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Jordan Breen: People wouldn’t intensely hate Jon Jones if he was white

By Zach Arnold | December 16, 2011

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This is not a new charge from the Sherdog personality. However, he certainly stepped up the theory since Jones won big over Lyoto Machida at UFC 140 in Toronto and did the ESPN ‘car wash’ of interviews/TV shows on Tuesday.

Take it away, Jordan:

“The way and the specific dudes that Jones took out in the fashion in which he did it in is ridiculous and I think this is easily the best year we’ve seen in Mixed Martial Arts. It’s not just that he dominated a bunch of guys that are on the list of all-time great Light Heavyweights to begin with, it’s the fact that he beat Shogun so horrifically that if there was a rematch you would have a feeling in your gut that Shogun could die in the cage. He forced Quinton Jackson to raise the white flag in a way that we just really hadn’t seen Quinton Jackson do. Normally, if you’re going to stomp Quinton Jackson you better beat the ever-loving hell out of this guy and leave him laid out bleeding out of his face on the ropes. And then against Lyoto Machida someone who his lone real incident of serious adversity was getting cracked by Shogun, someone who concede has some freaky sort of power, Jones then dropped Lyoto and then dropped him again like a sack of potatoes after choking him unconscious. So, I think it’s probably the most impressive three fight span that I can think of in Mixed Martial Arts to go along with probably the most impressive year… and by probably the most impressive year, I mean quite certainly the most impressively year I’ve ever seen in MMA.

“So, I think if you’re looking for someone to beat Jon Jones, acting like some guy’s going to pull out this great game plan over 25 minutes? I don’t know. I’m more interested in a guy that, even if he might go down in a flaming car wreck of a disaster, might actually have the offensive power to put him away. Dan Henderson can sucker guys into an exchange, he can land really heavy powerful punches, maybe he lands the one big right overhand that does it. I think he’s got a better chance than Rashad Evans who always takes his time, is measured, is a stocky, compact guy. I think Rashad Evans is going to get ripped up against Jon Jones because he’s a slow starter and Jon Jones can just come forward and go-go-go. But Dan Henderson, maybe he can get a right hand in there, maybe he can make that kind of thing work. If he doesn’t, he’s going to be in a world of hurt and I think it’s going to turn into an epic beatdown. But I think that’s the kind of dynamic you look for. I’m still interested in seeing if a guy like King Mo or Phil Davis could put Jon Jones on his back and see what happens from there. But… as far as guys at the top of the division that might actually be challenging soon, Henderson is a guy who piques my interest because even if he has the chance of just getting assaulted in lopsided fashion, I do think he’s the one guy that kind of maybe land that one big kind of haymaker that might put Jon Jones down on queer street and possibly be finished. Because I don’t see another guy that has a great chance of setting it up.”

Dan Henderson is the best remaining opponent for Jon Jones? I guess we shouldn’t care about the Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis fight then in Chicago?

“I did MMA Nation with Luke Thomas on Sunday night and he said that the two people, that when he posts videos or radio segments about, that there’s the most vitriolic feedback: Amir Khan and Jon Jones. And, oh my God, is it any questions that they’re both part of races that polarize people on different sides of the Atlantic? No way! The thing that I find amusing is… race isn’t everything but it’s not nothing. I find it amazing that I still get e-mails from people and, to be fair, I think if Jon Jones was white I still think he would polarize people but I don’t think so many people would react so intensely as they do and found and rationalize their hate in the way they do if he was white. And the same thing for Amir Khan. If Amir Khan was white… Amir Khan is… he’s even more of an innocuous personality. I mean, he gets a lot of the same sort of criticism for being sort like fake or inauthentic but ultimately… if he was white and not brown, would people feel that way on either side of the Atlantic? I’m not so sure, you know. So, I think there are guys that they wouldn’t be ultimately the most popular dudes in the world if they were white, they would still polarize people, I think, but I don’t think there would be the intensity, the magnitude of the venom that goes with it because some of the e-mails and tweets I get about Jon Jones at this point in time, you’d think this guy was some kind of genocidal dictator not just a fighter in the UFC.

