It seems as if Jon Jones is ready to play some mind games of his own before his fight with Chael Sonnen.
Jones, the UFC light heavyweight champion, usually takes the quiet approach in the days leading up to his fights, choosing not to give his opponents any source of motivation. His challenger Sonnen, has an opposing approach, usually taking any and every opportunity to aggressively promote his fights, something at which he is very good at.
According to Maggie Hendricks of Yahoo Sports, Jones decided to divert from character by drudging up Sonnen’s past dalliances with steroids which he tested positive for, after his defeat to Anderson Silva at UFC 117.
The light heavyweight champion appeared on Fuel’s “UFC Tonight” and layed a scathing attack on his UFC 159 opponent.
“Chael Sonnen is a guy who people know he’s done steroids throughout his career,” he said. “It’s probably the reason why his testosterone is low now. I don’t think that’s the heart or an attitude of a champion. That’s what I meant when I said he lacks a championship soul.”
Following the airing of the interview, Jones went to Twitter to apologize to Sonnen.
I had no right to accuse chael of being a career long steroid user I apologize. See what had happened was….
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) April 17, 2013
Now that the recent season of the Ultimate Fighter – of which both fighters served as coaches – is over, the animosity has started to become more palpable between the two. There are still roughly two weeks left remaining before Jones and Sonnen face off, so there may be public attacks to come.