UFC president: Race doesn’t have anything to do with Jone’s popularity
“You’re a human being, man. Some people are going to like you and some people aren’t. I’m white. There’s a lot of people that like me and a lot of people that don’t.”
On his latest podcast, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan speculated as to whether or not racism plays some role in in the lack of popularity that UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones enjoys, relative to his extraordinary skill as a fighter.
On the latest edition of UFC.com’s weekly exclusive Dowload interview with UFC president Dana White, the league boss noted that Jones is indeed popular, and did not think race played a role.
Who says Jones isn’t popular? I mean, as far as our business goes, Jones is very popular, said White. I think Joe is saying, ‘Why isn’t he this massive superstar? The guy is so talented, his brothers are two NFL players, etcetera, etcetera.’ There’s no doubt that Jon has had his share of issues since he’s been the champ, but I wouldn’t say that Jon Jones isn’t popular.
Mike Tyson is black. Muhammad Ali is black. LeBron James is black. There are a lot of guys out there that are black that people love. There’s people out there that don’t like them too. But you’re a human being, man. Some people are going to like you and some people aren’t. I’m white. There’s a lot of people that like me and a lot of people that don’t.
Using Twitter followers as a very rough measure of popularity, Jones is indeed popular, with 930K followers. However, relative to other top UFC fighters, Jones’ following does seem perhaps a little light.
1. Anderson Silva – 5.58 Million
2. Vitor Belfort – 1.24 Million
3. Minotauro Nogueira – 1.13 Million
4. Georges St-Pierre – 1.03 Million
5. Junior Dos Santos – 0.976 Million
6. Jon Jones – 0.930 Million
7. Chael Sonnen – 0.743 Million
8. Ronda Rousey – 0.654 Million
9. Shogun Rua – 0.625 Million
10. Wanderlei Silva – 0.614 Million
The most popular fighter in the UFC as measured by Twitter is Anderson Silva, a Brazilian of African descent, who has four times more followers than the #2 fighter, Vitor Belfort, a Brazilian of Portuguese descent. So if race is a factor in fighter popularity, it is certainly a minor one.
Skill does not translate directly to popularity, as revealed by a list of Twitter followers for the UFC’s top 10 pound for pound:
1. Jon Jones – 0.930 Million
2. Jose Aldo – 0.397 Million
3. Cain Velasquez – 0.436 Million
4. Demetrious Johnson – 0.080 Million
5. Chris Weidman – 0.330 Million
6. Anthony Pettis – 0.189 Million
7. Anderson Silva – 5.58 Million
8. Ronda Rousey – 0.654 Million
9. Renan Barao – 0.070 Million
10. Johny Hendricks – 0.181 Million
In the final analysis, it takes more than skill to be a massive superstar, and race doesn’t seem to factor in much, if at all.
For the record, Dana White has 2.93 followers, more than any fighter save Silva.