“Seriously, like… why? And this is the thing, I’m not saying, ‘oh, Jon Jones, a great dude’… like I said and I have said for a long time, Jon Jones is, you know, not… he is not every bit the son of the Preacher man he attempts to be. He is, in that way, not a genuine personality and, yet, he’s an incredible, incredible fighter who is not responsible for all of the evils in the world, who did not do a terrible thing by breaking when John McCarthy said break and let Machida fall to the canvas, who is not some kind of demonic entity. It’s totally OK to dislike Jon Jones but… as I said on Twitter, if this guy announces his entire purse was going to go to cancer research, people would ask why he hates AIDS victims. It’s crazy.”

Jordan then had a caller on his show lay out some non-racial reasons as to why MMA fans hate Jon Jones so much:

“Two other reasons besides just race as to why he’s hated, this is me being objective looking at it from both sides. Something I saw posted on a Sherdog forum, he said like Jon is like, we all know you’re cocky, so why don’t you just come out and be the cocky champion and we’ll love you for it. And I kind of understand it, I kind of feel like, yeah, he tries so hard to put this image on and, you know, I really don’t think it’s him. I think the other thing is, the last point why I think so many fans hate him so much, most MMA fans especially internet fans are people who aren’t really into sports too much, right, they’re not into like football or basketball or baseball, you know, MMA was like *their* sport and, to them, it was like something they could see themselves doing and I think with Jon Jones they see an athletic and explosive, there goes that term again, athletic and explosive athlete who probably could have started at receiver in the NFL or played, you know, the 3 spot in the NBA just come in to the UFC and basically just dominate, you know, their sport and I think they almost see it as like the future and they don’t like that and I think that really has to do with like a lot of hate for this guy to come out of nowhere and basically destroy all heir PRIDE heroes and you know how much they love PRIDE and all that and basically makes it to the point now where you don’t even want to see a rematch (because) he’s beating people so bad. I mean, now, I’m hearing stuff like on these boards now they’re saying that he should be a heavyweight? Like, c’mon, he walks around at 220…”

Which lead to this response:

“One of the major charges led against him is this idea that he’s not an authentic personality, that he’s someone that tries to act like this wholesome Christian well-manicured sort of dude and really he’s about as rowdy and bawdy as any 24 year old who might be the baddest dude on the entire planet. That’s absolutely insane. In fact, it’s crazy that Jon Jones just isn’t absolutely wild as a person because if I woke up tomorrow and not only was the UFC Light Heavyweight champion but I realized I had the ability to essentially destroy almost any dude I get my hands on, I might go mental. So, it’s crazy that he’s not even at that point. But secondarily, I think, that’s another point, too, that’s come up. It almost seems like early on people were thrilled at how many exciting things Jon Jones could do but he’s made so many great fighters look ordinary now it almost seems like defeating the purpose of having fights, it almost seems unfair. And I think with this, one of the heard ideas you’ve heard more and more recently, ‘oh, go fight Heavyweights!’ I have a news flash for you, by the way — if you don’t to see Jon Jones do crazy stuff and embarrass guys, you don’t want him to fight at Heavyweight.”

If people hate Jon Jones, they’re certainly willing to pay to watch him if you believe the initial PPV buy rate estimates from Dave Meltzer (in the upper 400,000s, near 500,000). Running out of potential opponents in the future could be a problem, for sure… so I’m guessing a fight against Anderson Silva might be desirable at this point.

Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 42 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

42 Responses to “Jordan Breen: People wouldn’t intensely hate Jon Jones if he was white”

  1. Sundog says:

    I intensely want Jon Jones to lose because I think he’s sanctimonious and snobby – same reason I intensely want Tim Tebow to lose. I think the responses to Ben Henderson’s call to prayer at UFC 129 and the general derision with which the MMA world treated Dennis Hallman’s plea to “Come quickly, Jesus” illustrate a certain resentment to proselytization in the cage.

