UFC's Jon Jones to fans: 'It's my career, not yours'
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has once more challenged critical fight fans through social media and then backed down. His latest squinty-eyed, ultra close-up self-shot video (the champ’s medium of choice, lately) asks the question, "Asking for an undefeated Olympic wrestler, Strikeforce champion makes me somehow a coward?"
Jones went on to say, "How about the fact that I beat Gustafsson already? Whether you guys like how close it was or not. It’s my career. Not yours.”
Of course, Jones then deleted the video from his Instagram account. Which, of course, does nothing to do away with a video when you’re as famous as the 26 year-old fighter is.
Apparently, he didn’t learn from the time he called a fan a homophobic slur on Instagram and the time where he mocked fans as cry babies and then tried in vain to delete those posts.
Listen, Jones appears to be more independent and fearless when dealing with his promoter than the average MMA fighter, and for that we have to give him credit. He does not, however, appear to have the best self-awareness regarding his image nor a great grasp of what the interweb does.
All that said, was Jones’ message so wrong this time around? “Bones” was indeed sarcastic once more in addressing fight fans, as he was in his baby cry video, but he wasn’t anything near profane.
In fact, the champion raises good points. Namely, that he’s not a coward.
Whether or not you want to see him fight Gustafsson or Cormier and whether or not you scored his bout with the Swedish challenger for him or against him, no one can sanely call Jones a coward. He’s fought a killer’s row in the light heavyweight division over and over and now wants to fight Daniel Cormier, himself a scary and undefeated challenger.
So, we can all agree that Jones would be wise to either, stop making Instragram videos immediately upon waking up in the morning or to get a social media consultant. But what do you all say we also agree to call a moratorium on the mindless Jon Jones hate?
