Phoenix Jones had his first MMA win at the World Series of Fighting event and this was an emotional one for him. Ben Fodor, Jones’ real name, won over Roberto Yong by submission during the WSOF 23. During a recent interview, Jones revealed the road to where he is now isn’t like a walk in a park. In fact, he said that the most challenging part in his entire career was when he bounced back from his rather boring promotional debut.
“I’ve had to figure out what it’s like, for lack of a better word, to be a loser for a while. That was the hardest thing, because I’ve told so many people who I am. I’m Phoenix Jones. I’m a superhero. I’m a warrior, I’m in shape, I’m going to come to fight. And then one day I woke up and it wasn’t true. You have to sit there and be like, am I who I said I was? The fans think I just got here because I run around in a rubber suit. They don’t realize all the accolades and all the things I’ve done. So the first time that I got to this stage, and I faltered, everyone just turned on me. I was getting Twitter hate mail, Facebook hate mail, people telling me I suck. It was just, it was weird, because I’m always the good guy everywhere else. And I’d think to myself, what can I give you? I’ve already given you everything. I’ve already been on the streets. I get stabbed. I get shot at. I get in the cage. Every time I get punched, I lose a moment of my life I can’t spend with my 
family, and you’re going to boo me on Twitter? I was like, I just don’t know how much else I have to give you,” Jones said.
Jones, who has a record of 6-1-1, started out in WSOF as an MMA free agent just this March when his fights in Seattle went viral. However, he failed to live up to the fans’ expectations when he lost to Emmanuel Walo during his WSOF debut; this resulted to fans turning on him. Sadly, Jones was well aware of how the fans reacted to his loss.
Jones managed to get back up after his MMA debut loss by winning over Yong at the WSOF 23 event. However, some fans and critics still isn’t buying this victory as an indicator of Jones’ success. As frustrating as this situation is, he knows that his great performance might not be able to do much damage control to his reputation. This time around, though, Jones admitted that he has allowed himself not to be angry when he hears some criticism about him.
“I think people still view me as a gimmick. The difference is, I don’t care. And that’s what happened between this and last fight, is I cared before. I woke up and I really cared. Like, I noted to make them proud, in a weird way. I wasn’t sure who I was fighting for. I wasn’t sure if it was me, if I’m fighting to prove something to myself, if I’m fighting to prove something to my kids, if I’m fighting to prove something to the world. I didn’t know. And afterwards, it just all kind of made sense. I fight because that’s what I’m good at. I wish I was a painter or a sculptor or something. I’m not. This is what I do. This is who I am. This is for me. And if y’all enjoy it, thank you. But it’s for me,” he added.