One of the most polished, marketable, and charismatic personalities in MMA recently had a belt strapped around his waist, and is making the most of his time out of the gym.  I'm talking about none other than Jon Jones, the twenty three year old prodigy who massacred Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 128 for the UFC light heavyweight title. 

Whether you find him arrogant and hate him, or confident and love him, there's no doubt that Jones has a mainstream look and attitude that will surely help draw eyes to the UFC.  He handled his appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno well, and his next stop is the Mo'Nique show, on BET.  According to MMA Weekly, who spoke with Jones' agent Malki Kawa, Jones is on the set today to film, and the show will air later this week.  Kawa believes that Jones may be able to reach heights that even UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has yet to see:

"He’s doing the Mo’Nique show tomorrow. He’s taping the show tomorrow and the Mo’Nique show, shows on BET. It’s a primarily female audience and it’s on BET, which means it’s very good because hopefully now we can cross that market and a female market on top of it over to the UFC and hopefully Jon’s that guy," Kawa said.

"I’ve always told you I think Jon Jones will be the first crossover star. Bigger than Georges St-Pierre, bigger than anyone’s ever been, I think he can merge the world of urban pop culture, of corporate America, the UFC fan base, and I think he can tie it all together."

Time will tell if Jones does turn out to be that first superstar, but it's hard to deny that he's off to a great start.  Jones is likely to appear on more shows over the coming weeks before getting back to the gym, and prepare to defend his title against former team mate, Rashad Evans.

Photo via Dave Mandel, for Sherdog