    That said: there can be no doubt in my mind that Jon Jones is hated MORE because he’s black than a white fighter who acted the same way would be. There’s a long history of American sports fans reviling the talented black athlete, and I’ve personally suspected that there’s a strong element of that Great White Hope mentality in the groundswell of support that’s carried Chael Sonnen from a journeyman’s career, to a title shot, through a PED scandal and felony conviction to a FOX television special.

    However, I think that there is a third element at play here with Jon Jones, and that’s his preternatural athletic abilities. Mixed martial arts has thrived on the triumphs of the every man, who rises to be the best in the world on the back of hard work and determination. If there’s ever been an MMA star who credited with superhuman qualities, it was something like “toughness” or “fight IQ.” There is a natural barrier, then, between the fans of the sport, particularly fans who’ve been fed this narrative since 1993, and a superathlete like Jon Jones. He is not one of us, and black or white, I suspect that would make him a hard sell either way.

    I don’t think he needs to go the Josh Koscheck route to have a successful career, but there is no doubt in my mind that the UFC needs to Jon Jones as an unbeatable champion and sell a “What will it take to beat this man?!” narrative to make him a draw. They have so far not succeeded in this role with Anderson Silva, so I expect we’ll see more of the same in their marketing of Jon Jones.

    • RST says:

      “…intensely wa
      nt Jon Jones to lose because I think he’s sanctimonious and snobby…”

      But you like Charlie Sheen!

      There IS something wrong!

      But it cant be fixed!

      Its just people!

      You are the same as I am!

  2. Zach Arnold says:

    I intensely want Jon Jones to lose because I think he’s sanctimonious and snobby – same reason I intensely want Tim Tebow to lose.

    I suspect there’s quite a big difference between the two men you just stated as far as how their former teammates view them. 🙂

  3. edub says:

    I gotta call total BS on the race argument.

    Jon Jones is hated by many for the exact reasons Sundog laid out in his first paragraph. He comes off as artificial, and he seems to say things (he thinks) everybody wants to hear.

    If he was white, he would recieve the same vitriol.

  4. garth says:

    GSP is a similar story, although he had to face some more adversity before and after winning. I’ve been a fan for a while, but people definitely still hate on Rush with plenty of vitriol thrown in there. “Fake” and “inauthentic” are still used to describe the guy. He’s Quebeçois but does that even resonate with Americans specifically as a thing?
    There’s definitely been plenty of white athletes people hated for their attitude. Breen speculating that it would be lessened seems like his own view, doesn’t it? He has his perception, his filter, everyone else has theirs.

  5. Jason Harris says:

    It’s as good a reason as any I suppose, but honestly I think it’s overblown. In our little world of talking fights on the internet we tend to think we are more representative of the world as a whole than we really are.

    On the internet, everyone hates GSP and Jones, and they all love Anderson Silva.

    In real life, GSP and Jones are big fan draws and Anderson is still struggling to make waves with the American audience.

    Funny though with Jones, it really was the 1-2 punch of Rashad talking shit on him for 3 months, then Rampage talking shit on him for 3 more months….suddenly the stuff they were saying just to get under his skin became the opinion of the internet hive mind.

    Back when Jones was beating up the Jake O’Brien’s of the world, everyone was saying he was the BEST EVA and should win the LHW title before moving up to beat Brock. After Rashad and Rampage did their job, everyone thinks he’s a cocky jerk, despite acting the exact same way he did when everyone was on his bandwagon.

  6. Charlie says:

    To bad Tim Tebow isn’t white. Can you imagine the love a white quarterback would get it he went 7-1, with as many 4th quarter comebacks as he’s had?

    • BadSchnucka says:

      The difference between Bonsey and Tebow is that Tebow actually lives how he speaks.

