UFC
UFC Champ Jon Jones to Dan Henderson: "You should shut up and be grateful you dodged a bullet"
Sep 7, 2012 - 3:45:10 PM UFC Champ Jon Jones to Dan Henderson: "You should shut up and be grateful you dodged a bullet"

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

In the wake of UFC 151's cancellation, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones has tried to walk a fine line in his explanations and response to criticism. Unfortunately, he's veered off course in responses, ranging from an attempt at martyrdom to blaming "the old man and his knee" for him not having plans last weekend.

The "old man" in question, of course, is Dan Henderson, the man whose knee injury began the domino effect that led to the UFC ultimately pulling the plug on the Sept. 1 event in Las Vegas. Henderson has been amongst the critics calling Jones out for not taking a fight with Chael Sonnen on eight day's notice. He took it a few steps further in making a few jokes bout the situation, and it's something Jones hasn't addressed. Until now.

In an interview with the Toronto Sun ahead of his bout with Vitor Belfort in the city later this month, Jones went on the offensive, and left it clear that he's got unfinished business with Henderson once he's done with Belfort.

"I haven't said that anywhere, but you can be the first to put that out,” Jones said in regards to wanting Henderson after Belfort. “There's some unfinished business, for sure. I don't think Henderson handled the situation wisely, by making fun of me for not taking the fight (against Sonnen). Dude, you just dodged a bullet and you're talking trash to me? You got injured and you're going to talk trash that I didn't fight Chael?"

But Jones wasn't done there. Indeed, he took things further in addressing the things that Henderson has said in the wake of last month's turn of events.

"He came out with this ad that said, 'Buy a Hendo shirt and get a free Jon Jones shirt to dry your car off with.' You're making fun of me, yet you got hurt and dodged a bullet?" an incredulous Jones asked. "You're sitting at home with ice on your knee and I'm here doing pushups again because I thought my camp should have been over. I have stuff to do and you're sitting around your home playing video games, or whatever you do during the day."

"Training camps suck, bro. Training camps suck. The fight is the fun part. So I've got to suffer all over again, do a training camp all over again, and you're at home, laying down, having somebody feed you soup and you're going to make fun of me because you got hurt?"

"You should shut up and be grateful you dodged a bullet."

Of course, regardless of his responses, it seems Jones can't win with some fans, and he expressed some of that frustration in fan response further.

"There are a lot of people who still love and respect me, but right now it's kind of cool to hate me," Jones said. "I do something and it's the worst thing in the world. Then when someone else does it, it's almost OK. Chael says all this crazy stuff, but then I say something slight and it's like, 'Oh, that was the cockiest thing I've ever heard.' Dan Henderson called me a kid 1,000 times leading up to that fight and we never even fought. I call him an old man once and the whole world was like, 'You freakin’ age discriminator. You're such a bad person.'

"Wow. I can't get away with anything and everyone else does pretty much whatever they want... It just comes with being me, man, it just comes with the job. People hate guys who are good what they do. It happens with all dominant teams - people want to see them lose. They can't find anything to say about my game, so they attack [my] personality. You've got to bring down the guy on top, some way, some how. Even saying this, people will be like, 'What an arrogant bastard.' Even though I'm just telling the truth."

Penick's Analysis: There's a part of Jones that seems to just be embracing the hate, and it's that piece that he really should latch onto for those who refuse to do anything but tear him down. Embracing the role of the cocky, arrogant, heelish bad guy fighter and saying how he really feels could be the best thing for him from a marketing standpoint, and that's partly the route he took in his response to Henderson. That's the type of real emotion and frustration that will keep people from going back to calling him a "fake" personality on the surface. The "good guy" act isn't working, and he doesn't need to be the all-respectful good guy. He can simply be the baddest of bad asses in the cage, and tell people where they can stick it if they can't appreciate that. That's what many would like to see out of him, though whether we'll get that from him or not is a future topic to examine.

[Jon Jones art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]