UFC’s Jones looks to octagon, but many can’t forget his past
Jon Jones will probably never be able to silence all of his haters.
There will always be people who call him fake. Some will never forgive him for declining a last-minute fight with Chael Sonnen and his employer’s subsequent decision to cancel UFC 151. In the eyes of many, his never-ending troubles behind the wheel will overshadow his triumphs in the octagon.
But this week, at least, he’s saying the right things.
Set to face off with Ovince Saint Preux tonight in the headliner at UFC 197, the former light-heavyweight champion has been open and honest about his struggles with sobriety over the years and his decision to accept tonight’s fight when 205-pound king Daniel Cormier pulled out with an injury three weeks before they were set to square off.
“Over the last year, it’s been really tough to be a Jon Jones fan,” the 28-year-old said. “I definitely haven’t made it easy and I wanted to do something positive and save the day for these guys. UFC 151 happened a long time ago and it’s something people still hold against me to this day.”
To be fair, there’s been a lot to hold against Jones over the last little while.
He was indefinitely suspended by the UFC and stripped of his title last April when he was charged for a hit-and-run incident in Albuquerque, N.M. He returned to the UFC fold earlier this year and has been apologetic for his behaviour in all of his appearances since.
But the demons seemed to re- surface last month when he was arrested, again, after being pulled over for allegedly drag racing. While police video showed a heated back-and-forth between Jones and the officer who pulled him over, the incident didn’t appear to change his new attitude.
If anything, Jones seems to have taken ownership of his actions and is finally willing to abandon the family-friendly public persona he used to trot out every time the cameras were on.
“What’s changed is everything’s out there for the public to see for themselves, so there’s no hiding,” Jones said. “It’s freeing to be open and honest with the fans. I believe somewhere, someone out there will draw strength from my struggles.”
He’s never been short on confidence, and none of the last year’s difficulties have changed that.
If anything, Jones has returned to the UFC with a new-found understanding of just where he stands in the MMA pecking order.
In his absence, both Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey emerged as transcendent stars. New fans came to the sport as the two of them shot up the ranks, but neither managed to survive the year with their indestructible auras intact.
Only Jones — and fellow UFC 197 co-headliner Demetrious Johnson — have actually proven themselves to be as good as the UFC hype machine has made them out to be, and Jones remains No. 1 in the company’s pound-for-pound rankings despite not having fought since early-January 2015.