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<h3><a href="/go=news.detail&gid=435193" target="_blank">
Jones: I need to show America that I'm a champion
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<a href="/go=news.detail&gid=435193" ><img class="photo" src="http://img.mixedmartialarts.com/method=get&rs=60&q=75&x=15&y=15&w=310&h=165&ro=0&s=jon-jones-09-21-12-8-59-39-21.jpg" /></a>
<strong class="ArticleSource">[mmajunkie.com]</strong>
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"I need to show America that I'm a champion," Jones said. "I'm a champion coach. I'm a guy who is not going to be stingy with his success. I'm going to try and motivate others with his success and share his success and ultimately bring up the whole sport of mixed martial arts, whether it's an individual athlete or an ideal or anything. My job is to pay it forward.
"I look at this way, and it's very simple: Somebody put me on to this world of mixed martial arts, and I owe a great deal to that person. the only way I can truly ever say thank you in my eyes is to put someone else on it. So when I'm in the locker room, I look at all of my guys as, 'Which one of you guys is going to be the next guy? Which one of you guys can I bless by giving you my best?' That's the way I feel about the whole situation. I want to put someone else up. I want to change someone else's life. I want to give back to the sport and be a contributor to one of the next great fighters."
Throughout the history of "TUF," past coaches have sometimes taken vastly different approaches to their fighters. Some have jumped in the trenches with their teams while others have preferred to coach from afar, allowing their appointed assistants to handle the dirty work. Where Jones falls in that spectrum remains to be seen, but he teased that helping his fighters with their mental strength was chief among his priorities.
"I think this whole championship is a matter of coaching them mentally," Jones said. "These guys should already be in shape before they got here. I want to see which guys want to consider themselves a leader and which guy is going to take that inferior role. The whole journey is mental. … The whole experience, I consider the tournament to be something like a boot camp, an initiation. So it's more about pushing them to the limit mentally to see if they're really ready to be a champion."
I don't think anyone questions that he's a championship calibre fighter, and if they do, they're retarded. He's demolished everyone. And I'm a JBJ hater.
"I look at this way, and it's very simple: Somebody put me on to this world of mixed martial arts, and I owe a great deal to that person. the only way I can truly ever say thank you in my eyes is to put someone else on it."
Wasn't that somebody Joe Soto? They were college roommates and I believe it was Joe that talked him into fighting iirc.
Huh? He's already wiped out the division with ruthless efficiency and a staggering finish rate, what more are you going to do to prove you're a champion, Jon? Snap their skulls clean off with your bare hands?
I like Jon Jones. I hope he does his own website, makes his own web series (like The Reem) and sells his own products rather than catering to Zuffa's dictation. TUF is, was and will continue to be a sinking ship, and he gains little and loses a lot by doing the show.
Raxbot - Personally, I would prefer he proved himself a champion in the LHW division by fighting LHW contenders, but maybe that's just me.
He's already done that.
Alright, well I'd like him to continue to do that then. Unless you'd prefer to watch Jones spend his career fighting non-champion MWs...
Jon doesn't pick his fight, not sure if you missed that whole i dont want to fight Chael thing, and Vitor stepped up in short notice, not really his choice, i cannot think of anyone Jones is left to beat except Dan Henderson (who pulled out of the match) and Gustafsson who won his #1 contender match after the Sonnen fight was scheduled.
This. Im not exsctly a Jones fan, but saying he doesnt fight contenders at LHW is rediculous. Before Hendo got injured, the next contender was out of 4 fighters Jones already beat
151 was a case where no one was ready or wanted more time. Vitor stepped up, and atleast he was on a winning streak. Sonnen, yeah thats bad, but as a Sonnen fan, cant complain
Jones is a punkass, but he has fought a freaking murders row of contenders in the past couple years, and deserves nothing but respect for it. He's already a hall of famer, to me, based on his in-ring performances.
Raxbot - Personally, I would prefer he proved himself a champion in the LHW division by fighting LHW contenders, but maybe that's just me.
He's already done that.
Alright, well I'd like him to continue to do that then. Unless you'd prefer to watch Jones spend his career fighting non-champion MWs...
Jon doesn't pick his fight, not sure if you missed that whole i dont want to fight Chael thing, and Vitor stepped up in short notice, not really his choice, i cannot think of anyone Jones is left to beat except Dan Henderson (who pulled out of the match) and Gustafsson who won his #1 contender match after the Sonnen fight was scheduled.
