Tag: Jon Jones

Rampage on Jon Jones: "I Don’t Think He’s Earned That Title"

It has taken UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones only three years to soar to the top of the 205-pound ranks.There are world class fighters that have dedicated their entire lives to being the best in MMA, and Jones swoops in and makes it look like …

It has taken UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones only three years to soar to the top of the 205-pound ranks.

There are world class fighters that have dedicated their entire lives to being the best in MMA, and Jones swoops in and makes it look like a cakewalk.

It takes a special kind of fighter to do the things that Jones has done.

Former light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Jones’ UFC 135 opponent, is willing to give respect where it’s due, despite weeks of trash talk leading up to Saturday night’s championship showdown.

“You’ve got to show Jon Jones respect. He earned his respect, but I think the problem is MMA has a lot of brand new fans. That’s a good thing, and it can also be a bad thing in terms of what you’re talking about,” Rampage said in an interview with MMAWeekly Radio.

“They don’t see Shogun was rusty. He was just coming off an injury. A lot of new fans probably don’t understand that when a fighter takes a year off, coming off of injuries, Jon Jones is a very dangerous opponent for him to come back to.”

After being sidelined for nearly a year, Rua returned at UFC 128 after undergoing major knee surgery to defend his title against the surging Jones.

It’s a rare sight in any sport to see a champion dominated the way Rua was. He didn’t even look like he belonged in the same ring as Jones. Fans watched in awe as the legendary light heavyweight took the beating of his life from the 23-year-old contender.

Seeing Rua’s ring rust as the primary factor behind the outcome of the bout, Rampage isn’t as impressed with Jones as others may be. He believes Rua would’ve been better served taking a warm-up bout than returning to defend his title against someone of Jones’ caliber.

“He probably need to come back and fight somebody that’s, no disrespect to any fighter, but like a Keith Jardine or somebody like that. Honestly, in that weight class, you want to come back and fight somebody like that. You don’t want to come back fighting somebody like Jon Jones, who’s very unorthodox and unpredictable,” Rampage said.

This isn’t about being impressed with Jones’ diverse skill set. Rampage has even said himself in multiple interviews and press conferences that he believes Jones is the future of MMA.

He just feels like Jones hasn’t really faced elite level opposition, and some of the hype surrounding him is undeserved.

“The kid hasn’t fought anybody that’s really tough. He’s fought Vladimir Matyushenko, which is tough, but that wasn’t the same Vladimir Matyushenko that just fought his last fight,” said Rampage.

“Me looking at him as a fighter, I don’t think he’s earned that title and stuff yet. If he beats me on the 24th, then he’s on his way. He can claim all that, but the guy hasn’t defended his belt yet. I think they should wait a little bit before they jump on his jock too much.”

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Rampage Jackson Dislikes Jon Jones More Than Rival Rashad Evans

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DENVER — MMA Fighting spoke to Quinton Jackson on Thursday about his UFC 135 title fight against Jon Jones, whether he found the spy in his camp, the lack of respect he’s received from the oddsmakers and much more. Plus, Jackson’s training partner and friend Cheick Kongo makes an appearance, which leads to things getting a bit weird (and a tad physical) between everyone.

 

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DENVER — MMA Fighting spoke to Quinton Jackson on Thursday about his UFC 135 title fight against Jon Jones, whether he found the spy in his camp, the lack of respect he’s received from the oddsmakers and much more. Plus, Jackson’s training partner and friend Cheick Kongo makes an appearance, which leads to things getting a bit weird (and a tad physical) between everyone.

 

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Jon Jones Calls Rampage Jackson a ‘Mr. T Wannabe’

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DENVER — MMA fighting spoke to Jon Jones on Thursday about his UFC 135 title fight against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, his new beard, going on a media tour with Jackson, some of the criticism he’s received as of late, Jackson’s issues with him, how he sees this fight playing out and more.

