Will The Obsession With Jones' Image Ever End?

Joseph Budden said:
i think all those cases differ from Jones though.

Mj and Kobe were hated for being shit talking winners, but The sports media never recurringly examined their characters and all The perceived faults of who they are. ESPECIALLY after championship wins!

Tyson was fuckin nuts lol and Ali purposely made himself a villain
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They aren't just perceived, he's a shitty person. I have friends who personally know him and hes a dick.
 
mma midwest fan said:
There will be some people who will always dis like someone who is dominant and successful. This makes up a percentage of Jones haters. However, there is something about Jones that is polarizing beyond this. There are some champs who have very few haters.

Think Chuck Liddell. Sure, there were people who probably thought he was overrated and would soon be "exposed" by this or that weakness (EVERY fighter has someone on the internet saying this about them), but you very rarely find/found any true hate threads about Chuck.

Or, let's look at JDS. Very few haters. He is about as polite and kind of a persona that you will find, but nobody thinks he's "fake." He gets lots of KO's and lets that do the talking.

Why are guys like that widely beloved and Jones isn't?
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In some instances jones has asked for it ("get some fans" even though thats Greg Jacksons fault) but my main gripe is Saturday had a great main event after loads of hype that ended w a brilliant performance that in many ppls mind already makes Jones GOAT.

Yet, The narrative coming out of The fight according to Chuck Mindenhall of mmafighting is "Hey, Here are all The reasons we disliked Jones before. No worries, his greatness is just another reason to dislike him!"
 
Fantastic_Man said:
I think He's one of the best fighters ever to walk the earth.. Do I have to like him? No! He's a dick! lol.. I'll watch Him fight every time though!
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This is a sensible take.

Questioning Jones' skills is stupid. I am mainly referring to the 'he only wins because of his reach' crowd. Those guys really are ridiculous and implacable.

Still, the insistence that Jones be loved is equally stupid. He is a polarizing figure, and most of his fans accept that and even revel in it.
 
IngaVovchanchyn said:
Those three men gave less ammo to their critics. Had GSP smashed up his car while driving drunk, I think we would have been reminded on a weekly basis. I can hear the jokes: "The only thing GSP could finish was a beer before starting his car." "The last time GSP had bad intentions in a fight, the telephone pole won."

The age of only skill mattering and not character is long gone, if it ever truly existed. OJ probably did the most to kill it, but guys like Ray Rice and Lance Armstrong added their own contributions.

I think Jones' character issues are overblown and can be chalked up largely to his relative youth, but it is laughably naive to think he will get a pass in 2015 simply because he is great in the cage.
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Its naive to think after Saturday id get an article from The media reflecting on The culmination of a long awaited fight rather than The 9000th article subtlely taking jabs at his perceived character?

Cmon, is The world really that shit?
 
Joseph Budden said:
Its naive to think after Saturday id get an article from The media reflecting on The culmination of a long awaited fight rather than The 9000th article subtlely taking jabs at his perceived character?

Cmon, is The world really that shit?
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Your AV is some harmless fan known only for being publicly embarrassed by being mistaken for a girl. And you are asking whether the world is shitty?
 
Still, the insistence that Jones be loved is equally stupid. He is a polarizing figure, and most of his fans accept that and even revel in it.[/QUOTE]
Youll get no insistence from me, as i originally pointed out The viewing public have The right to feel however they want.

I just question why at this time The media, or at least this writer, feels its a good time to yet again bring that narrative to The forefront and make reasons people hate Jones The story coming out of 182
 
I like him because he's talented and has good fights. I could care less what video he posts on twitter because I'm not a woman.
 
I like Jones. I think all the haters are just Jealous of his success and/or maybe they don't like that he doesn't respect his opponents. But I think his lack of respect is all part of the fight game.

The way he "took Cormier's soul" by not only beating him but by disrespecting him/embarrassing him during and after the fight is an attempt to instill fear into future opponents. He's sending a message saying "Come at me and I'll show you no mercy and no respect."

