Jon Jones Won’t Feed Into Phil Davis Trash Talk

No. 4-ranked UFC light heavyweight Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis recently ruffled some feathers when he proclaimed that UFC 205-pound champion Jon “Bones” Jones probably wouldn’t make it to his scheduled UFC 172 main event title bout with Glover Teixeira on April 26.

Davis noted that his Alliance MMA training partner (and former submission victim), No. 1-ranked Alexander Gustafsson, left “little pieces” of Jones laying all over the mat in their classic five round war at UFC 165 last September.

Many also believe that Jones is both looking past Teixeira and ducking Gustafsson, but “The Mauler” locked up his next title shot by finishing previously undefeated prospect Jimi Manuwa at UC Fight Night 37. Regardless of what his critics say, Jones told AXS TV Fights that he’s not going to platy into “Mr. Wonderful’s” hands:

“I think he’s taking a page from Chael Sonnen maybe, and I don’t want to feed into it too much. Phil’s a guy that I actually like; I’m just not going to feed into Phil insulting me, and hope that we can, you know, remain to be somewhat respectful.”

Jones is taking the high road and not letting Davis’ trash talk get to him, something we haven’t always seen the maturing champion do in his younger years. But now that the 26-year-old Jones is such a marketable superstar, it’s probably in his best interest to keep his image as squeaky clean as possible.

And he appears to know that. Will it nonetheless take a hit when he faces tough challenges in Teixeira and/or Gustafsson?