Jon Jones is undoubtedly the hottest fighter in the world
right now. This guy is just on fire. He has bested four former UFC champions in
his last four fights. At best he has been in trouble once – rocked by one of
the most skilled strikers in the world Lyoto Machida. He is sponsored by the organization he fights for. He is on
the verge of major athletic mega-company sponsorships from the likes of Nike or
Adidas. Jones is charismatic,
clean cut, young, good looking, and always seems to say the right thing. But in May of 2012 Mr. Perfect slammed
his car into a pole in the middle of the night. It wasn’t because he is a bad driver with insomnia. No, the
new poster-boy of the UFC was drunk.
Now let me be clear, I have been accused more than once of being a Jones
hater, a reasonable critique.
However, I am simply not a fan. Jon Jones is a great fighter. I might
not think he is as good as some others do or think that he is the second or third
best fighter in the world, but I think Jon Jones is a beast and I will not deny
that he is a world class fighter.
But that is neither here nor there. This issue brings to the fore exactly what many – like
myself – just don’t like about Jones, what rubs many the wrong way. This story gets to the heart of why not
everyone loves the good guy, no matter how good he really is.
I
will try to put it as simply as I can. Some people invest emotionally or
intellectually in sports because they reflect reality, some to escape it. Not
that there are “two kinds of people” because that is stupid (every single time)
but these mentalities do exist. For those who invest in sports to escape
reality a guy like Jon Jones is just what the doctor ordered. He is a super
hero. He makes picking a favorite fighter easy. For the rest of us he represents the fraud of selling us a
superman persona. Not to say that
HE is a fraud but the way he is sold to MMA fan, the way he is, at times,
shoved down our throats is misleading.
What makes people interesting, what makes them human is that they are
flawed, that they have a personality.
For some of us it is insulting to be sold the “perfect” persona,
especially when it is clear that isn’t accurate. That Superman persona backdrop
makes flaws and indiscretions less than endearing.
What
made the situation harder to swallow for fans that just don’t care much for Jon
Jones is the anger he demonstrated at fans whom criticized him for this
incident. He called fans that
criticized him sickening and then in the same breath says he gives them leeway.
Now let me be clear, Jones went on in the same interviews and articles to say
that he understands he messed up and he wants to show how everyone can rise up
and fix mistakes. Again, Jones says
all the right things but there is a lack of humility that is somewhat
troubling. Oh, he speaks his humility but he doesn’t act on it. First, you don’t get to drive your car
drunk into a pole and then say that fans are sickening for criticizing you for
it. Did fans say things that were out of line, of course they did! Fans say
things that are out of line all the time – in every sport – for every
occasion. Then you follow it up by
talking about how great you are and how much of a role model you are going to
be. Right now the distinction
between Jones’ words/ persona and his actions couldn’t be clearer. Fans like myself, the critics, don’t
want to hear about how great Jon Jones is going to be. We hear that all the
time. We don’t KNOW Jon Jones but we are seeing inconsistencies in what we do
know that are just not appealing. The problem is not that people hate Jones it
is that people get tired of hearing how great someone is, especially when – in
this age of hyper visibility, 24 hour news cycles – personal lives and
statements are on display all the time.
To put it simply, I don’t want to hear about how great a guy wants to be
the day after he messes up. I want him to shut up and be a good guy – don’t
tell me, show me.
In
short, I recognize that Jon Jones doesn’t care about me but I suspect that he
cares about the mass of fans with a similar mentality. Those people he dismisses as fickle or
haters – those people aren’t friends; they aren’t family. They are sports fans.
They have the right to like or dislike anyone they want and if they are
anything like I am they are put off not by Jon Jones as a human being (which is
how he seems to take criticism) but as a persona that is consistently painted
as the sport’s superhero. Jones’ DUI and his reaction to fan criticism have
widened the gap between person and persona. For loyal Jon Jones fans it will never matter and that is
just fine. For the rest of us the
talk is cute but it also cheap. I
don’t need a role model in Jon Jones but if he wants to be one its time to be
one and stop talking about being one.
