Jones vs. Shogun, in photo by Dan Rod
Candidate for MMA superhero Jon Jones had his litmus test on Saturday, when he had to make it past Mauricio Shogun to conquer his first belt, at just 23 years of age.
Before the fight, though, Jones had a different mission, which ended up being an unexpected warmup for his bout with Shogun.
Just hours before fighting, Jones had just arrived in the parking lot of a park in Paterson, where he went to meditate with his coaches, when told an elderly couple had been robbed in their car. The fighter followed and quickly passed his coaches in pursuit of the robber, who stumbled and was then, upon making another break for it, was subdued by the new UFC champion and his crew, with his Coach Greg Jackson pinning the delinquent to the ground.
As they got out of the police car, the police officer’s first reaction was: “Whoa, what are you doing here? Aren’t you fighting tonight?” as Jones recounted to laughter at the press conference.
The news made it to the local news, and the news clip was rebroadcast across the USA, to UFC president Dana White’s delight. “All he needs to do now is deliver a baby in the middle of the street on his way home,” joked White.
The bizarre occurrence aside, the adrenaline purged on the occasion contributed to the champion being even more on his toes during the fight, in contrast to Shogun, who was unable to get anything done.