DENVER – It's been a funny year for UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. In March, "Bones" was a hero, destroying Mauricio "Shogun" Rua to become the UFC's youngest-ever champion. And of course, that came just hours after he tracked down a thief and subdued the perpetrator until authorities could arrive.

But now in September, just six short months later, Jones is dealing with a throng of critics who have accused him of ducking a fight with Rashad Evans and coming into a UFC 135 contest with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson with a "cocky" and "fake" demeanor.

Bring it, says Jones. He never asked to be anybody's golden boy, anyway.

"It's been interesting," Jones told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I'm actually happy that I'm starting to have image flaws and things like that. There was a conversation I actually had with my manager. He said, 'Jon, you're doing everything right, right now. It's kind of like you're the UFC's golden boy.' I don't want to be the UFC's golden boy. I just want to be me.

"I don't want to be the future. I don't want to be the guy who can't make mistakes or can do no wrong or the guy who can't swear at an interview. I'm just me. I'm just a snotty-nosed 24-year-old who got good at fighting and now everybody cares about what I say."

It's an interesting take – and one the champ seemingly delivers with more honesty than venom. He doesn't care to lash out at the haters and realizes he's simply not going to be able to make everyone happy. Want to be part of the gang? Come along. If not, feel free to hold your opinion.

"You're going to have 10 fans that are always with you no matter what you do," Jones said. "You're going to have a big percentage of people who aren't with you, and sometimes they like you and sometimes they don't like you because of what you're saying and how you're being. Then there are going to be 10 people that hate you no matter what you do. I realize that, and I'm just riding this wave."

It's a wave UFC president Dana White warned of when Jones claimed the title in March. However, on Wednesday, White told MMAjunkie.com he's seen nothing to suggest Jones has allowed wealth and fame to affect him as a person. Jones' manager, Malki Kawa, agreed.

"He doesn't have any new friends," Kawa said. "He hasn't bought a car. He hasn't bought any new jewelry. There hasn't been anything where you sit back and go, 'Holy [expletive], we have a problem on our hands.'"

And yet the haters still hate. Cocky. Fake. Never been tested. Overrated.

Kawa said his client has taken it all in stride and may actually be benefiting from the tough words.

"All they've really done is helped him mature and grow in that area in how to deal with it and respond to it," Kawa said. "I'm just hoping the fans can sift through what's real and what's not.

"Hopefully after this fight, he'll continue to show people what he's all about and what he's trying to stand for. It's just a lot of learning experiences."

Already ranked as high as No. 3 in some MMA pundits' pound-for-pound lists, Jones appears to have all the tools to become a dominant force in the sport. Jackson could potentially provide the stiffest test of his career, but Jones could also use the bout as a real statement fight.

Despite his early rise to superstardom, Jones said his Greg Jackson's teammates keep him firmly grounded in reality.

"I still keep a child-like attitude around my gym," Jones said. "I'm not the champ when I walk into Greg Jackson's. They're my big brothers. They know how much I don't know. They know what kind of work I need to do on my ground, how much work I need to do on my power and my striking. I just keep it playful and keep it fun for the most part and not worry about too much stuff.

"I try to learn even more to be myself even more and just continue to play the game and be my team's little brother."

And therein lies perhaps the scariest fact about Jones: He's still learning, both in and out of the cage. He has yet to show many flaws in the octagon, and his rare blend of size, speed and creativity have left many to proclaim Jones as the sport's "next big thing."

Of course others have called him rubbish, especially during his trying stretch as champ. Bring it on, said Jones.

"I never asked to be called the future," Jones said. "I never asked to be called this and that. Everybody else is putting all these tags on me. I'm just being me. The people that find me cocky now or arrogant or say this or that, I'm actually grateful for the negativity in my career.

"I'm starting to realize that everything goes away. There's nothing that you should lose sleep over. No matter how bad it may seem while it's happening, it all goes away. This whole 'Spygate' issue – the day it happened, it was annoying. Now it's just like, 'Oh, whatever.' The hand issue – everybody was like, 'Oh, you're ducking fights.' Now I haven't heard that in a long time. So it all goes away. That's the way it works.

"I'm just fighting. Ultimately, I'm here to fight."

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