Jon Jones Lashes Out At Ariel Helwani For His Comments Over The Ngannou Fight

In the latest MMA news, Jon Jones, the current UFC heavyweight champion, has hit out at reporter Ariel Helwani following his recent comments about him.

Helwani rubbed Jones up the wrong way after he had decided to remind Francis Ngannou over some of Jones’ prior comments about why the fight did not happen between the pair.

Ngannou, the former UFC heavyweight champion, decided to leave the UFC after terms could not be agreed over a new contract. Although that may have been the case, the talks over the fight have continued to rumble on.

This is despite the fact that Dana White had ruled out ever working with Ngannou again. With that being said, Helwani recalled the following comments that Jones had made about such a fight when he had interviewed Ngannou.

Jones On Ngannou

“I’m here. Francis had the opportunity to face me, and he opted out of the opportunity. If anyone should be criticized, it’s Francis Ngannou. If I’m correct, he was offered the biggest contract in heavyweight history. He had the opportunity to be the guy to dethrone me.” Jones had previously stated. “He (Ngannou) didn’t believe in himself. He wasn’t willing to gamble on himself. Calling yourself the baddest man on the planet from across the street? Who does that,” Jones said

Nevertheless, that did not sit very well with Jones. The current UFC heavyweight champion had to pull out of his title defense against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 after suffering from a pectoral injury during a sparring session.

“Obviously, a very sad situation, very upset. But I’ve been through a lot of things in life. Injuries is a part of being an athlete. Mission complete. Now it’s time for the road to recovery. Let’s do it. The goal is to get surgery [Friday] and get back to work as soon as possible. I guess it’ll be Stipe and I at a later date. That’s my plan. It’ll be surgery and physical therapy for me for the next several months. But I’m committed. My head is high,” Jones stated 

The injury is expected to keep Jones out until sometime next year after the fighter confirmed that he had surgery. And as part of that process, Jones had to put up with the fact that he had just returned to the cage after three years out with his victory over Ciryl Gane.

And that frustration ultimately boiled over as both Jones and Helwani had a social media spat.

Jones And Helwani

“And Jon Jones says you were looking what? You’re such a backstabbing sh*t talker bro and you wonder why I haven’t given you an interview in years @arielhelwani,” Jones

“Sorry, I didn’t finished my thought there. That’s my bad. But that’s what I was referencing. Hope you make a speedy recovery, Jon,” Helwani

Ultimately, Jones will be hoping to bounce back as soon as possible in order to silence his critics. And the only way for the fighter to do such a thing is to continue winning. And there is no getting away from that.