Jokes aside, casual fans may not be aware of ALL the negatives that Jones has been involved in, they just see highlight reels and his appearance and think he's awesome. On top of that, Cormier is pretty boring and you don't see him doing much outside of MMA related activities (whereas Jones was doing Bud Light commercials etc).
MMA fans look at things way different than the casual fan would, and they know a lot more about what's going on, which, for better or worse, can form a different opinion.