On Saturday night UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones cemented his place at the top of his division with a dominant win over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Jones fought well and controlled the fight from the start, but Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg’s commentary made it seem as though Jones was putting on the greatest performance in the history of mixed martial arts. It wasn’t, no matter how much the UFC is going to want people to believe that Bones is the new king of the MMA world. It was insulting to hear commentary that called Jones “flawless” and constantly compared him to Anderson Silva, the greatest to ever step into the octagon. Jones was impressive and is one of the best in the world, but for some reason he still seems lacking in that quality that makes the UFC’s other champions so likable.
This quality can’t be easily explained, as it is more than just charisma and essentially falls into what professional wrestling fans would call “it.” Jones just isn’t a likable guy. Maybe it is the fact he broke four rules en route to his vicious victory over Shogun Rua (See the end of this article). He headbutted Shogun in the chest several times, elbowed him in the throat, and gouged his eyes at various points in the fight. He even cheaply attacked Shogun’s surgically repaired knee, and while not illegal it is pretty low class considering he had such a massive size and strength advantage and seemed poised to easily win the fight.
Before he won the belt, Jones was signing autographs with “UFC Light Heavyweight Champion” before his name. When he won the title he said he hates the idea of replica title belts because the fans who own them didn’t have to work like he did to earn his. And while that wasn’t bad enough, Jones was allegedly caught with a spy in Rampage Jackson’s camp leading up to their fight.
Why anybody would spy on Rampage is confusing. He’s used the same strategy for his entire career: boxing. He’s going to stand there and try to hit you, only he’s a lot slower now than he was when he first started. For Jones to spy on Rampage is completely idiotic since it would show an utter lack of knowledge of your opponent if you don’t realize he’s going to stand and bang, and it is completely low class because you can’t claim to carry yourself as a champion and be a champion as a person if you’re cheating and trying to get an unfair advantage. Jones continually comes across as a guy who is a good fighter but not somebody you can easily get behind and respect.
In interviews he comes off as arrogant or awkward. He tries to be funny and charming, but much like when LeBron James or Kobe Bryant does it, it just doesn’t seem genuine. It seems like an athlete playing the part of a funny and charming guy to help promote the company or product. This isn’t to say that he’s a terrible human being, but he just seems uncomfortable with the spotlight and seems like he’s trying to be a good company man and play ball rather than be himself. And if he is trying to be himself then he comes across as a dweeb. He isn’t funny and doesn’t have the charisma like GSP or Silva.
Georges St-Pierre is an incredible fighter but not the best talker in the business. Georges seems like a geek but he has charisma. He seems funny and he gives answers that make you respect him. Jones doing things like saying he’s already champion before he even fought Shogun make him come across as arrogant, especially since he hadn’t defeated anybody of note. Of course Michael Jordan was and probably still is a terrible person and very mean, but he was easy to love because he took over a game like nobody before or since. When Jordan came to play he gave you one of the greatest shows you’ll ever see.
With all athletes, as long as you play well people won’t care about what you do outside the ring, or off the court/field, etc. People watch sports to see something special and see somebody blow their mind with an incredible performance. Anderson Silva does that with mixed martial arts. Watching Jon Jones fight, the UFC commentary team will try to tell you Jones is doing it just as well as Silva when it isn’t even the case. That ridiculous hype is part of what makes Jones so unlikable, and it is exacerbated by the fact Jones seems to believe everything they say about him despite him not proving it all yet.
If you’re force-fed something long enough, you’re bound to get sick of it. It is why so many people grow tired of anything from music and movies when they get popular to athletes when they hear so much about them from the sporting press or commentary teams. As Jones picked apart Jackson on Saturday, Goldberg and Rogan said Jones was “Silva-esque” with his striking. That is not remotely true. Comparing somebody’s striking to that of Anderson Silva is as insulting as when Mark Jackson will say Kobe Bryant’s fadeaway is as good as Michael Jordan’s. You’re taking the greatest of all time and belittling their skills to make what’s new appear to be better or as special.
Jones displayed very good striking against Rampage, which of course was made easier by the fact Rampage’s speed is measured with a calendar rather than a stop watch. This isn’t to say that Jones would have had piss poor striking against a faster fighter as Jones has good strikes, but it is worth noting that Rampage isn’t known for his quick movements so this helped Jones look a little better. However aside from leg kicks, Jones’ stand up game wasn’t that effective as Rampage didn’t appear to take much damage until Jones finally got him to the ground. This of course didn’t stop Goldberg and Rogan from declaring Jones was putting on a performance reminiscent of Anderson Silva with such lethal strikes.
