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UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is hitting back at his next opponent, Rampage Jackson, after Jackson accused Jones of sending a spy into Jackson's training camp.
Addressing Jackson directly via Twitter, Jones said he would never cheat because he has too much respect for mixed martial arts -- and Jones suggested that makes himself different from Jackson.
"Just so you know, I'm not a person who looks for shortcuts in life. Unlike you, MMA is not something I do because of money," Jones wrote. "It's a way of life for me and I would never disrespect the integrity of that."
Jones saying that Jackson is only in MMA for the money is a reaction to comments Jackson has made in the past about how he would quit MMA for acting if acting paid him better. Jackson briefly retired from MMA when he was given a role in The A-Team, but he returned to the sport when he found that there weren't any more lucrative acting assignments coming his way.
But what Jones is mostly reacting to is a much more recent comment from Jackson, who told Yahoo Sports on Monday that he believes Jones has hired someone to infiltrate Jackson's training camp to glean information prior to their fight at UFC 135.
"One of my friends was talking to Jon Jones' manager recently, and Jon Jones' manager was saying that he knows everything that is going on in our camp," Jackson said. "He said he had spies in our camp and he knew everything that was going on. That got me thinking."
Jones' manager Malki Kawa says Jackson's accusations are ridiculous.
"I promise to God, I have no spy in that camp," Kawa told Yahoo. "It's completely and totally untrue. There is nothing to it at all. It's funny he said that, though, because we've heard he has had old training partners of Jon coming in to work with him. We don't care and it's kind of hilarious he's doing this."
For his part, Jones says that now that he's responded to Jackson's accusation, he's not going to give it another thought. And he told Jackson on Twitter that he looks forward to meeting him in the Octagon.
"Believe me or not, I've said my part," Jones said. "Hoping you have a safe and healthy finish to your camp."
Jones and Jackson will fight for the light heavyweight title on Sept. 24.
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