 

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DENVER — MMA fighting spoke to Jon Jones on Thursday about his UFC 135 title fight against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, his new beard, going on a media tour with Jackson, some of the criticism he’s received as of late, Jackson’s issues with him, how he sees this fight playing out and more.

 

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Rampage Jackson Says Jon Jones Disrespected His Coach at Open Workouts

DENVER — At Thursday afternoon’s UFC 135 open workouts Quinton “Rampage” Jackson continued to blast UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones for what he interpreted as disrespect, but this time he had a new accusation to level at his opponent.

“He ba…

DENVER — At Thursday afternoon’s UFC 135 open workouts Quinton “Rampage” Jackson continued to blast UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones for what he interpreted as disrespect, but this time he had a new accusation to level at his opponent.

“He badmouthed my coach today, here at the open workout,” Jackson told reporters. “That’s not right. The kid has no respect for nobody. He needs to be humbled.”

The coach in question was British boxing coach Mark Kinney, a stout veteran of the fight game who told MMA Fighting that Jones was “just trying to wind me up.”

“He said something to me and then I said something back to him,” said Kinney, who declined to reveal exactly what was said, but painted Jones as the instigator. “I’m not going to lose sleep over it,” he added.


In Jackson’s mind, it was just the latest example of disrespectful behavior from Jones, who had long since disappeared from the MusclePharm gym by the time Jackson made the accusation to reporters.

“It’s very disrespectful what he did to my coach,” Jackson said. “You don’t come up to your opponent’s coach and talk crap. For the honor and respect of this sport, you don’t do that. Jon Jones says I fight for money, and this and that and he fights for fun and honor and stuff like that. But he’s not showing the [signs] of a fighter who fights for honor. Yes, I fight for money, because this is the career I chose. But at the same time I have a lot of honor and respect for this sport and other fighters.”

But Kinney, the man who was supposedly disrespected, brushed off the incident as a fairly tame run-in. Maybe Jones was feeling just a little too confident in the days leading up to the fight, he suggested, but the champ could be in for a surprise.

After Saturday night, Kinney said, no one will be asking about what Jones said to him or whether he really had a spy in Jackson’s camp. “They’re going to be asking about his concussion. They’re going to be asking whether he’ll be in hospital for two weeks or four.”

Both Kinney and Jackson continued to insist that Jones had someone on the inside of the challenger’s training camp feeding him information, but neither would say who it was. Jackson said he eventually found out the identity of the so-called spy, and his manager took action against him.

“Let’s just say he’s hurting financially right now,” Jackson said. “But we did find the spy, and as I suspected he wasn’t a fighter.”

And while most people are counting Jackson out against the taller, lankier Jones, Kinney hinted that the team has a plan for getting inside the champion’s longer reach and doing damage in close. Of course, he wasn’t eager to divulge that information with the fight still two days away.

“But he’ll get inside,” Kinney said. “Trust me.”

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UFC 135: Jon Jones Is the New Tito Ortiz

He’s the guy you love to hate but can’t take your eyes off of. His name is Jon “Bones” Jones and he is the future of MMA according to some pundits. He has provided fans with some spectacular highlights in his UFC bouts. He seemi…

He’s the guy you love to hate but can’t take your eyes off of.

His name is Jon “Bones” Jones and he is the future of MMA according to some pundits. He has provided fans with some spectacular highlights in his UFC bouts. He seemingly has no weakness as is evident by his impressive, unorthodox method of striking combined with his impressive wrestling ability.

Jones also presents a rare talent in the MMA world. The ability to make people pay $50 to watch him succeed and fail. People have become so entranced by his personality as of late, his pre-fight interviews almost mean as much to fans as his performance in the cage does.

The last man I can remember being hated and liked by so many people at the same time is Tito Ortiz.

Ortiz burst onto the scene with a 31-second knock out of Wes Albritton, but that is not the moment he became a star. After beating Guy Mezger, Ortiz donned a shirt that read, “Guy Mezger is my *****”.