Jon Jones doesn’t even have the stand up of Georges St-Pierre, let alone Silva. Jones won by submission in the fourth round after mostly standing and banging. Anderson Silva isn’t going to stand and strike nearly the entire fight with somebody and go to the fourth round unless he feels like taking them that deep into the fight. Silva has won his last 15 fights (14 in the UFC), seven of them by first round knockout (6 UFC). Two more were second round knockouts. Silva finishes fights with deadly strikes. Jones has good strikes but they aren’t as precise and damaging as somebody like Silva. Jones has amazing ground and pound due to his vicious elbows, but to say his stand up is as great as the most dangerous striker in the history of the sport is ludicrous and annoying and makes you want to see Jones get beaten up so the UFC will stop with the hype. It is even worse because Jones buys into his own hype.
The biggest problem with Jon Jones, and this one is also tough to explain, is that when you watch him it lacks what is best summed up by being called the “holy shit” factor. Jones has such great skill, but he’s also so much bigger and stronger than every other light heavyweight so the fact he’s going to win is readily acceptable. It will be very interesting to see what happens when he moves up to heavyweight in a couple years because then he won’t have as much of a dominant physical presence. This isn’t to say that Jones being big makes him unlikable, but it just takes excitement away from the fight because he possesses an unreal level of physical tools for the weight he fights at. Of course people can’t hit him since his reach is about a foot longer than many opponents’ at light heavyweight.
Michael Jordan possessed the “holy shit” factor since he could take a team of nearly all scrubs and put them on his back to beat much more talented teams. In 1998 it seemed the Utah Jazz were destined to beat the Bulls as Scottie Pippen was injured, but Jordan willed Chicago to victory. You knew deep down he was going to do it, but that didn’t stop you from worrying that it wouldn’t happen. With Silva every fight is a worry. You know deep down he’ll still win, but it doesn’t stop you from doubting. Against Vitor Belfort there was the fear of his amazing striking power, but Silva still beat him. Chael Sonnen’s wrestling nearly took the title away from Silva, but even with broken ribs Silva still pulled off an amazing submission win.
When Silva wins a fight, you step back and have to catch your breath since he takes his opponent’s soul as well as the victory. His last fight against Yushin Okami was incredible since Okami is one of the most mentally tough fighters in the world, and Silva broke his spirit and made him afraid to even move. Forrest Griffin is another mentally tough fighter praised for his toughness, willingness to push the pace, and willingness to fight anybody no matter what. Silva embarrassed him en route to a first round knockout and Griffin hasn’t seemed like he enjoys being a fighter since. Silva wins and you’re stunned as to how he does it in such an impressive fashion, while Jones wins and you’re not really stunned.
Essentially the “holy shit” factor is overcoming insane odds like Silva with the broken rib or beating somebody in such a brutal and degrading fashion you know their career will never be the same. In the light heavyweight title fight when Randy Couture beat Tito Ortiz so bad he began to spank Tito in the fifth round, that is the ultimate “holy shit” moment. Tito was crying when the round ended because he knew he had just gotten decimated. It took Tito over three years to get another shot at the title. Nobody thought Couture had a chance at winning.
Jones wins in impressive fashion, but it lacks the excitement or the rush of adrenaline that you get from other fighters. It is like Georges St-Pierre. GSP wins every time he fights, but it isn’t something you must see. If you’ve seen GSP beat one contender you’ve seen him beat them all. That’s how it feels with Jones. He’s going to keep his distance, throw some kicks and a spinning elbow, take you down and beat you up. With Silva you never know what’s going to happen. Is he going to put his hands down and goad you into hitting him only to drop you with a jab? Is he going to run right at you as you strike only to dodge every strike like The Matrix? Is he going to get taken down only to pull a submission out of nowhere?
The comparisons to Silva are there because the UFC and a great deal of the MMA community are now hyping Jones as the golden boy when there’s so much he’s yet to accomplish. Yes he is the future of the sport and yes he will have a great career, but he is still so raw it seems like too much credit is being given to his technique when it isn’t even developed, and the fact he agrees with the hype makes him too unlikable. Cheating in his first championship bout and spying on Rampage Jackson also adds to this sense of dislike. He isn’t charismatic and acts very arrogant or awkward. It isn’t easy to like him as much as the UFC wishes everybody would because of one simple statement: Jones just doesn’t have “it.”
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