to this day, I still haven’t figured out the sole purpose for all of these boos. In fact, I somewhat feel sorry for Jones in the same way I feel bad for Cena when he gets booed out of the building. That’s still going on nowadays by the way.
When you think about it—what did Cena do to get booed? All he’s ever done is pour his heart and soul into wrestling, and it’s the fault of the WWE that fans have grown to hate him. They’re the ones who made him this invincible character, not Cena.
Now when it comes to the Jones hate, I can’t quite put my finger on it. My theory is that fans don’t like Jones because they believe he’s putting on an act. What he calls confidence, fans call cockiness, and they believe everything about him is fake.
I’m not sold on that theory because I feel like he is a genuine person. However, I’ll admit that when he doesn’t cuss in interviews, after seeing him cuss in one of Dana White’s video blogs, well, it seems forced.
In one of White’s video blogs leading up to Jones’ first championship fight, he called White to tell him about taking down the mugger. Jones was obviously excited, and he let out a couple of cuss words. Hours later, the UFC took the video down, and since then, things took a turn for the worse with Jones and MMA fans.
I understand that he’s trying to to be a positive role model for kids, but hot-headed fans don’t think about that. Another similarity between the two has been their short rise to the top. They quickly became the face of their entities, and fans generally want to see the blue collar guy rise to the top after going through one challenge after another. But these two were naturals when it came to entertaining the fans.
Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t deny that they fill seats and they are well-known for what they do. You may not love Jones or Cena, but don’t be surprised when you see them on SportsCenter and doing PR across the Unites States.
Ultimately, I believe Jones will win over the fans in the MMA community just like Anderson Silva did in his comeback victory over Chael Sonnen. Maybe that’s what Bones needs—a “Sonnen” to push him to the limits and challenge him both mentally and spiritually inside the Octagon.
As for Cena, well, he’s still getting his chorus of boos, but he has his hardcore fans behind him each and every week. He’s the biggest face in the WWE, and he’s well on his way to being considered the greatest WWE “superstar” of all-time. He’s got there because of his hard work and everything he’s put into the ring.
So don’t mind the haters, Jones, things ended up turning out just fine for Cena, and I have a feeling the same will happen to you. Win the audience over through your hard work and dedication. That’s the ingredients that can make a Cena hater write an article praising the guy. Here’s your proof.
Triple H is one of the most successful professional wrestlers in the history of the sport. He is even the heir apparent to the empire grown by his father-in-law, Vince McMahon, who has made his WWE product into a household name. In recent days, howev…
Triple H is one of the most successful professional wrestlers in the history of the sport. He is even the heir apparent to the empire grown by his father-in-law, Vince McMahon, who has made his WWE product into a household name.
In recent days, however, Triple H has made some controversial remarks regarding another company which the WWE has repeatedly claimed that it is not in competition with—the UFC. In a recent interview, the WWE superstar told readers that the UFC needs to evolve to include more entertainment in their product.
“I think if anybody needs to evolve, it’s them,” he told MovieFone after a question about the WWE’s need to evolve to match what the UFC is doing. “Give more of an entertainment standpoint. Give more form; they just have fighters who walk in in T-shirts and shorts and just stand there and then they fight and then they win and then they go, “thanks, I’d like to thank my sponsors” and then they leave.”
On the surface, it would appear that Triple H believes that the UFC needs to be more like the WWE. He wouldn’t say that specifically, but his words certainly indicate that’s how he feels.
It can be hard to get out of an entrenched lifestyle that you’ve been in for decades, but the reality is that Triple H couldn’t be more off-base than he is. Whether he or the decision-makers in the WWE want to admit it, it’s their company that needs to evolve with the times or fall by the wayside.
(Word Life? Nevermind. Cena is brilliant. He can communicate without the use of verbs, adjectives or pronouns.)
Before all the Pro Wrestling fanatics jump all over me for the title of this post, read the quote below, then take a deep breath and think a…
(Word Life? Nevermind. Cena is brilliant. He can communicate without the use of verbs, adjectives or pronouns.)
Before all the Pro Wrestling fanatics jump all over me for the title of this post, read the quote below, then take a deep breath and think about things in perspective.
Cena, who is a native of Newbury, Massachusetts, was asked about what he thought about the UFC coming to Boston last weekend, likely by an oblivious reporter ,who, like many mainstream scribes, think that MMA and WWE are just variations of the same acronym. Why else would you ask a wrestler to talk about a sport that has as much to do with his profession as hunting does to being a butcher?
Here’s Cena’s well thought out reply which likely earned him a bonus from Vince McMahon:
"It’s just not something that particularly interests me," Cena told The Boston Globe ahead of UFC 118. "UFC is where boxing was years ago, and I was never really into boxing, either."
In town for last night’s WWE "Monday Night Raw" at the TD Garden, Cena said he prefers professional wrestling because it’s "regulated entertainment that’s safe for anyone to enjoy." And UFC? "It is what it is," he said. "It can be pretty over the top, and it’s not something I’d want my children to watch."
Light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones is incredibly similar to WWE superstar John Cena.