Jon Jones 'offended' by UFC 182 promotion
Fight promoting is usually done by highlighting the words and actions of competitors leading up to a bout. That's why we were a bit amused by UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones' recent remarks saying that he was "a little offended" by an official promo video for UFC 182, where he will defend his title against bitter rival Daniel Cormier in the main event.
The parts of the commercial that offended "Bones" were those which replayed his own words and actions, specifically times when Jones issued profanity-laden threats to Cormier, and when he started a brawl with the challenger at a public photo opportunity. Jones isn't claiming that the UFC took his words or actions out of context, because everyone pretty much knows the full context quite well.
Instead, Jones is simply upset that the UFC didn't ignore and try to erase his quite public words and actions. "When I first saw [the promo] I was a little offended by it," Jones said Wed. on UFC Tonight.
"That the UFC, someone who's supposed to be backing my brand and making me look good, would put up something like that for the general public to see. I don't think it's really healthy for the world to see the UFC's champion saying I would kill someone, so that really took me off guard."
Listen, the UFC and Jones have a strained relationship, going back, perhaps, to president Dana White throwing Jones under the bus and wrongly blaming him for the cancellation of a pay-per-view event in 2012. Jones admirably advocates for himself in many matters, from contracts, to scheduling his fight engagements.
However, his objection to the UFC's promo here is ridiculous and gives a lot of credence to Cormier's repeated claims that the champion is fake. After all, Jones decided to start the brawl against Cormier at a public photo op by lightly head-butting the Olympian.
Then, shortly afterwards, Jones went out of his way to call Cormier names and threaten him when the two sat down for a series of interviews. The only problem was, as the UFC 182 promo shows, Jones didn't realize that his juvenile and crass threats were being recorded, and later released.
Sure, Dana White and the UFC seems to be happy to stick it to Jones whenever they can, but this seems more like an example of them using obvious promotional material that the champion himself provided them with, publicly. If Jones wants to maintain a squeaky-clean image and "get some fans," he might consider toning down his run-ins with the law, public brawls and trash-talking his opponents.
Or, he could give up on the idea that he can still look like Clark Kent to the public while doing all of the above, and embrace his inner heel. We're fine with either, Jon.
