Let me preface this editorial article by saying: Yes, Lyoto Machida is one of my favorite fighters and I am always devastated when he loses. I am making no excuses for why he lost anyone caught in a choke that strong and secure will lose a fight no matter how great a fighter they are. Jon Jones is without a doubt a great fighter and well deserving of the UFC LHW belt. Having said that, no matter who my fave is I was brought to nausea when the referee saw Machida's right arm go limp, stopped the fight, (and here is the part that disturbed me) Jones just dropped the choked out Machida to the canvas face first like he was a dead dog.
Don't get me wrong, Jones is young and I'm pretty sure that he had adrenaline pumping and he wasn't thinking, but I have to honestly and humbly ask, "Would it have killed ya to lower him to the floor?"
I understand when a fight is stopped for whatever reason, the winner just stops, but I will never be convinced that in this case, Jones couldn't have lowered his opponent to the ground before celebrating his victory.
Here is the part where I am a total girl: I started to cry and wondering if Machida was alive. Being that he is my fave, I feel like he is a close relative even though I have never actually met him in person, and I have only spoken with him over social media. My concern for his well being was magnified by the way Jones just let him drop and turned to celebrate without even showing concern for him till after he had the belt strapped on him and his named announced and the reigning champ. I was encouraged when I saw Lyoto move moments later.
No champion is perfect and not all of them are gonna do the right thing all the time, but the same guy that chased a purse snatcher down a the day of a fight can have the wear-with-all to do such a valiant thing, why couldn't he take a moment to do the sportsmanlike thing and respectfully help out someone who just lost a fight in such a devastatingly fashion. He might as well have kicked him why he was down. literally.
Would your opinion of the champ be any different if he had respectfully helped his opponent to the floor? Mine definitely would. I would see Jones as a even more humble champion than he actually is. Yes, it stung to see one of my faves lose and in such a terrible fashion, and I will admit maybe some of my bias is squeaking through, but the human side of me (and girl) was disturbed and disappointed by Jones actions after his well fought victory. His athleticism, and amazing skills are a huge reason why he is the champ, but as a women and fan of MMA it is always nice to see a champ show some humility and kindness in winning.
Congrats to Jonny "Bones" Jones on retaining the coveted UFC Light Heavyweight title. The way things are going looks like he just might be the champ for a long time, hopefully he has thought about the way the fight ended and will learn from it.
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I'm not justifying his actions, but one main thing that we have to realize is that this is a fight, and not a show. It's expected that you will be a totally different mindset because you are aware that you're opponent is trying to hurt you. That's why there are referees there to stop the action as quickly as possible, and they do an extremely good job in that matter. He is a champion, but he's a person that makes mistakes just like everyone else.
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