Kriget mellan Jon ”Bones” Jones och Quinton ”Rampage” Jackson började redan på presskonferensen inför UFC 135 under kvällen idag. Något som troligtvis gjorde den till den roligaste presskonferensen sedan Tito Ortiz och Ken Shamrock låg i luven på varandra. Det flög förvisso inga stolar denna gång, men många hårda ord flög förbi UFCs VD Dana White som stod i mitten och höll ställningarna.
Det började ganska oskyldigt med en snabb comeback ifrån Jones:
Rampage: ”I want my belt back!”
Jones: ”Is there any replica belts we can hand Rampage?”
Så i början vann Jon Jones lite mark här, men det höll inte speciellt länge.
Nästa konfrontation eggades på av en journalist som ställde frågan ”Will you teach this kid a lesson?” till Rampage:
Jones: ”Who you calling a kid, buddy?”
Rampage: ”Who you calling old, dog? Haha, I’m only 33. Goodness. You all act like I’m Randy Couture’s decrepit old ass.
”You know, if I have to represent the old school, I guess I’ll represent them. You put me in that category. I was younger than him when I started. I was 21, 22 fighting Wanderlei [Silva] and stuff like that. I guess I’m old school, but with old school comes a lot of experience. He’s the youngest champion, but I think he’s the least experienced champion in UFC history. All that other stuff don’t matter to me. I just come to fight and get my belt back. That’s the only thing I care about. I got tunnel vision. I don’t care about nothing else.”
Jones: ”I think Brock Lesnar might have been the least experienced champion. Fighting Rampage is an honor. He’s been around a long time. I’ve been watching him since high school or college. I respect his character and what he does for the sport. It’s an opportunity for me to elevate. When you beat people who accomplish so much, you take a little bit of their thunder and accolades. That’s what I did with Shogun, and that what I’d like to do with Rampage.”
Rampage: ”Him and Rashad got something in common. They’re both really cocky. I’m confident, very confident in myself. There’s a difference. Last time I was this confident, I knocked someone [Chuck Liddell] out in the first round and got that belt. I’ve been working hard, training and doing all the right things, all the stuff I need to be doing. That belt’s coming back to me, for real.”
Vi spolar fram lite till en senare del mitt i presskonferensen. Jon Jones blir frågad om vad han tycker om att använda sin brottning i matchen, men Rampage avbryter mitt i allt:
Rampage: ”You know he is. Come on, man. Who been standing up with me? Who been doing mixed martial arts with me? Everybody been wrestlin’ with me. You already know.”
Jones: ”I think I displayed pretty good kickboxing against Mauricio ”Shogun.” ”Shogun” is one who will throw knees and elbows and actually throw high kicks. Rampage is like fighting a boxer in my opinion. If he thinks that I’m intimidated to stand by him then I think it’s great for me that he’s under that impression.”
Rampage: ”I just have to say, straight up, I respect you dog, I do think you’re the future of MMA, keepin’ it real but you fought ”Shogun” when he was rusty as hell. He was off an injury, hadn’t fought for a year, like two knee surgeries.”
Jones: ”There will always be excuses. There will always be excuses. I’m sure after our fight I’ll hear, ’you didn’t fight the Pride Rampage, you fought the movie star Rampage.’ There will always be excuses.”
Rampage: ”You’re right, there’s always excuses. There’s a hundred of them. I’ve got like three excuses for every time I’ve lost. I’ve got a bunch of ’em (laughs).”
Jones: ”You thinking of anything good now?”
Rampage: ”I ain’t gonna need no excuses after this fight. I ain’t going to need not one. You’re gonna need a bunch of ’em.”
Jones svarade förvisso aldrig på denna, men det ska bli intressant att se hur ordkriget mellan de två kommer att utvecklas. För jag har en känsla av att det kommer stiga ett par grader efter det här, och om Jones ska hänga med Rampage på det här behöver han nog anställa Chael Sonnen som hans PR-ansvariga.
Båda två gav en hel del bra svar på tal under presskonferensens gång, men den här ronden vann Rampage. Men det är bara min åsikt, du kan se presskonferensen här och själv bestämma vem som vann.
