Lewis Hamilton branded UFC champion a “coward” after airborne pig hunt

Two-division UFC champion Jon Jones has revealed an interaction with Lewis Hamilton in which the Formula 1 ace called him a “coward”.

The interaction happened in 2021 after Jones posted a video on Instagram of him shooting a pig from a helicopter.

Jones had gone “hunting”, he wrote in the caption, with some US soldiers from the Army Rangers.

“One shot, one kill,” the Instagram post, which is still public on Jones' profile, reads.

“Was an honor hunting with medal of honor recipient Patrick Payne & Jeff Cotto.”

Jones revealed the not-in-person interaction with Lewis Hamilton, in which the British F1 driver called him a “coward” and blocked him on social media, more recently.

“I went hunting years ago with a bunch of Army Rangers and we ended up hunting pigs from a helicopter using AR-15s,” Jones said in an interview with AFLGlobal. 

“I was so proud of myself because I killed one of the pigs from the helicopter and my pig was donated to an underprivileged family in the community.

“But Lewis saw me shoot the pig from the helicopter. 

“And he wrote me a long message saying that I was a coward. And that he thought that I was better than that. 

“He said that the traditional way of killing an animal should be with a spear or with a bow and an arrow. 

“He wrote something like, ‘Only a coward could shoot an animal from a helicopter. Give the animal a chance to fight you back at least’.”

Jones added: “He unfollowed me and he blocked me, and it sucked because I was his fan.

“I was a fan of him, but he was very disappointed in me for shooting the pig. Lewis, if you're listening, I'm sorry.”

Ferrari driver Hamilton, who was at Mercedes at the time the video was posted by Jones, has long been an animal rights advocate, and transitioned to a plant-based diet in 2017.