This past Wednesday, the UFC hosted a routine conference call for the upcoming 128 card taking place in Newark, NJ. Fight Hub TV’s Alex Mattis sat in on the call and took note of the neutral (and often humorous) comments made by Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, Jonny ‘Bones’ Jones, Urijah Faber and Eddie Wineland.
To no one’s surprise it quickly became the Jon “Jones” Show, with the majority of inquisitiveness directed toward the 23 year-old phenomenon.
Jones was willing to answer any and all question directed his way, but went through a ballet of emotion while on the call. He expressed his sentiment of being blessed by the title shot: “God has given all of this and I’ve worked for all of this. Now is just my time to go out there and just literally take what belongs to me. I feel that it’s my belt and I want it, and I’m going to hang out to it and I’m going to start with Shogun.”
“It’s a dream come true. My goal, my dream when I got into the UFC was to become the champion and now, I’m one fight away from my whole life changing.”
He then seemed befuddled when talking about him being the favorite in the upcoming fight. “The fact that I’m the favorite? I think that’s bologna. I think the reason that I’m the favorite is because odds makers are very smart and they probably think I’m going to lose”
Then, when asked about what he could learn from Urijah Faber, Bones went all giddy on us: “I guess the biggest thing I take from Urijah is don’t say yes to groupies.”
“Cause a sexy guy like him… you know…”
It was quite the moment.
Rounding off the tango of feelings, Bones got mad at all of us in the MMA media. When asked about potentially fighting Rashad Evans.
The champ, Rua, wasn’t hit up with curious ears too often, but when he was he kept the same stoic demeanor that we have come to expect from him.
“I think he deserves the shot at the belt. He earned it.”
Shogun was very modest in discussing what the odds makers were saying about the fight, “Well, I actually understand the people thinking he is the favorite for the fight because he has been winning all his fight easily. I certainly think he is the favorite for the fight.”
“I truly consider myself the underdog.”
However, Shogun added that it “Serves as motivation, I just feel I’m obligated to do my best.”
The champ was very honest when addressing his rocky past with the UFC, but optimistic with his future. “When I won the PRIDE Grand Prix, I went through some hard times to motivate myself but that changed, I learned a lot and right now, since I’ve been through that, I think that every fight is the fight of my life, as my dream that I need to conquer.”
Urijah Faber was clear, and much unreserved, when he answered the second biggest hunk of inquiries.
He took the award for the “Oh SNAP!” moment of the call when asked about a fight with UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz “I’m the kind of guy that follows my heart. When people ask me a question, I’m tell you the real answer. I don’t really like the guy very much.”
“The bottom line is I feel like the guy kind of chose me as an enemy and I accept. We’re going to get this fight, and that’ going to be that.”
It may not transcend through print like it did audio, but it is clear Faber has no love for Cruz.
When describing the differences of fighting in the UFC Faber was brief, “I’m excited about the debut, but I’ve been in some big events before. It’s not too much different for me really.”
“Although, I do like the countdown to the live event… that song, what is it? “Teenage Wasteland” ? That might get me going, but we’ll see.” (Writer’s note: I absolutely loved that Mr. Faber stumbled over the song title and then didn’t even get it right. If he had accurately called “Baba O’ Riley” by The Who, it would have completely diminished the cool, laid back, whatever feel of the ‘California Kid’ for me. I would have forever pictured Urijah Faber wearing skinny jeans, smoking a cigarette while constantly correcting people on everything they got wrong. Thank God I will never have to worry about a ‘California Hipster’ façade.)
Oh yeah, he also talked about the dude he’s fighting this Saturday. “I like Eddie, he and I are cool. You get some exciting styles. We both are fast-paced, we go for the kill.”
“I think Eddie’s got extremely fast hands and real straight punches that land.” The former champ added, “And you know, he’s an athlete.”
“He’s a well-rounded fighter but, compared to me, he’s not a well-rounded fighter.”
If this call were an analogy of the average person’s life, Eddie Wineland would fill the role of milk. Everyone knew he was there, they knew they needed him, eventually forgot about him, but when they remembered he was there acted like they knew the whole time.
When Mr. Wineland was eventually summoned he answered politely.
“I’m anxious to get in there and get it done.”
Wineland was clearly ready for the talking to cease. “I can’t wait to test myself against him.”
On his opponent, Wineland replied, “Urijah, he brings a lot to the table. His hands had improved immensely from what I’ve seen. His wrestling, obviously he’s a great wrestler. His jiu-jistu is no joke. He brings a lot to the table.”
It all goes down this Saturday night! Get ready, fight fans!
