Shouldering Fame’s Weight

---

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- It was hardly the red-carpet welcome befitting a future champion. When Jon Jones’ plane touched down in New Mexico more than two years ago for his first camp with Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts, work began immediately.

Jackson’s MMA General Manager Ricky Kottenstette met Jones at the airport at 8:30 p.m. and promptly shuttled the then-21-year-old to a meeting with a strength-and-conditioning coach, as his body fat was measured and a diet plan was created. That was just the beginning. As with anyone who journeys to the Southwest to study under Greg Jackson, Jones soon knew what it meant to have a full complement of serious training partners. He learned about team and family. He learned about winning.

The hype surrounding “The Ultimate Fighter 10” Finale that December in Las Vegas centered on Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson and his Octagon debut. By the end of the night, a kid nicknamed “Bones” had the people talking about him. Jones had made crushing Matt Hamill seem effortless, tripping the powerful wrestler to the floor and blasting his opponent with fists and elbows. Though he lost the bout on a technicality -- illegal 12-to-6 elbows resulted in his disqualification -- Jones gained a legion of followers who appreciated his propensity for violence in the cage.

“That was the first real serious camp that he’s ever had,” Kottenstette recalls.

Back then, Jones was just a prospect. Anticipating a bright future ahead, Jackson predicted that handling success would be his pupil’s greatest obstacle. Now Jones is everywhere. He sells shoes with the fictional Kenny Powers. He pitches Bud Light alongside UFC President Dana White. He was the first UFC fighter to ever sit on Jay Leno’s couch. As the youngest titleholder in the organization's history, life can be lucrative.

“He’s handled the success very well so far,” Jackson says. “He’s being smart. He’s focused. He’s training hard. He’s not letting a thousand people whisper in his ear. We try to make sure that he’s taken care of inside and outside the cage. I’ve learned a lot over these last six or seven years about championships and what fame can do to you -- and what money does to you. Just trying to set up the structure so that Jon has the ingredients in his life to maintain happiness is important.”

Jones’ year of coronation was originally expected to be 2012, not 2011, but a knee injury suffered by former teammate Rashad Evans created a window of opportunity and Jones blasted through it. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua lasted until the third round of their UFC 128 bout before punches and knees from Jones officially declared the arrival of a new era. For Jones, it unfolded exactly as it was meant to.

“I felt as if everything that I had been through in my life prepared me for that moment, prepared me for those days,” he says. “Everything that I’ve ever been through, I just felt as if it made me a champion. I didn’t think the fight [alone] was gonna make me a champion. I felt like it was my championship moment, my championship time in life. I was confident at the press conference. I felt like I was looking good. I felt like my energy was good, and I felt like my life was coming together. And now, I feel like it’s totally together. Now, it’s time to do great things.”

A Champion’s Burden

A picture of a younger Mike Winkeljohn hangs in Jackson’s office, a reminder of a time when the respected striking coach won International Sport Karate Association and muay Thai world titles. Winkeljohn’s reign came when ESPN went dark on its kickboxing coverage, so publicity was limited.

“I had a good feeling of accomplishment, but I knew it was only the beginning because the money wasn’t there like it is now, so you didn’t get the press; you didn’t get all those things,” he says. “It was a totally different world.”

Though Winkeljohn did not get famous, he still found himself surrounded by a horde of newfound well-wishers and friends. When giving counsel to Jones regarding the people he allows into his life, Winkeljohn preaches caution.

“The more success you have -- even though I saw it in a small [amount] -- the more people want to be a part of it, and they get in the way sometimes,” he says. “People take credit for different things you did that had nothing to do with your skills. Now that Jon’s at the top, everybody’s coming out of the woodwork.”

On any given week, the renowned Albuquerque gym is filled with past, present and future champions, many of whom have firsthand knowledge of what Jones is experiencing now. As a war hero and a recipient of the Silver Star for valor in combat, Brian Stann was already a media darling before he captured the WEC light heavyweight title in 2008. With the gold, he warns, comes added responsibility.

“This is at a much smaller scale than what Jon’s dealing with, but it was amazing. My life did change a lot,” says Stann, who will face Chael Sonnen at UFC 136, with the winner likely securing a middleweight title shot. “I had an even larger media responsibility than I had previously, and I thought I had a lot. I had to leave for weeks at a time to do media tours. There was a lot more attention on my training and a lot more people interrupting. I was definitely not prepared for that side of it. The rumors and things that people say about how it’s harder to keep a belt than it is to win it are very true.”

The media crush has been in full effect before Jones’ first title defense against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 135 this Saturday in Denver. The inside of Jackson’s MMA is one part training facility, one part studio, as cameras and lighting equipment litter the gym two weeks before the bout. Sports Illustrated has come to town to do a shoot, and a group from Tapout is entrenched with filming of its own. ESPN’s “Rome is Burning” recruits Jones to be a correspondent for its weekly TV show. Jones is about as accommodating as a person can be, given the circumstances.

Those associated with the team have already begun to consider how much brighter the spotlight will become if Albuquerque native Carlos Condit brings another title to the team next month. He faces current welterweight king Georges St. Pierre on Oct. 29. Still, business proceeds as usual in the gym. There is no caste system in Jackson’s domain.

“We treat our champions like we treat our normal fighters,” he says. “You’re just one of the boys here; you just happen to have a title.”

What excites Jones the most has nothing to do with fame. The true appeal of being at the top comes in taking each opponent’s best shot.

“I’ve got all the best guys in the world gunning at me -- no more questions about easy fights or me being tested from here on out,” he says. “It’ll be me versus the number one guy in the world. It’s an honor. It’s a great place to be. I get to test my heart, test my integrity and test what type of man I am, knowing that I’m fighting nothing but the best now.”

The Next Challenge

Rampage Jackson is a former UFC 205-pound champion with prodigious physical gifts and an appeal that transcends MMA. His role in the major motion picture “The A-Team” was one of the most significant for a UFC star to date. Despite run-ins with the law for reckless driving in 2008 and sometimes questionable tact with the media, his marketability remains largely unaffected. Much of that can be credited to a wildly successful career in both the UFC and Pride Fighting Championships that includes victories over the likes of Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida.

While Jackson has accomplished much, Jones hopes to raise the bar.

“I’m not looking to be like Rampage down the road,” he says. “I’m looking to be better than [him] in every way: the way I represent the sport, the way I represent myself and the way I play the game.”

However, it is not just Jackson’s in-cage prowess that makes him a dangerous first title defense for Jones, who turned 24 in July.

“His talk is something that I’ve never been through before,” Jones says. “Brandon Vera was a little bit of a talker, and that was tough for me. I reacted in a bad way at the weigh-ins, but Rampage is a big talker. His talk is elevating me to different levels of maturity as a professional. His accomplishments are as high as it gets in our sport’s history. Rampage is a huge test for me as a young man, as an athlete and as a professional.”

Finish Reading » “I hold myself to a different standard. I realize that my teammates are looking at me as an example of what it’s supposed to be like as a champion.”