Over the last year, the public’s perception of light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones has changed drastically. He’s widely considered to be one of the best fighters in the world, but many believe that his physical abilities combined with his new-found fame have rapidly inflated his ego.
His fans and outspoken opponents have drawn attention to his self-assuredness, most notably Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans. They don’t hesitate to call him cocky.
I’ve written before about the unpresuming facade that Jones attempts to portray in his interviews and how his upcoming opponents often see right through it. Rashad Evans, the No. 1 light-heavyweight contender and former teammate of Jones, has continually poked the young lion during joint interviews over the last few months, as is evident in the video below.
Evans has continuously made claims of Jones’ conceit and has consistently shared his opinion of Jones, which is that he’s fake. Evans believes that Jones puts up this front to hide his arrogance.
During their interview on SportsNite, Evans described Jones as creative. He said, “He fights with that youth of just not knowing anything can happen. You know that youth when you just go out there and you just think that everything’s going to go the way you planned. Before you know it, it always don’t happen like that.”
This image of Jones portrayed by fans and fighters alike has become so commonplace that at times Jones has relented in his attempts at appearing humble. He’s claimed in the SportsNite and the UFC Ultimate Insider interviews to believe his own hype and to be high on himself. He believes it’s key to his success.
Their lack of respect for one another is evident as they constantly speak over and interrupt each other.
In part two of their interview on UFC Ultimate Insider, Jones explains how Evans has been known as an egotistical fighter since the beginning of his career. He stated, “I remember Rashad started all the way back on The Ultimate Fighter with the gyrating and the dancing and showboating in front of people. Matt Hughes, somebody who’s greatly respected, was one of the first to call it out. ‘Hey this kid’s a little on the cocky side’.”
The 24-year-old champion also explained that Evans’ entire reason for leaving Jackson’s camp was that he needed a training group that would focus on himself. Jones stated that the proof is in Evans’ lifestyle, that he’s loyal only to himself.
Jones clearly believes that Evans fabricated an excuse to leave and create his own camp to spite his former teammate and coaches. After their falling-out, Evans moved to Florida and created his own training team, named “Blackzilians” since the majority of the members were either black or Brazilian.
Jones claimed to have a saying that is “There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team.’ There’s no ‘I’ in ‘Jacksons.’ There’s ‘I’ in ‘Blackzilians.’”
As Jones began to speak about Greg Jackson’s team, Evans abruptly cut in, raised his voice and stated, “Don’t talk about the history of the program because, [expletive] I made that program!” They continued, back and forth, mocking and sarcastically demeaning each other.
Jones then scathingly spoke directly to Evans and said, “I really look at you as fake. I look at you as arrogant. I look at you as selfish. I look at you as self-centered. And I think your biggest thing is to try to reflect it off on me and make me seem like I’m everything that you’re feeling inside your heart.”
Evans simply looked at him with a smile.
At certain points during multiple joint interviews, Jones seemed to become weary of Evans’ taunts and mocking behavior and resorted to breaking down two of their recent opponents that they have in common. He coldly stated how Evans had trouble defeating Rampage Jackson and was knocked out “silly” by Lyoto Machida, while he finished them both.
With finality, Jones stated, “I feel like the champ in every way. And I feel like I’m going to do the same exact thing to you in April.”
While deciphering which of the pair is most cocky is extremely difficult, if not impossible, they contrast each other with one key feature. The difference between them is that Jones makes attempts to be a relaxed and confident fighter while Evans makes no claims of being humble.
Evans doesn’t hesitate to mock his former teammate while Jones always initiates the conversation with a calm and collected demeanor which he attempts to use to methodically disarm his sarcastic rival. Unfortunately for the champion, his contender knows him too well and says exactly what is needed to rile him up.
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