He’s the son of a Pentecostal preacher. He became a superhero and a champion on the same day last year, chasing down a car thief hours before he took down Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and was crowned the youngest UFC champ in history. He speaks openly of his love for Jesus and has a Bible verse tattooed on his chest. He might just become the best mixed-martial artist in history, but he might not even be the best athlete in his own family, with two brothers who play in the NFL.
And most importantly, Jon Jones is the UFC’s first true crossover talent, a non-threatening father of two young girls, a man who just bought his first house with his high school sweetheart, a unique and new breed of fighter whose sheer likability helps the UFC shed its bad-boy image and helped Jones secure the mother of all endorsement deals, with Nike.
Jones, the 25-year-old light-heavyweight champion who will defend his belt next weekend against Vitor Belfort in UFC 152, is the exact fighter the UFC needs. Especially during this critical time, as the sport transitions from niche combat sport to mainstream American sport.
So why will Jones be entering the Octagon on Sept. 22 in Toronto as the UFC’s greatest villain?
Jones’ angel began to fall in May, a month after his much-hyped title defense over his training-partner-turned-rival Rashad Evans. He smashed his Bentley into a utility pole early one morning in New York and was arrested for driving while intoxicated. This is the most serious crime that Jones has committed. This is the crime that has humbled and shamed him.
But this is not the crime that will cause Jones to be bathed in boos when he walks into the Air Canada Centre next weekend.
The crime that turned the UFC’s angel to the UFC’s villain of the moment hardly bears repeating because it has been repeated so much already: Dan Henderson, not Jon Jones, pulled out of UFC 151 due to injury. Then UFC president Dana White offered Jones a fight with Chael Sonnen, who had just joined the light-heavyweight division after his July loss to middleweight champ Anderson Silva and who by any measure did not deserve a shot at Jones’ belt. Then Jones said no to the Sonnen fight, resulting in the UFC cancelling an entire event for the first time, with the blame unfairly falling to Jones.
And in his turn as a villain, the philosophical Jones found a life lesson.
“At the end of the day, everyone is going to do what’s right for themselves and their families,” Jones told FOXSports.com. “I didn’t take the fight because (not taking it) was best for my career. I disregarded a lot of people. I had to stand by that decision and do what was best for myself at the end of the day. Dana White did what was best for himself. He did a pretty good job of putting the blame on other people. As a result there’s not many fingers being pointed at him. It worked for him. As of right now, it’s working out for me... It’s kind of a selfish message, but it’s true.”
These words might seem like typical back-and-forth banter for the bombastic world of professional fighting. But it is one thing to verbally take on another fighter to promote a fight. That leads to better pay-per-view numbers, a bigger paycheck and, most importantly in the UFC, a happy boss. It is an entirely different thing for Jones, the crown prince of the UFC, to take on the king. Dana White is the man who made the UFC what it is. He is also a man who doesn’t hold back in public, and who is known to hold a grudge. “Jon Jones isn’t a bad guy,” White said in a conference call Tuesday. “(But) I don’t take anything back from what I said. He and I will get in a room in Toronto and talk face to face.”
So when White blamed Jones for the UFC 151 debacle – not Henderson for keeping his injury under wraps for longer than he should have, not himself for putting together a weak card that could not stand on its own after the main event went down in flames – the son of the preacher became the villain. Never mind his fighting four fights in 2011, an impressive haul. Never mind his jet-setting over the country on promotional trips as the brightest new face in the UFC. It was a simple equation: Jones’ decision cost the UFC tens of millions of dollars, therefore Jones was the villain.
Jones has accepted this new role with his typical grace. He said all great athletes go through controversial periods and come out on top. He compared himself to LeBron James, who left Cleveland for a better spot, became the NBA’s greatest villain, then won his first NBA championship.
There is a perception that, when you’re the champ, you should take all comers. So it left a bad taste in UFC fans’ mouths when Jones said no to Sonnen. And the fight he did end up taking with Belfort isn’t a better fight than with Sonnen: another middleweight-turned-light heavyweight in one of the biggest betting mismatches in UFC history. His crime was not taking the fight. His crime inadvertently created a stacked UFC 152 card, with the UFC’s freshest face facing the 35-year-old former light-heavyweight champ in the main event, along with two fighters – Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson – aiming for the newly created flyweight belt, plus a great match between Brian Stann and Michael Bisping that ought to clarify the future of the middleweight division.
But Jones had good reason why he shouldn’t risk his belt on Sonnen. Any time Jones steps into the Octagon, he’s one punch or kick or slip from losing the belt. He watched video of Henderson’s long MMA career a half-dozen times to prepare for UFC 151. The lack of preparation for a Sonnen fight could have left him exposed, even if he would have been a clear-cut favorite. White put Jones in an unfair position.
And Jones stood up to him.
That’s where you can find the ultimate truth about the UFC’s new villain: What Jones did was stand up for himself – and, by extension, for all UFC fighters.
“One thing that will be coming from all this is fighters being more brave in the future, and standing up for what they believe is right,” Jones told FOXSports.com. “And not feeling like a puppet or a pit bull. Making decisions that make logical sense. We’re business partners with the UFC, and we should be treated that way.”
This may not seem like much to ask. In the UFC, however, these are the words of a revolutionary. Which is why, when Jones walks out to the Octagon on Sept. 22 to take on an overmatched Vitor Belfort, the crowd will have turned against him. Jon Jones did not stand with the status quo. He stood up to it. This will make him the villain for now. History, however, will prove him otherwise.
Follow Reid Forgrave on Twitter @ReidForgrave or email him at ReidForgrave@gmail.com
