Jon Jones explains Lewis Hamilton blocked him after 'coward' act left F1 icon furious

UFC star Jon Jones has explained why Formula One legend Lewis Hamilton unfollowed and blocked him on social media.

Jones, arguably the greatest fighter in UFC history, recently appeared on the ALF Global podcast and discussed an array of topics.

'Bones' spoke about becoming the youngest champion in UFC history, the less glamorous parts of his life and his relationship with UFC president Dana White.

But he also revealed a surprise fall-out with Ferrari driver Hamilton, who he was a long-time fan of.

Jones explained that a few years ago, Hamilton saw him hunting pigs from a helicopter with army rangers, eventually killing one by shooting with his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

Jones was overjoyed with the kill and donated the pig to an underprivileged family. But he was scolded by Hamilton, who called him out with a scathing direct message.

The seven-time F1 champion is passionate about animal rights and is a proud vegan. According to Jones, he messaged the two-weight UFC champion calling him a "coward" after seeing his hunting antics and expressed his disappointment.

He then proceeded to unfollow and block Jones.

"Lewis Hamilton, I went hunting years ago with a bunch of army rangers and we ended up hunting pigs from a helicopter using AR-15's," Jones explained.

"I was so proud of myself because I killed one of the pigs from the helicopter.

"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 he thought I was better than that.

"He said that the traditional way of killing animals should be with a spear or bow and arrow. He said only a coward could shoot an animal from a helicopter, give the animal a chance to fight you back at least.

"He unfollowed me and he blocked me. It sucked because I was a fan of him. He was very disappointed in me."

Jones uploaded a video of him shooting the pig on his Instagram in “One shot, one kill, lots of bacon.“Was an honor hunting with medal of honor recipient Patrick Payne.”

After backlash, he responded with an apology where he said: “I apologize if this video makes some of you guys uncomfortable, at the same time I’m excited for my shipment of meat to get to Albuquerque.

“I took my time with that first shot to make sure the animal did not suffer. Bet half you guys that are offended eats sausages and bacon on a daily basis.”

Lewis Hamilton is a proud vegan and animal rights supporter

Hamilton turned vegan in 2017 after watching the documentary “What The Health,” and two years later, sold his private jet and put out a lengthy statement explaining why he felt the lifestyle choice was "the only way to truly save our planet".

Hamilton said, “this is the world we currently live in, where humans believe that an animal’s life is worth less than one of our own" and added that he went vegan "to not support this barbaric behavior and slaughtering of millions of animals as he stated that "this is no different to the slaughtering of millions of people over the years during the war".

The 41-year-old has never gone back to eating meat and regularly used his platform to vocalise animal rights issues, ranging from whale hunting in Iceland and seal slaughtering in Canada.