      Jones is a freaky athelete with moderate MMA prowess.
      His technical defensive skills (head movement, lateral movement, high hands) are not there because with his reach, he doesn’t need it yet. He just sticks his hands out so dudes run into his fingers and/or goes straight backward (Machida knew this, kick the backpeddling legs).
      That is what I think is wrong with Jones.

      The guy gets by and people think he looks good doing it.
      The UFC will unfortunately be able to sell a fight with Dan Henderson, who, in my opinion, should not fight in another 5 round fight.

  7. 45 Huddle says:

    Members of the MMA Media lose a lot of credibility when they bring up the race card like Jordan Breen did here.

    Jon Jones comes across as one of the most phoney, immature, and obnoxious fighters to come around in a long time. Combine that with how quickly he moved up the ranks….

    And that is where the absolute dislike is for him.

    Personally, I find him phoney as h#ll, but it doesn’t bother me like it does many other people. He’s splendid to watch fight, and I just skip over his interviews for the most part now.

    And speaking of Anderson Silva, he should be very happy that Jon Jones didn’t come around 3 years earlier, because Silva’s title reign would had ended much sooner. Jon Jones is finally going to force a lot of the true Middleweights like Rua, Evans, and maybe even Machida to fight at their optimal weight class. If Jones came 3 years ago, instead of fighting guys like Sonnen & Okami…. Silva would have been fighting guys like Evans and Rua.

    • Dave says:

      Yeah, it’s funny how it is Jordan Breen and Luke Thomas who are harping on this. Why bring up the race card with Jones? I don’t get it. Most people just don’t like how he comes across, like it was mentioned above, GSP comes across the same, but more of a goodie-two-shoes.

      • RB says:

        Cause they have to make themselves feel better by trying to make others look like closet racists? I could be wrong… just a thought…

        I mean, when the reasonable explanation is too boring (he’s cocky, etc…), then why not just make something up (racism).

        “Scandal” sells, right?

    • Doctor Pain says:

      I agree with 45 Huddle.

      Jesus told him to go out and buy a Bentley and then send in pictures to all of the “celebrity” sites, right?

      Jesus told him to suddenly stop signing his fans belts because he “earned his”, unlike them, right?

      Jesus told him to turn on his teammate who’s always stood by his side and helped him grow as a fighter.

      I can’t stand Bisping either and he’s white, but I get that he’s just doing it to sell fights. Jones just comes off as a phony.

      And as far as selling fights, no one I got the Machida fight with didn’t pay to see to see Bones fight, we paid because we were hoping / thinking that Machida could be the one guy to finally knock him back down to earth.

      The Rampage fight sold so well, because people pay to see Rampage, that’s why his base pay is 400k per fight.

      Plus some of the resentment comes from Dana White constantly telling us who we should like. And how was Ryan Bader a stepping stone to a title shot?

  8. 45 Huddle says:

    Off topic, but has anybody checked out the 2012 Zuffa schedule so far?

    JANUARY

    7th – Strikeforce (Rockhold vs. Jardine)
    14th – UFC 142 (Aldo vs. Mendes)
    20th – UFC on FX (Miller vs. Guillard)
    28th – UFC on FOX 2 (Evans vs. Davis)

    FEBRUARY

    4th – UFC 143 (Diaz vs. Condit)
    15th – UFC on FUEL (Ellenberger vs. Sanchez)
    25th – UFC 144 (Edgar vs. Henderson)

    MARCH

    2nd – UFC on FX (Alves vs. Kampmann)
    3rd – Strikeforce (Barnett vs. Cormier)
    9th – TUF Live Fight
    16th – TUF Live Fight
    23rd – TUF Live Fight
    24th – UFC 145

    Is the long term plan to eventually have 45 weekends filled up with Zuffa so nobody else can even take a stab at the MMA market? This is a lot even for fans like us….

  9. RST says:

    Hello!

    The sky is now blue and chicks like money.

    Luckily the taxpayers have chipped in for a survey to prove it!