This. Im not exsctly a Jones fan, but saying he doesnt fight contenders at LHW is rediculous. Before Hendo got injured, the next contender was out of 4 fighters Jones already beat
151 was a case where no one was ready or wanted more time. Vitor stepped up, and atleast he was on a winning streak. Sonnen, yeah thats bad, but as a Sonnen fan, cant complain
No, I didn't miss the whole "I don't want to fight Chael" thing. I'm not complaining about Jones or his decisions. He is an incredible fighter and I love watching him compete, but I don't care about watching him in meaningless fights that he's rather sure to win. Belfort gave him more of a challenge than I expected, but it still turned out as I (and many others) expected. Jones fighting Sonnen for the belt (after the delay of TUF included) is a large waste of time. I understand he needed to rehab his elbow, but that wouldn't have taken as much time as TUF requires. This match-up is so inappropriate that it distracts me from GSP fighting Diaz while Hendricks fights Ellenberger. Diaz is great and would likely get his shot the proper way, but Hendricks (and the rightful pecking order as necessitated by the supposed integrity of the sport) is getting fucked over. DoomFarmer and I seem to have argued over the color of our shoes, because we're on exactly the same page. So there's nobody at LHW to fight Jones? I think a better answer than "feed him a MW" is let him go up in weight and fight a lower-tier HW. Pitting him against a MW he's sure to beat is showing that the org doesn't want to put him in a position where his victory is uncertain and they could lose their cash-cow, but they still want to call him a p4p great? That doesn't compute, even to casual fans. In lieu of a proper contender at LHW, I don't want to see him fight a MW but rather a small HW that isn't necessarily a world-beater, somebody that he has less of a size-advantage over but still has a complete game to challenge him. Miocic, Del Rosario, maybe Schaub or even Russow (but Zuffa saw what he can potentially do to a prospect, so they might not like that matchup).
Raxbot - Personally, I would prefer he proved himself a champion in the LHW division by fighting LHW contenders, but maybe that's just me.
He's already done that.
Alright, well I'd like him to continue to do that then. Unless you'd prefer to watch Jones spend his career fighting non-champion MWs...
Jon doesn't pick his fight, not sure if you missed that whole i dont want to fight Chael thing, and Vitor stepped up in short notice, not really his choice, i cannot think of anyone Jones is left to beat except Dan Henderson (who pulled out of the match) and Gustafsson who won his #1 contender match after the Sonnen fight was scheduled.
This. Im not exsctly a Jones fan, but saying he doesnt fight contenders at LHW is rediculous. Before Hendo got injured, the next contender was out of 4 fighters Jones already beat
151 was a case where no one was ready or wanted more time. Vitor stepped up, and atleast he was on a winning streak. Sonnen, yeah thats bad, but as a Sonnen fan, cant complain
No, I didn't miss the whole "I don't want to fight Chael" thing. I'm not complaining about Jones or his decisions. He is an incredible fighter and I love watching him compete, but I don't care about watching him in meaningless fights that he's rather sure to win. Belfort gave him more of a challenge than I expected, but it still turned out as I (and many others) expected. Jones fighting Sonnen for the belt (after the delay of TUF included) is a large waste of time. I understand he needed to rehab his elbow, but that wouldn't have taken as much time as TUF requires. This match-up is so inappropriate that it distracts me from GSP fighting Diaz while Hendricks fights Ellenberger. Diaz is great and would likely get his shot the proper way, but Hendricks (and the rightful pecking order as necessitated by the supposed integrity of the sport) is getting fucked over. DoomFarmer and I seem to have argued over the color of our shoes, because we're on exactly the same page. So there's nobody at LHW to fight Jones? I think a better answer than "feed him a MW" is let him go up in weight and fight a lower-tier HW. Pitting him against a MW he's sure to beat is showing that the org doesn't want to put him in a position where his victory is uncertain and they could lose their cash-cow, but they still want to call him a p4p great? That doesn't compute, even to casual fans. In lieu of a proper contender at LHW, I don't want to see him fight a MW but rather a small HW that isn't necessarily a world-beater, somebody that he has less of a size-advantage over but still has a complete game to challenge him. Miocic, Del Rosario, maybe Schaub or even Russow (but Zuffa saw what he can potentially do to a prospect, so they might not like that matchup).
Good post. I would like to bring up a part of your post
Belfort giving Jones a better fight than most people thought, shows that no matter the weight, there is that "Any given day, any well placed punch, well timed submission, well stylistic matchup, ect" factor. Sonnen could give Jones a good fight. I am aware that this is not the point of your post, but Chael Sonnen isnt a small MW can they are feeding Jones like say them giving the fight to Chris (no disrespect) if he had a 3 fight win streak. Also with MW and LHW being close in size with proper strength training Sonnen could be a legit 205er
That said, I do agree that Hendo and Machida have better claims at the shot, but we were not given that. We should be thankful that its not someone who generates zero intrest, and has a decent shot.
