On being Mr. Cool in high school: “I had a lot of acne growing up…I was really insecure throughout high school. I was never really popular or anything. Like, I sung in jazz choir. But I just hung in there. And now…everything’s changed.”
[Ed. note: CagePotato.com will pay $50 for exclusive footage of Jon Jones singing in jazz choir. No questions asked.]
On pathetic fanboys and their replica belts: “I hate when people come up to me with a belt that looks exactly like mine and ask me to sign it. It’s like, excuse me, I worked out three times a day for three years to get this belt, and now you have one that looks just like mine? Are you serious? I never sign them. I’m like, dude, it’s personal. I sign absolutely anything anybody ever asks me except belts. I sign shoes, shirts…boobs.”
Read the rest of MadeMan’s interview with Jon Jones right here…
On being Mr. Cool in high school: “I had a lot of acne growing up…I was really insecure throughout high school. I was never really popular or anything. Like, I sung in jazz choir. But I just hung in there. And now…everything’s changed.”
[Ed. note: CagePotato.com will pay $50 for exclusive footage of Jon Jones singing in jazz choir. No questions asked.]
On pathetic fanboys and their replica belts: “I hate when people come up to me with a belt that looks exactly like mine and ask me to sign it. It’s like, excuse me, I worked out three times a day for three years to get this belt, and now you have one that looks just like mine? Are you serious? I never sign them. I’m like, dude, it’s personal. I sign absolutely anything anybody ever asks me except belts. I sign shoes, shirts…boobs.”
Read the rest of MadeMan’s interview with Jon Jones right here…
Jon Jones is one of a kind. Following his victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 126, no one would of imagined the 24-year-old emerging as the new perennial contender to challenge for the light heavyweight title, but he did. And when the opportunity prese…
Jon Jones is one of a kind.
Following his victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 126, no one would of imagined the 24-year-old emerging as the new perennial contender to challenge for the light heavyweight title, but he did. And when the opportunity presented itself six weeks later, Jones made the most of it and put on one of the most dominant performances in UFC history.
Now, as champion, Jones will face a stiff challenge in Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in his first title defense at UFC 135.
In Jackson, he faces an aggressive striker with technical boxing, knockout power, and good wrestling skills, but has since been touted as one-dimensional since his transition to the UFC in 2007. Most people are expecting the champion to walk away from this weekend unscathed, and quite possibly, to have a lengthy title reign.
But leading up to the event, Jones’ persona and image has taken a considerable hit with some fans and media, as they have questioned his mentality. Fellow adversaries like Jackson and Rashad Evans have publicly stated on many occasions that Jones isn’t what he’s made himself out to be—a humble, respectful and classy fighter—and rather an arrogant, disrespectful and inexperienced champion. And while he has remained true to himself, there have been glimpses in recent interviews where he has come off as cocky, and at some points, weird, to say the least.
It is a true fact that a champion isn’t a real champion until he successfully defends his title and Jones has yet to achieve that accomplishment. The light heavyweight division has been plagued with bad luck as of late and has not seen a successful title defense since Jackson held the belt, dethroning Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson in 2007.
So when he faces Jackson this weekend, Jones will be under more pressure than before, considering the amount of the hype and attention surrounding him. Not to mention, he will be facing an opponent who has seemingly rededicated himself to the sport and motivated to reclaim the title, a rare sight not seen since he captured it from Liddell.
Blessed with talent, strength and athleticism, Jones has all the potential to make his tenure at light heavyweight a lengthy one and make him one of the greatest fighters of all-time. But if he is unable to withstand the pressure and expectations that come along with being a successful champion, we could be witnessing one of the biggest collapses in mixed martial arts history.
This Saturday night, one of the more anticipated UFC fight cards will be under way.The main event of UFC 135 is the light heavyweight title fight of Jon “Bones” Jones vs. challenger Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Jones versus Jackson is a bout that in…
This Saturday night, one of the more anticipated UFC fight cards will be under way.
The main event of UFC 135 is the light heavyweight title fight of Jon “Bones” Jones vs. challenger Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Jones versus Jackson is a bout that intrigues fight fans for a couple of reasons.
Rampage is trying to return to the Rampage of the late 2000’s, while Jones has emerged as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
This is a true match of old blood versus new blood, and I think the “new breed” of fighter, Jon Jones, will be able to handle the older Rampage Jackson.
DENVER — Quinton “Rampage” Jackson walked into the UFC 135 pre-fight press conference on Wednesday looking more irritated than upset.
