Jones: UFC is pushing Rousey, I don’t know what they’re doing with me
“I do know that they are pushing Ronda Rousey really hard, and she’s gotten a lot of great opportunities,” said UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Jon Jones fights Glover Teixeira at UFC 172 on April 26. After several scheduling changes, the event will be the UFC’s first in Baltimore, MD.
With former UFC welterweight Georges St-Pierre on indefinite leave, former middleweight champion Anderson Silva recovering from a horrific leg break, and UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez recovering from shoulder surgery, Jones and UFC women’s bantamweight champion are at the very least among the league’s major draws.
However, when asked where he stood in terms of UFC marketing, Jones was uncertain and unconcerned.
“We don’t always see eye to eye with the UFC,” said Jones as transcribed by Bloody Elbow’s Trent Reinsmith. “So I don’t know if they are always necessarily pushing me and whether that’s a smart idea on their end or not, who knows? I do know that they are pushing Ronda Rousey really hard, and she’s gotten a lot of great opportunities. I don’t know what they’re going to do, but I’m pushing myself all the time so, I’m not really worried.”
“I know that I’m a lot different from some of the guys from the past. Guys like Chuck Liddell, and guys like Matt Hughes that would just get up and do anything, anytime, and never voice their opinion. I’m trying to change a lot of things in the game. Making sure the fighters are being respected, making sure our own brands are being respected, things like that. We just don’t always see eye to eye on everything, either way it works out.”
Jones relates a mantra that he learned from his high school wrestling coach – “You’re all right.”
“That has gotten me through life. I’ve been through a lot of stuff growing up that I’ve never shared publicly, but my life hasn’t always been sunshine and rainbows, but I’ve always told myself that I’m all right and that I can do it.”
“Being a college dropout, I’m all right, I can do it. Having a kid at age 19, I’m all right, I can do it. Everyone telling me that I’ll never be UFC champion, I’m all right, I can do it. Everyone telling me that I’m getting knocked out by this guy, knocked out by that guy, I’m all right, I can do it. What that means to me is that you should never slow down. Go out and get whatever you want and don’t feel sorry for yourself, and just strive, and just keep pushing forward. It’s simple, but it’s what I live with. I even preach it to my daughters.”
“I can’t tweet what everyone else tweets. I can’t post pictures I want to post. I can’t talk about some of the topics that I would like to talk about. I have to kind of put parts of myself on the back shelf in order to represent the word champion. It means a lot to me to be a champion both inside the Octagon and outside the Octagon. It’s like a lifestyle to me.”
“There’s nothing that Glover can do in his training that’s going to completely morph who he is. He can always learn a new move, but at his age, at this point in his career, mind you I’m just starting, I’m just five years into the game. I just started learning how to fight five years ago; Glover’s been doing this since I was in high school. So, if he was meant to be amazing and great at this, he would have already been there, and I believe in this.”
“I try and be a solid guy, I try and be an honest guy, and I try and be myself, and I have a strong fan base, but I also have a lot of haters. It comes with the job. My job is to continue to entertain them, and to try not to take the things they say against me personally and to realize that they never really met me in person, and if they did they probably wouldn’t hate me any more. I’m very approachable. I just think that sometimes people just don’t like to see people win or hold onto that position. It’s the same reason that some people hate the Yankees, or hate any other winning program. People say everybody loves a winner, that’s not true.”