    I’ve always suspected that there was a certain amount or racism in the JJ hate.

    (BTW: Fun coinkidink: Are you aware the Slider is a racist?!)

  10. RST says:

    “Griffin: This is the end of the road”

    Thats an unhappy sentiment, but honest.
    Which is more important!

    A Tito fight out the door would be a cherry for both of them.

    “Gegard Mousasi would drop to 185 to fight Anderson Silva”

    Awesome fight!
    Gegard is another value worth more then Sf by itself.

    slider ducks, exit stage left!

    And the Brock is a gun totin super murikan!

    He kills things, get over it!

  11. RST says:

    Eehhh, I’m straying towards the theory that Jordan Breen is a butthole!

  12. Dennis Herold says:

    its plain and simple.. Jon Jones, Tim Tebow, and Travis Pastrana are clean cut, wholesome, well spoken, and all around good people in dangerous and Violent sports.. These type of sports attract rough and tumble type of fans.. That tend to like bad boy types. I loved watching Bones come up.. He was so exciting destroying Bonner.. I couldn’t believe this young guy did it.. Now hes destroying Machida.. I just wanna see him get challenged

  13. Light23 says:

    The Jon Jones hate is funny. It’s like we’re onto thoughtcrime now. Not even thoughtcrime – ALLEGED thoughtcrime.

    “I think Jon Jones is really cocky!!”

    Does he do a lot of cocky stuff?

    “Well, that’s just because he’s fake. We all know he’s cocky, but he’s just pretending!!”

    I have no problem with anyone disliking the guy, but Jesus, get over yourselves.

  14. Darkmader says:

    If you are in a good financial situation, Ward vs Froch is easy easy money, it’s not like MMA where you can get caught and it ends in 40 seconds.

    I think the main card will go exactly as planned but if you wanted to hit an underdog it’s all about Ovince St. Preux and if you throw him with a parlay you are looking at some great money.

  15. Mr.roadblock says:

    What a terrible night of fights on Showtime. I was really looking forward to both events. Flat out garbage. The entire super 6 sucked after the opening round. Melendez Masvidal might be the most disappointing fight if the year. I really expected those two to bring it.

    • Dave says:

      The Super Six was such an awesome concept in theory, and then it just went on for so freaking long that it lost all momentum it could have possibly had after the second stage. The long layoff between the second and third stage and then the fact that it took another YEAR for the semi-finals and finals to happen was ridiculous.

      Never mind putting the finals in a place that was neutral to both fighters who couldn’t fill the arena, disaster. California vs. UK, yeah, do it in New Jersey. Ugh.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        Combat Sport Tournaments never work out the way they should. Always awesome on paper and horrible in execution.

        I’m honestly shocked the UFC even did a 4 man tournament for the Flyweight Title. The last 4 man tournament they did was Penn/Serra & Uno/Thomas for the Lightweight belt…. And that fiasco ended up in a draw and dropping the division for a few years.

        So Melendez didn’t look that good. I have always said I thought he was the one Strikeforce Champion that I really thought could have a chance of being #1 if he went over to the UFC. I have to rethink that now.

        It’s going to look even worse when Alistair Overeem gets wrecked by Brock Lesnar.

        • edub says:

          Like when Florian beat Aldo and Diaz got destroyed by Penn?
          If this were against Cain or Dos santos I would agree. But this fight is a 50/50 at the moment. If the old Lesnar from the Mir fight shows up he pounds him. If it’s the guy from the Cain and Carwin fights he gets stopped in the first round.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          My predictions aren’t perfect, but I have a very good track record overall. Much better then average…

        • edub says:

          Yes you do. However, when you talk about exactness in your predictions like your rant on Ellenberger-Shields and the aftermath; then proceed to do the same for Aldo-Florian, Diaz-Penn, and Lesnar-Overeem (not wrong yet, obviously) in the same paragraph. I gotta call you on it :).