Between the oddsmakers and fans who are counting him out of this weekend’s title fight entirely, to the grinning young champion who Jackson insists is too “cocky,” everywhere Jackson looks he finds another reason to scowl. Now that fight week is finally here, even that familiar gesture seems barely worth the effort to him.
“I don’t want to sit here and disrespect ‘Rampage…'” UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones said when asked how he sees Saturday night’s fight ending.
“Go ahead, Jon,” Jackson all but sighed into the microphone. “You’ve been doing it before.”
“You’ve been doing it, too,” Jones shot back. And he had a point. Only minutes earlier Jackson had talked about how much he enjoyed his training camp in Denver, where he visited the zoo and “made a friend” — a monkey that he said looked just like Jones.
Somehow, though, it didn’t seem to matter. Jackson and light heavyweight nemesis Rashad Evans have branded Jones as cocky and it seems to have stuck. Jones, not surprisingly, chalked it all up to fellow fighters looking for any insult they could find and their fans going along for the ride.
“It could have been any other word,” he said. As for claims from both Jackson and Evans that he puts on a phony persona in public, the champ insisted it was “funny” to him, saying, “a lot of people don’t even know me, so how do you know if I’m fake?”
If Jones is feeling good about his chances, there are plenty who think he has a reason to. The 24-year-old champion is as high as a 7-1 favorite against the 33-year-old Jackson, according to some oddsmakers. It’s a faith in the relatively untested Jones — or, if you prefer, a lack of confidence in the weary veteran Jackson — that UFC president Dana White called “crazy.”
“Seriously, all of us sitting here today, all the media and all of us who have been involved in the sport for as long as we have, do you honestly think that Rampage is a 5-1 underdog in this fight?” White said.
To hear the UFC boss tell it, this is exactly the kind of fight that Jackson needed to get his head right and his body ready. He’s been in Denver training at the Muscle Pharm gym for the last few months, which, at least to White, demonstrates a level of commitment to his preparation that Jackson hasn’t always been known for.
“Rampage is pretty miserable right now,” White said. “We were in the back…he’s pretty nasty for this fight. This is going to be an interesting fight. He hates Jon Jones. Hates him. He feels like he’s been disrespected and wants to win this fight. It’s good for Rampage. This is what Rampage needs.”
But as nice as it is to think that Jackson finally got fired up enough to train hard, that might not be enough against the young phenom Jones. The champion is taller, faster, and younger. At the press conference he showed off his Hollywood smile as he explained that he can take a shot better than most older fighters because he has a “fresh chin” that hasn’t been hammered by too many blows just yet.
“I’m a 24 year-old guy, still growing pubic hair,” he joked, explaining that he trains not get hit at all, rather than simply not getting hit hard. “I focus on things like evading and slipping and…”
Here, Jackson interrupted again, suggesting, “…and running.”
“I haven’t disrespected you, have I?” Jones asked.
“Not today,” Jackson replied.
But then, the day was still young. And when you’re looking for signs of disrespect around every corner, as Jackson seems to be, it never takes long before you find it.
It could be as simple as a smiling young opponent on the other side of the podium, joking with fans, mugging for cameras, looking as unconcerned about you as he was about any of the other challenges he’s faced and — at least so far — easily overcome. And why should he worry, when he’s never known anything but success in this business? Why should he think this time will be any different? How could he?
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson: “I want my belt back!” And I want to be able to grow a Don Frye moustache and do more than six pull-ups in the company of a lady friend, but we don’t always get what we want. Despite the fact, ou…
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson: “I want my belt back!”
And I want to be able to grow a Don Frye moustache and do more than six pull-ups in the company of a lady friend, but we don’t always get what we want.
Despite the fact, our blessed souls will keep swinging for the fences in hopes of achieving the impossible.
As a champion or contender, Rampage is and has been far too one-dimensional throughout his career to defeat somebody as multi-dimensional as current UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones.
In the world of video games, Rampage’s skill set would be the equivalent of Atari, a solid blast from the past still pushing Pong, while Jones would be Playstation 4, Sony’s yet-to-be-seen 3D gaming system. To quell my fellow gaming nerds, I realize PS4 has only been rumored—virally on YouTube—to possess some next level 3D-game playing, but it’s as good an analogy as you need to get the point.
This Saturday at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo., Jones and Rampage will finally get the opportunity to back up their verbal barrages and do the man-dance for the light-heavyweight championship at UFC 135.
