After Jon Jones choked out his opponent Lyoto Machida at last night's UFC 140 he dropped the unconscious Machida to the canvas like so much rubbish he'd disposed of. Moments later he went across the cage to check on his fallen foe and shake his hand.
As the video above shows, Jones had to be coached to make that gesture of sportsmanship by his trainer Greg Jackson, who can be heard in the video telling Jones to "check on Lyoto, gain some fans."
MMA is a sport that prides itself on the respect the competitors show towards one another. Jackson's bald cynicism at once complies with that ethic and rips the mask off the pretense that is all too often behind it. If an athlete needs to be told why he should check on his vanquished opponent in terms of his own self-interest, that doesn't say anything good about the athlete.
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