    • Alan Conceicao says:

      Personally, I was happy that they made relevant fights using the Super 6. If seeing Froch/Kessler, Froch/Johnson, Abraham/Dirrell, Froch/Abraham, and this “sucked”, I dunno. To me it feels like people trying to out think the fights on some Dave Meltzer fantasy booking crap. It could have been better from a BIZ BIZ BIZ perspective to keep feeding all the guys in the tournament crap fights in their hometowns. I guess someone out there would argue that’s what they did with Ward, though I’d disagree.

      Melendez/Masvidal was meh. Just because he can’t finish Masvidal on a come from behind flying triangle or whatever ridiculous comparison is used. Melendez gets crapped for winning every single round. People said the same thing about Edgar not being able to finish either, once upon a time.

      • edub says:

        I agree Alan. I thought the concept and execution were good for the most part. It might not have created a star, but it brought about one of the most talented boxers I can think of ever watching. Andre might be the best defensive boxer I’ve ever seen (including PBF).

        Agreed on Melendez too. He won every round. I think he’d take apart everybody not named Edgar or Maynard at 155 right now.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Wait a minute… They used a gimmick concept… For 26 months…. 8 fighters…. 11 fights… And they can’t produce one star from it?

          That’s not a good thing.

          The concept lost tons of steam as it went on, just like the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. Great in concept, horrible in execution. Too many politics and it took far too long to conclude.

          Showtime has a bad track record at doing things right. Even the new and improved Zuffa owned Strikeforce isn’t sounding so great right now for 2012.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          BIZ BIZ BIZ ANDRE WARD SHOULD TURN HEEL AND BECOME A PPV STAR

          The new improved Zuffa owned Strikeforce sucking has little to do with Showtime and everything to do with Zuffa trying to get rid of it

        • 45 Huddle says:

          I think Strikeforce has everything to do with the Super Six conversation and Showtime.

          Showtime has a bad track record. And both the SF Grand Prix and the Super Six started with tons of hype and completely fizzled by the end.

          Showtime just isn’t a good platform for combat sports. They are basically just the feeder systems of HBO and The UFC now. Only they are in denial about it.

          And your pro wrestling comments have no relevance to the conversation.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          And the bigger issue with Showtime is…

          1) Not enough viewers to make an impact. Fans lose.

          2) With MMA, they are are unwilling to accept themselves as a feeder system, so what we as fans get is Melendez, Mousasi, and a few other UFC worthy guys stuck in Showtime Purgatory, despite the fact that they all fight for the same parent company. Fans lose.

          3) With Boxing, they overcomplicated what could have been a very easy and simple idea and made it a complete clusterf#ck with the Super Six. You need a 5 page guide to follow the darn thing because it lasted so long, the concept was so weird, and there were so many replacements. Instead of just sticking with what works at least a little better…. Which is a 4 or 8 man tournament. Simple to follow, easy for fans, and over quicker. Instead we got the Super Six. Fans lose.

          4) And speaking of tournaments, they are the brainchilds behind the Strikeforce Grand Prix. A simple 8 man Heavyweight Tournament. Only, they didn’t even have all of the fighters signed through the end of the tournament. And then they didn’t have the title on the line despite the champion being in it. Then they loaded one side of the bracket up with all of the best talent they had, leaving the other side to be sort of a joke for Barnett to get through. Fans lose.

          Showtime needs to know their role. They are a feeder league to HBO and to the UFC. But because they don’t understand this or are unwilling to accept it…. The fans are the ones who lose over and over again.

          Rockhold vs. Jardine!! Yeah!! 2 years to get a champion crowned!! Yeah!! Go Showtime!!

        • nottheface says:

          Actually Coker pitched the Grand Prix. he wanted to do tournaments right from the get go in 2009 and tried to do the HW tourney in 2010. Showtime shot them down until this year with the exception of last years Women’s 135.

