With The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 17 finally nearing completion, it's time for the claws to come out.
Both Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen were relatively respectful to each other as head coaches during filming of UFC's flagship reality television series, but that ends now.
In his pre-fight interview with UFC.com, Jones gave a backhanded compliment on Sonnen's use of pre-fight trash talk, but slammed his upcoming opponent's submission defense and mental toughness:
"The beautiful thing about Chael is that he uses his words. That's about all he has. He's just a gang of quotes that no one is going to remember. He's just weak in every way, shape, or form. He taps before submissions are even sunk in. If I put one hand around his throat, he's probably gonna tap."
Jones has always admired Muhammad Ali as a fighter and while Sonnen's trash talk has never been on the level of the "Louisville Lip's," he brought up an interesting comparison as to why Sonnen will never reach Ali's heights.
"Guys like Muhammad Ali, they said a lot of things that were bold statements. The difference between guys like Muhammad Ali and Chael is that guys like Muhammad Ali actually believe. No matter how much he tries to convince himself that he's gonna win this fight or that he's the champion without the belt; he just doesn't believe and that's why he comes up short in every opportunity he has to be a champion. He doesn't have a champion's soul, heart, work ethic. Nothing."
Last but not least, the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion slammed Sonnen for never being "championship material." It makes you wonder why he didn't want to fight him on short notice in the first place at UFC 151.
"He's not a champion. He's not made out of championship stuff. He just wants that spotlight. He wants that opportunity. He wants that big fight, and I'm gonna give him what he wants. I will defeat Chael Sonnen in an extremely devastating fashion."
"Bones" will have an opportunity to back up his own bold statements in the main event of UFC 159 later this month (April 27, 2013) from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Do you think he has a point about Sonnen's heart?