2011. március 26., szombat

Jon Jones Pt. 2: His family and the origins of his facial scars

As Jon Jones discussed in part one of Cagewriter's interview, he hasn't taken much damage in his MMA bouts. But Jones, who will fight Mauricio "Shogun" Rua for the UFC light heavyweight belt on Saturday at UFC 128, has a noticeable scar on his forehead. Where did it come from?

His big brother Arthur, a defensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, gave Jon that scar when they were kids.

"Arthur hit me in the face when I was a little boy with a Coca-Cola can. The first time, the can exploded, the second time he hit me with a crushed soda can, and I had cuts all over my face. The one that's in the middle of my forehead is a permanent reminder of my big brother," Jones said.

But Jones doesn't need to look in the mirror to be reminded of his brother's influence on his life. Jon said that Arthur and their younger brother Chandler (a football player at Syracuse) would spend hours in training -- also known as brothers beating each other up.

"Between me and my brothers, we had each other. It was just us. We wrestled all the time in our living room. We would get in fights. Our parents would come home and we'd all have new scars on our face. We would fight for hours. Both my parents worked during the day, so we would be home by ourselves for hours with no babysitter. When we fought, there was no one to break it up so we could fight for� hours. It toughened us up."

Arthur even pushed Jon without knowing it, as Jon used his big brother as inspiration to aim higher.

"Competition was always coming from me towards Arthur, because Arthur was the bigger brother, he was my dad's favorite, and he was always so dominant in everything he did. I always competed with Arthur, even though he didn't know that. He was just doing his thing, and I was hungry to keep up with that."

Now, Jon has caught up. Arthur spent the last three weeks training with Jon at Greg Jackson's camp, and Jon is blown away by his brother's skills in MMA.

"If he dedicated one year to the twice-a-day training lifestyle, I think he could compete with the UFC heavyweight champion. He's that special. It took me three years to get where I am, and Arthur is so special. He could get here in a year and a half."

Most MMA fans and media have been impressed by Jones' natural abilities. He has only been fighting for three years, but now has a chance to get the belt in one of the tougher weight classes in the sport. Still, he doesn't think that he's the best athlete in his family.

But who is the best athlete in the family?

"I think that I've been the hardest worker, because it hasn't come easy to me. I think it's a tie between Arthur and Chandler. Arthur just has 'it.' He has what it takes. He's gifted. Chandler has "it" and he works hard. Arthur is the most gifted, Chandler is the most special and I'm the one with the most heart and work ethic."

But Jones knows that none of his family would be where they are today without the strict guidance from his parents.

"My parents stuck by their beliefs. They always said that not too much positive goes on at night. They kept us where they could see us. We were never allowed to go out on Saturdays because we had to go to church on Sunday. We had to go bed at 9:00 p.m.� even when we were in high school. They stuck to what they believed, and they thought it would make us good in a way, and it ended up panning out, even though it sucked as a child."

Daddy's Girls

As a father of two girls, Jones appreciates the lessons his parents taught him, and is just as strict with his girls. Though they are both under two years of age, he is already concerned about how his parenting will affect him for the rest of their lives.

"I want to have strong relationships with my daughters. I want them to grow up to be respectable ladies, where the guys that they meet will respect them and they'll always have good people in their lives. I'm very hard on my daughters at a young age. My daughters are one and two, and I'm already telling them to stay away from boys. I just want them to be classy young ladies. I think they'll grow up to be respectable women with good guys. "

The girls watch the UFC video game with him, and love to see daddy on their television. He said he's already teaching the two-year-old punch and kick combinations. He would welcome his daughters trying out MMA.

"I would love it. I am already teaching Leah (the two-year-old) what the words punch and kick mean. She's horrible, but she's already learning."

That's right. Jones is already critiquing the striking technique of his two-year-old daughter. He laughed at that.

"Yeah, I take it pretty seriously!"

Watch Jones/Rua and the rest of UFC 128 right here on Yahoo! Sports.

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