This caught the ire of Mezger’s coach, Ken Shamrock and thus, one of (if not the first) the UFC’s “mega feuds” was born.

Although most fans believed Shamrock was no match for the powerful Ortiz, many believed Chuck Liddell was Ortiz’s kryptonite.

Liddell had arguably faced tougher competition but the title fight between the two never materialized. This lead fans to believe Ortiz was ducking Liddell to keep his belt.

The situation became even more blurred when Ortiz claimed that he and Liddell were friends and wouldn’t fight each other while Liddell replied that there never was a friendship.

Ortiz’s cocky attitude while avoiding his toughest challenge made him one of the more disliked fighters of his time.

Eventually Liddell and Ortiz did meet in the cage and the results went the way most fans pictured it. Ortiz struggled to wrestle Chuck to the ground and Liddell blasted Oritz with one of the most thunderous combinations seen inside the Octagon.

Jones didn’t go overboard to gain attention like Ortiz did, but he still has a collection of moments that culminated into a big one.

The first event took place following a UFC on Versus event. Jones was speaking in the post fight show and admitted that he would fight teammate Rashad Evans if Dana White wanted him to. His reasoning was that he did not want to get fired.

Jones must’ve completely forgotten that Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick are all still employed by the UFC.

Immediately after hearing this, Evans, who had been a self proclaimed good friend with Jones, became angered at the young prospect.

Evans’ subsequent knee injury allowed Jones to slip into Evans’ place against then champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. It was this match that provided fans with ammo in the anti-Jon Jones crusade.

Before the fight, Jon Jones began signing autographs, “Jon Jones Champion 2011.” Fans became turned off of Jones and his “forced” humble attitude.

Following the destruction of Rua, fans were foaming at the mouth for the prospect of Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans in a title fight. The two men engaged in a war of words that involved their coaches and even some racial barbs.

The mega match was not to be however as Jones pulled out of his fight, citing the need for hand surgery. Evans, who had waited over a year to receive his title shot, was forced to take a fight against young prospect Phil Davis.

After a replacement for Jones’ was found, his manager released a statement saying Jones wasn’t going to do the surgery after all. Worse yet, Jones’ manager said it was an old injury that Jones had been fighting with since his college days.

Almost overnight, the blogosphere became lit up with “Jon Jones is scared of Rashad Evans” theories. Although not as clear as the Chuck Liddell vs Tito Ortiz predictions were, a large group of fans believe Evans has the tools to defeat the seemingly invincible champion.

Many fans and fighters are picking Jones to beat Quinton “Rampage” Jackson this Saturday night at UFC 135, which means Evans would be next in line for a title fight.  Regardless of the predictions, fans are going to tune in to see Jones dominate another world champion or to see him be knocked unconscious.

The real winner in this situation, as was the case with Chuck and Tito, is the UFC. If Jones wins, they have their mega fight with Jones vs. Evans. If Jones loses, they could still conceivably make Jones vs. Evans while at the same time have the ability to recreate one of their more successful PPVs with a Evans vs Rampage rematch.

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Jon Jones Admits He’s a Spy. As Proof, Gives Interview in British Accent (VIDEO)

Well, to all the analysts saying that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has gotten into Jon Jones‘ head, Jones looks out to prove that he knows how to f*ck with people right back. Jones gave a radio.

Well, to all the analysts saying that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has gotten into Jon Jones‘ head, Jones looks out to prove that he knows how to f*ck with people right back. Jones gave a radio interview with MMA Nation on 106.7 in Washington, D.C., never breaking from a British accent and admits he got caught spying on Jackson’s training camp. It’s a different attempt for Jones to show a sense of humor and mess around like this, but almost a failed attempt, with trying to show he’s not “cocky” as Rampage and Rashad Evans claim. Come on, Jones… the British aren’t exactly known for being humble and it’s probably not a good idea to remind us of Michael Bisping.