Jones: I had not heard cheers in a long time
“It has been a long time, since I’ve had cheers… I mean the boos I’ve learned to live with, but it’s so rewarding to get some love and respect for once.”
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is the greatest fighter in mixed martial arts, but he is far from the most popular.
At UFC 172 in Baltimore Jones heard an unfamiliar sound. As Jones walked to the cage he did the Squirrel Dance, popularized by retired Baltimore Raven Ray Lewis, and the crowd exploded. Throughout the night he had the crowd.
Squirrel Dance Off
“It was just great to have the crowd on my side again,” said Jones at the UFC 172 post fight press conference. “It has been a long time, since I’ve had cheers. I figured it would be that way so I said let me really embrace this, let me really give this audience some entertainment. So it was just great. I was living it up. I figured Ray Lewis would be there, a lot of Ravens would be there, so I was just playing it up, and practiced that dance all day, and aced it, I hear. I haven’t seen it yet. Ray was happy and, yeah, I’m happy.”
“The people of Baltimore, they still Arthur, they still respect him a lot. Arthur gets a great reception here… It’s great to see that the love is still there. And obviously it trickled into my world, too – I got a lot of respect, and a lot of cheers, which made me feel amazing. I really do appreciate it. I mean the boos I’ve learned to live with, but it’s so rewarding to get some love and respect for once.”