          And all the fighters were signed through the whole thing. Overeem had two fights on his contract at the beginning of the year but Strikeforce had an additional two fight option (championship clause) plus a deal in the works with Golden Glory (who are now pissed at Coker big time for screwing over their deal). The whole not-signed-thing seems more like part of a cover story to get him out of the Strikeforce and onto UFC ppvs.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          I don’t care who’s idea it was or how many times it was pitched. Showtime still gave the go-ahead. And it turned out to be a complete clusterf#ck. It was predictable from the moment that it was announced that it would be a failure.

          They didn’t even do the entire first round at the same time. The 2nd half of the first round was delayed and caused issues.

          Showtime never does not do things right. They have a recent track record of this.

          And the fact that there was any loophole to get Overeem out of the tournament still shows the incompetence of both Showtime and Coker at the time they announced the tournament.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          Oh yawn. Showtime is a failure at promoting combat sports in spite of doing it fairly successfully for 3 decades! LOL. The UFC coming in and buying Strikeforce has nothing to do with the HWGP changing. If only I had your wisdom.

  16. Don says:

    I feel it is because too many of us find Jones as phoney as baloney with his “humble guy” business.
    He simply does not come off as sincere
    I for one would rather he just toot his own horn, show his arrogence and get one with it.
    He has great athletic ability, is adding to his skill set daily it seems
    and could/should have a long illustrious career
    but he won’t really shine until he is 100% himself at all times.
    And when he moves up to Heavy
    we will really find out what he has to offer

  17. david m says:

    MMA journalism is embarrassing. Jordan Breen is like a stupider Glenn Beck, if that is possible.

  18. Columbo says:

    Who really gives a damn if some people hate Jon Jones and want to see him lose. I would think Brock Lesnar gets the most hate sent his way because of his time in the WWE.

  19. shatterproof says:

    this is ludicrous. Perhaps some people don’t like Jones because he’s black, those people are in the minority and fucking idiots.

    I, on the other hand, don’t base my dislike on race. There are plenty of other things to base it on. The fact that he is in everyone’s face with his religious junk every time he speaks, or that he comes off as entirely fake to name but two. I really liked Jones until they started interviewing him all the time. With every comment he makes i like him less. This article was a waste of time, insulting, and just makes fightopinion look ignorant.

  20. Wilson says:

    The Tebow comparison is exactly right on. Tim Tebow is the most controversial figure in football because of his open displays of Christianity. The same is true for Jon Jones. Right when this guy was coming up, after the Bonnar fight when people knew little else about his personality, I already saw the “…yeah, but I just wish he’d shut up about God” talk. This only got worse as he won more impressively, and it was the first criticism I saw being leveled against him, and I think feuled the increased hate to come. None of it started with race. A lot of the hate about his inauthenticity came later, and was largely used to support the immediate visceral dislike critics had to his open displays of Chistianity. This type of hate is very common these days, and frankly, more relevant than racism in America today.

  21. Adam says:

    I’m so sick of people pulling the race card, it’s such bulls#%t. It’s typically the last resort of anybody who doesn’t have some valid way to make an argument, but in this case there are so many other real reasons not to like the guy that it makes it that much more pathetic. Totally agree that it makes the writer lose credibility; sure it’s his opinion but WTF are we living in the 1950’s here? There are no such things as minorities anymore, the whole of the United States is like a freakin’ United Colors of Benetton commercial.

    I personally don’t mind a guy wearing his faith on his sleeve, or being confident to the point of cocky like Jon Jones is. One day he will lose a fight/s and will be humbled so those that think he is full of himself will be satisfied. I don’t think he will change the way he emphasizes his religion though so people need to just get over it.

  22. RB says:

    Nothing intelligent, insightful or even witty left say on a subject?!? Bring out the race card! Works every time! Has the added bonus of making the writer feel a little more elitist because he’s slinging mud at others before they had a chance to sling it first.

    Ah well.. it always good for a laugh; funny how the Internet allows anyone to be heard… unfortunately.

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