From social media trolling to media day brawls, it looks like reigning light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has taken on the bad guy role wholeheartedly.
So much so that the UFC has inadvertently built a storyline around his controversial persona heading into his title fight against Daniel Cormier. Both men are slated to finally square off UFC 182 on January 3rd in Las Vegas.
It is no secret that Jon Jones does not exactly bear the conventional super hero champion image that the world is accustomed to. He is not the beloved figure that everyone looks up to, much like how Anderson Silva was just two years ago, and how Chuck Liddell was in the mid-2000s.
Thing is, there lies a conflict between how "Bones" markets himself as the good guy and his actions outside of it. His most notable "black hat" moment was during the media day brawl he was involved in with his challenger Daniel Cormier.
And if that was not bad enough, Jones' name was dragged into the mud yet again after engaging in a racy war of words with Cormier during their interview with ESPN SportsCenter right after the brawl.
According to reports, both men had left their microphones on and just started trading verbal tirades. It did, however, end controversially after Jon Jones threw an outright death threat towards Cormier.
"You know I would absolutely kill you if you ever did something like that, right?" Jones said. "I would literally kill you if you spit in my face."
Various opinions came about from the incident. According to UFC analyst Joe Rogan, "Bones'" behavior would have been more acceptable if he was white, much like how Chael Sonnen gets away with his overly outspoken personality.
"I think they look at him as this cocky black guy and I think a lot of people have an issue with that," Rogan said during his podcast entitled "The Joe Rogan Experience". "I think that if he was a white guy and he was doing the same thing, a la a Chael Sonnen, I think he would be way more popular."
To an extent, Rogan brought up very valid points. While the race card should not have been brought up, it is understandable why a lot of people see Jon Jones as the villain. He portrays himself as the clean-cut, good boy champion with a 'Philippians 4:13' bible quote tattooed on his chest. People are expecting him to act a certain way, and rightfully, he is attacked when he does the opposite.
Bottom line, whether or not "Bones" is a beloved champion or not, his episodes with Cormier have already created enough buzz to get the world looking forward to this fight.
Watch the UFC's extended promo for the UFC 182 main event here:
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