Jon Jones has had his troubles with the law in the past (Getty)
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight champion, Jon ‘Bones’ Jones, will defend his prestigious title against undefeated challenger, Dominick Reyes, this weekend at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
And with a huge UFC pay-per-view event, usually follows a lot of casual eyes; and with casual eyes, the company would prefer if their main event was promoted with a touch of hostility between fighters. As expected and ordinarily we’ll witness two fighters show respect towards each other or it’ll be on the exact opposite end with a dislike and ‘no love lost’ attitude. Rarely you’ll find any sort of in-between or meet in the middle type moves and with Jones and Reyes we have the most entertaining outcome, these two dislikes each other.
Jones would first express his dislike for the challenger back in 2019 when the fight was announced. Jones didn’t appreciate the manner he was called out by and believes Reyes is in way above his head. Jones was called out by Reyes after the up and comer defeated former Middleweight champion Chris Weidman, prodding at Jones’ Reyes said, “I don’t need any party favors”. Indirectly insulting Jones’ party lifestyle from his widely frowned upon past has triggered Jones’ and from what we’ve seen in the past, an angry Jon Jones isn’t one you’d want to be facing in the octagon.
Dominick Reyes continues to show disrespect towards not only Jones but the opponents he’s fought in the past.
Without much thought, Reyes clearly jumped the gun with this comment. Jones has fought Olympians, Footballers & MMA champions; the list of athletes he’s defeated is already cemented in history. A slip-up in mental warfare just shows that Reyes has a plan, but from experience, if you need such a mental advantage you’re not confident enough in the abilities you possess to get the job done.
I believe Reyes would’ve had to prove his worth considerably more in a different weight class, due to the lack of competition it’s been a struggle to find challengers for Jones. As much talent that Reyes walks into the octagon with, can a fighter 12 professional bouts compete with the G.O.A.T (greatest of all time). Arguably, Jones the pound for pound greatest fighter of all time but has seemed to show a lack of interest in his recent fights. Maybe the bad-blood will give us the Jones we know and love, not the guy who turned up to fight OSP & Santos with a huge lack of effort.
The Jackson-Wink MMA superstar doesn’t have much left to accomplish, but at such a young age, for the heavier weight classes… he could be around at a high level for a long time. I believe the public will underestimate Reyes and to be honest, rightfully so. Nobody has come close to Jones; he gave up a single round versus Thiago Santos because the man quite clearly didn’t care for the contest at hand. These recent fights aren’t legacy changing, the only fighter who could benefit significantly from Jones contests against guys such as Smith, OSP & Santos would be the challenger. Fighters are being gifted life a changing opportunity whilst Jones just sails, with some luck and the help from the MMA gods, hopefully, the Adesanya fight could happen.
One thing we don’t see often from Vegas or William Hill is a betting line on Jon Jones that isn’t heavily juiced, well to my surprise; Jones has been as low as [1.25] [-400]. So basically, you would need to place a £400 bet to win £100 and this may seem like a bad investment but just take a look at the champion. The odds are widely available but I doubt we’ll see this price survive heading into fight night. I’d expect this number to continue slowly descending as more and more public gamblers get involved with Jonny ‘Bones’ Jones.
