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[FedortheCan]

Im a certain if Jones had this to do over, he would have taken the Sonnen fight seeing the incredible fallout from him declining that fight. Now what I dont get is how the "genius" Greg Jackson, didnt know the very outcome and the fallout of what would happen if Jones turns down Sonnen. I do not have one footstep inside this business and am just a fan, but like most of you, Im sure we all knew the repercussions that Jones would face once it was known that he turned down Sonnen. So for Jackson to not see this, is quite telling.

As for Jones going forward... if he is still successful and winning his title defenses, will many the fans comeback around and start to like him? Or has Jones now gone the way of Josh Kosheck? Where no matter what he does, even if he has a highlight reel finish, the fans are going to boo him every time, after every fight? I believe that after 24 hours of that fateful day, Jones was already regretting his decision.

[RearNakedStroke]

His backlash is from a small portion of die-hard MMA fans. Jones will be fine. I think this whole thing set back the UFC a lot more than it did Jones in the long run.

[The Donosaur]

I think Bones will do plenty more to destroy his public image.

[Pasha K]

Jone is very unlikeable. If he pretends to be super humble people will dislike him a lot, if he acts like a douche he will be also very disliked.

It is what it is, no matter what he does, most of the people will Boo him all the time.

What I find ridiculous is how some people try to portrait him as a poor victim who is so extremely young and has all people hating him. He is 25!!! It is not that he is 10!

[pimpslappd]

Hardcore fans Im not so sure. But I have casual friends who go cause its social and can drink there and they wont even know what happened.

I will hold it against him strictly like I would any champion who clearly turned down an opponent. Especially someone I respected like this and liked from the start.

[Esox Express]

IMO, people really hated Jones in general before this, and were looking for any kind of reason to REAAALLLY hate him. They found it.

It reminds me of back in the day when Sherk got popped for roids. Everyone hated him for being a LNP fighter so once he tested hot people just tore him to shreds. Meanwhile, others who have tested positive haven't (for the most part) received half the backlash he did at that time.

I think people who were fans before will remain fans, people who didn't care for him will continue to dislike him, except more passionately.

[IceCold48]

Originally Posted by RearNakedStroke

His backlash is from a small portion of die-hard MMA fans. Jones will be fine. I think this whole thing set back the UFC a lot more than it did Jones in the long run.

i disagree this was all over espn and major sports news outlets. also he barely had any fans before this. i do not think he will ever recover and will go down as the most hated fighter in the history of MMA.

however the most hated figure will be greg jackson surpassing ed sore-ass and vadim finklestein.

[AnchorPunch]

I'm sympathetic to Jones being a young guy and a bit out of his league. He's not old enough to have a fully formed self identity, we should expect some fluctuations and some testing of boundaries from him as he learns what he can and can't do as a public figure.

I also think age creates some communication barriers. For example, I was tempted to call his initial tweet about not wanting to fight Machida less of a deliberate thought and more of how people say "the kids" are using Twitter: just to post any random thought that crosses their brain, regardless of how temporal that opinion may be.

All of that said, the guy is trying to simultaneously be a diva, a bad boy, and a humble religious guy. That's not going to end well for him. He needs to pick one, hire a PR team, maybe a sport psychologist, and have everyone around him helping him and his image become whichever one he chooses. He's clearly not born for the spotlight the way a young Tito was...

What pisses me off about him is that he doesn't seem to understand that he has a ton of colleagues, works for an organization, etc. and that makes the UFC different from boxing and a lot of other combat sport brands. But it's possible he'll never act like that. And, really, I don't think the majority of fans will care. They'll want to see him win, not whine, and be consistent in his image.

People are programmed to find inconsistent people offputting - they're not trustworthy and we're built to detect that. Ultimately, I see that as his biggest problem and one that age and a good PR team can easily fix.

EDIT: I see that as his biggest problem assuming that he doesn't turn down any other fights or similar crap, which I suspect he won't. So I'm focused more on the general level of disapproval he's been getting from fans day-to-day as I think this last week will be forgotten/forgiven with time.

Originally Posted by The Donosaur

I think Bones will do plenty more to destroy his public image.

I wouldn't be surprised

[rivethead]

It's going to be tough if he does. dana holds grudges like it's his job, so he's got that to worry about. If he makes one misstep in the next year, it's going to bring this stuff up like it was yesterday, so he needs to make the right decisions and win fights while dealing with dana actively trying to bone him as much as humanly possible.

Originally Posted by AnchorPunch

All of that said, the guy is trying to simultaneously be a diva, a bad boy, and a humble religious guy. That's not going to end well for him. He needs to pick one, hire a PR team, maybe a sport psychologist, and have everyone around him helping him and his image become whichever one he chooses. He's clearly not born for the spotlight the way a young Tito was...

QTF. Hire a PR team and drop out of site for a while to strategize, then pick one identity, run with it to effectively reinvent himself. MMA fans have short memories, if he continues to win, he'll recover some of the ground at least. But I think the best strategy for him right now is silence, win the Belfort fight, talk as little as possible, and re-emerge right before his next bout as a consistent personality.

rh

[Fe1]

He can't recover from this because it's who he is. He's a selfish, arrogant, punk. First he writes off his Bentley driving drunk, and now this. It's only a matter of time before he does something else to hurt his image. The guy is bad for the UFC, and he's bad for the sport. Only difference is that now more people are starting to see it.