Unfortunately for the former champ, the cards and odds are stacked against Rampage, and for good reason. While this fight signifies Jones’ first title defense—the 24-year-old completely tooled then champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua back in the spring of this year after being in the UFC for only three years—his senior opponent last held gold back in July 2008.
During the span of eight UFC fights, Jones has consistently proven his mental dexterity as one of the youngest and most successful Octagon competitors the company has ever produced. It doesn’t seem to matter who is standing on the other side of the cage; Jones performs nothing short of spectacular.
Whether he is fighting a seasoned veteran in Vladimir Matyushenko, Muay Thai specialists like Brandon Vera and Shogun Rua or a formidable wrestler like Matt Hamill, the Jackson Camp protégé has not cracked under the pressure. I’ll be the first to admit: Rampage’s resume is far more impressive, almost by default.
But within that list of opponents lays his weakness as a one-dimensional boxer.
Every fight, whether against Dan Henderson, Forrest Griffin or Rashad Evans, Rampage has resorted to his boxing, his comfort zone. If he doesn’t cut the distance early to land those devastating hooks, the fight is all but destined for the mat, where opponents have been very successful in keeping the howlin’ street warrior down.
This will be a tremendous disadvantage against a storied state champion wrestler like Jones. Both Matyushenko and Hamill are far more versed in wrestling than Rampage—even statistically to Jones—and they got handled, tossed to the ground with ease, by the youngster.
Needless to say, if Jones decides to risk coming in on Rampage, he’ll have his choice between takedowns and judo throws, against little resistance, thanks to his superior grappling and wrestling.
That dire scenario is the only one that offers Rampage the slightest chance for victory because it involves Jones getting in close enough range en route to the clinch, where he will be more susceptible to Rampage’s punching power.
Keep in mind, Jones would only take that risk to overwhelm Rampage in the clinch; the payoff would be dominating top control on a traditionally weak ground fighter. Otherwise, the champ will most likely keep it standing—from a distance.
Jones’ abnormally long limbs provide an 84.5” reach advantage over everybody on the roster, including heavyweight man mountain Brock Lesnar, who sports an 81” reach. For Jones, his Go-Go Gadget arms allow him to thrive at creating the right amount of distance to be creatively accurate and damaging.
If Jones isn’t floating around like a back-spinning butterfly or throwing a rainbow of strikes from geometrically frustrating angles, he will be punishing Rampage’s lead leg, circa Forrest Griffin. Everybody knows Rampage is infamous for not checking leg kicks.
After a round or two of Louisville sluggers to the legs, Rampage’s mobility will suffer and his power will diminish, making him much easier to freely hit or take down. Ironically, one of Jones’ fiercest weapons in this fight has inspired Rampage’s newest nickname for the champ: “Bambi Legs.”
To sum up the analysis, Jones has too many tools at his disposal, while his opponent only uses one. The only thing predictable about the champ’s game is how efficiently destructive he is in every fight. Unless Jones finds a way to beat himself, he has a good chance of being a long-reigning, undisputed, 205-pound title holder in a division with a high champion turnover rate.
Rampage better have Ridley Scott on speed dial because come Sunday morning, he’ll be begging for a sequel.
I hate to do it to you Rampage, but…I pity the fool!
UFC 135 goes down on Saturday at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo., and will feature a light heavyweight championship bout between Jon Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.In the co-main event, former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes will take on J…
UFC 135 goes down on Saturday at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo., and will feature a light heavyweight championship bout between Jon Jones and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
In the co-main event, former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes will take on Josh Koscheck, who accepted the fight on late notice after Diego Sanchez injured his hand.
All four fighters were in attendance for a pre-fight press conference earlier today. The staredowns gave a preview of the intensity that surrounds the fights, especially in the main event.
Jones will be defending his title for the first time since defeating Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128. He knocked out the Brazilian Muay Thai expert in the third round.
Rampage recently defeated Matt Hamill at UFC 130, but left fans asking for more with a recent string of decision victories. He has gone the distance in six of his last seven fights.
Hughes is attempting to rebound from his devastating KO loss to B.J. Penn at UFC 123, while Koscheck is coming off his title fight loss to Georges St-Pierre.
Other main-card bouts include Travis Browne vs. Rob Broughton, Takanori Gomi vs. Nate Diaz and Mark Hunt vs. Ben Rothwell.
It all goes down on PPV this Saturday at 9 p.m. ET. Preliminary bouts will be available on Facebook.
Jon Jones is one of a kind. 
DENVER —