Cormier started showing respect to Jones even prior to the fight, and then even more so after the fight. But Jones didn't give any respect. He even said "I hope he's crying somewhere". Basically he's saying "If you mess with me I'll beat you into the ground mentally, physically and in any other way possible. I dare you all to try."

Personally I like it. The mental game is huge and destroying fighters confidence and mentality before the fight even happens, and then putting a stamp on it after the fight, is smart. Just like Conor does to his opponents. Although Conor is funnier about it.
 
Joseph Budden said:
Those three men never had their character villified
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i think the reason people focus on character is that jones made it an issue. he's the one who said that people should look up to him. he's the one who spoke out against drug use (only to get a dui). he's the one who apologizes on air for behaving badly (as he continues to behave badly behind closed doors) after the cromier melee.

i don't really care about character either, but jones has framed his persona in those terms and that's why people engage him that way.

personally i don't think athletes make great role models, but jones has said he wants to be one...that he is one.
 
It's a professional sport, so the money is all about the fans. Image is always important to fans. People tend to like athletes they can relate to.
 
Tsar said:
i think the reason people focus on character is that jones made it an issue. he's the one who said that people should look up to him. he's the one who spoke out against drug use (only to get a dui). he's the one who apologizes on air for behaving badly (as he continues to behave badly behind closed doors) after the cromier melee.

i don't really care about character either, but jones has framed his persona in those terms and that's why people engage him that way.

personally i don't think athletes make great role models, but jones has said he wants to be one...that he is one.
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Hes made mistakes like all humans. He shouldnt try to be a role model for kids because of a dui?

Either way, none of those things are still a valid reason for some schmuck at mmafighting to be writing about hating Jon Jones after saturday
 
born2killl said:
It is ridiculous and pathetic, that what began as bitter shogun fans crying after that fight has grown & grown into this disgusting massive bullying/bitching campaign. Its an embarrassment to the sport. Jealous & racist as hell.
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That's just ridiculous. You really think the majority of people don't like him because they are racist? Then please explain the popularity of other minority athletes.

I relate the hatred for Jones with the hatred Alex Rodriguez (before A-Rod turned himself into a walking punchline). Both of these guys publicly acted in ways that were clearly disingenuine. When you are at the top you have alot of people looking for a reason to hate you because of jealousy, etc. Don't give people more ammo by trying to please everyone and being phony. You'd have to be pretty irrational not to agree that Jones's actions have been inconsistent with the public persona he tried to display. I'm sure there is a segment of whacko's out there that do hate him because he is black but by and large it has nothing to do with race, and more to do with his actions.

EDIT: And to add one more comment, anyone that doesn't recognize his talent and that he is P4P #1 is blinded by hate. You have to give him his due, but that doesn't mean you have to like him, becuase he is very unlikeable.
 
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I do think that the image or the perception of Jones' tends to undermine some of his performances, which is unfortunate. He only eye poked Cormier once (by my count), so they couldn't use that for subject matter for an article.

People hate Lebron James and he's arguably the best player in the sport. That's not an identical comparison, but I think people just like picking a team. Love or hate Jones, he's the best 205 lb fighter on the planet, so reporters and fans can criticize his image until they are blue in the face. I think when Jones inevitably losses or retires, his career will be looked back on with much higher esteem than people look at it now, and that is not right in my opinion.
 
Luke Rockhard said:
Happens to all GOATS. People hated Jordan back in his day, people hated Kobe.. People hated Tyson and people hated Ali. Some people hate greatness, it comes with being the best.

Jones is by far the current greatest UFC fighter of all time. It's no longer even a debate and people hate that. Since they can't bash his fighting skill, they bash the one thing they can, his personality.
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Well said.
 
Joseph Budden said:
Yeah but not who he is as a person like Jones, just retarded articles from couch fighters about how his incage antics arent cool
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Yes, it was actually. It got to the point where people would just make up shit about him. The one about him supposedly using his sick mother to skip a seminar was pretty bad.
 
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