Hendo: Jones should just act like he really is
Dan Henderson on Jon Jones: “He’s just not very genuine … If he didn’t act like someone he wasn’t, I don’t think anybody would have a problem.”
When Daniel Cormier fought Dan Henderson he executed one of the great shows of strength ever seen in the Octagon, tossing Hendo like a backpack. However, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was not impressed.
“He beat Dan Henderson, who’s like a 60-year old, and started talking trash to me on the mic right away,” said Jones. “I’m going to give him what he’s wanted.”
Hendo appeared Monday on The MMA Hour, and responded, with what now unfortunately a very common charge.
“He is who he is and it doesn’t reflect good upon him when he does things like that,” said Henderson as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. “It doesn’t bother me at all. I know who I am and I know how I portray myself. I don’t have a whole lot of respect for him as a person.”
“I said it a couple years ago. He’s just not very genuine. He portrays himself differently than what he really is and I think that’s where people have the problem with him. If he didn’t act like someone he wasn’t, I don’t think anybody would have a problem.”
“I’ve always respected him as a fighter. I think that he’s got great skills in every part of the game. I thought DC’s wrestling would make a difference in that fight and he didn’t really utilize it the way he’s capable of. Jones did a great job defending it and putting DC on his back a couple of times.”
While any number of figures in combat sports history of have found fame without being a babyface, Jones has higher aspirations. Mike Tyson made hundreds of millions of dollars, but he didn’t have a lot of Fortune 500 endorsements. Or any.
Jon Jones has a clear sense of where he wants to take his career, and a clear sense of the public persona that will get him there. He has not unfortunately shown the ability thus far to actually be that person on an adequately consistent basis. The real misfortune here is not that Jon Jones can act like a dope, because we all do. The real problem is that in a sport that is as real as it gets, Jones has to put on an act to be fully accepted by the public.
He is the best fighter on Earth; that should be enough. That it isn’t reflects more poorly on the public than it does on Jones.
Hendo, 44, fights Gegard Mousasi in the co-main event of of UFC on FOX 14: Gustafsson vs. Johnson on Jan. 24 in Stockholm, Sweden.