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He cited business reasons for not wanting the fight, comments that didn't sit well with everyone, but in an interview with MMAJunkie.com, he made it clear that it's more than just pay-per-view reasons alone; indeed, he feels Machida simply doesn't deserve to leapfrog other potential challengers in the division.
"Styles make these matchups," Jones said. "Phil Davis lost to Rashad [Evans], and I beat Rashad. But that doesn't mean Phil Davis won't give me the fight of my life. Or [Alexander] Gustafsson. He's tall, I'm tall, and he's got long arms. Maybe that would be interesting to see. Or Glover Teixiera. He hits hard. Maybe that would be interesting. Styles make matchups. There's guys in my gym right now that aren't in the UFC that make me sweat and bleed. So you can't say I've cleaned out the division – because I haven't. I simply haven't."
"As a businessman, the [fight against Machida at UFC 140] had the lowest pay-per-view sales of all the fights I had in 2011," Jones said. "So it's just like, I don't see why it would benefit me to fight him again. ... I have nothing to gain there. I beat him once, and it was the lowest pay-per-view numbers I had the whole year. So why would I fight someone that no one really wants to see when there's all these other guys working their hearts out to get a chance at me? Why do they get skipped [by] a guy who lost already?"
Outside of those names, there's another jumping up to the division who has already exchanged some words with the young Champ: Chael Sonnen. The two went back and forth on Twitter after Sonnen took some shots at Jones on Fuel TV last week, and the Champ had some choice words for the Sonnen in this interview.
"That guy is a joke," Jones said of Sonnen and their exchange last week. "It's not getting baited if you know what you're up against. My emotions weren't involved in that."
The exchange led most to believe a fight between Jones and Sonnen may simply be an inevitability at this point, but Jones instead has even harsher feelings towards Sonnen, and doesn't want to let the brash potential challenger talk his way into a title fight.
"He mentions Brazilian kids playing with dirt while American kids play with normal toys," Jones said. "He talks about people's parents and families and wives. He's a bona fide bully. ... The Brazilian thing, I lost a lot of respect for him. What he said was racist. It was disrespectful and unacceptable. I have a strong stance on this because I hate what he's doing. You can't just insult a whole country like that. ... It was terrible. As Americans, we should have been embarrassed by what he did."
"It's what he wants, but I'm not going to allow him to get a title fight from talking. It's not going to happen. Chael Sonnen will not get a title fight from using his mouth. I will make it very clear to everyone that there's people who are way more deserving of a shot. If he wants to come into the [light-heavyweight division], I'd consider him Top 15 among light heavyweights. Let's see what he'll do against a wrestler like Phil Davis. Let's see what he'd do against a wrestler like Rashad or a striker like Lyoto Machida. ... The light-heavyweight division is a completely different beast. I won't allow him to just jump the rankings with his mouth. It's not going to happen."
Penick's Analysis: Considering the UFC is likely still going to push a Machida fight next after announcing him on Fox as the next challenger, it may not matter what Jones has to say on the matter when it comes to Sonnen getting a potential shot. Sure, he should have to win two or three fights before getting into contention, but he's also a fighter the UFC can sell from a pay-per-view standpoint. Additionally, for Jones to in one breath talk about the business issues of the Machida rematch and ignore those possibilities with Sonnen is definitely a bit hypocritical. It may or may not matter what Sonnen's credentials should earn him, his ability to market himself combined with a win over Forrest Griffin may likely put him into that fight anyway. That said, Jones' comments regarding Sonnen aren't entirely off. Sonnen's rants against Brazil and Brazilian people have been more xenophobic than racist, though that's a minor distinction and doesn't make them less deplorable. Regardless, Sonnen's talked his way into the spotlight, but he's still got the results recently to be among the top end of competition. Though he lost to Anderson Silva twice, he can still be relevant at light heavyweight with a win or two, regardless of anything he says. But with the way the UFC thinks of things, expect him to be in the title picture a lot sooner than Jones would like.
[Jon Jones art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_14172.shtml
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