Jon Jones has collected a wealth of labels all through a 16-year UFC occupation this is virtually hard in its complexity.
First, he was once the wunderkind, when he ran thru esteemed contenders like Maurício Rua, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans, as he constructed his case because the brandnew face of the game. In 2011 at day 23, he turned into the UFC’s youngest champion.
Briefly, he was once criticized for his maneuvering within the cutthroat and ceaselessly caustic international of battle sports activities, when UFC president Dana White referred to as him “selfish” for now not accepting a last-minute opponent in 2012. Alike takes persist nowadays on social media, from warring parties and fanatics and eyewitnesses within the game who wish to steer Jones towards their leisure of selection. “On the internet everyone’s like, ‘You’re a duck,’” Jones stated in an interview, regarding him opting for sure fights and, in some minds, ducking others. “Is being called a duck supposed to sway my decisions? What is this, high school?”
A yarn of deeper, extra troubling setbacks all through his occupation has ceaselessly caused even sharper exams. He failed 3 drug assessments, and defined the primary to USA Nowadays in 2016 by means of announcing: “I was a drug addict.” Jones has steadily confronted prison troubles, together with accusations of hitting girls, together with his fiancée, and was once stripped of a championship belt when he was once accused of getaway the scene of a hit-and-run devastate on bottom.
His biggest contention, with Daniel Cormier, was once sidelined closely because of this, and when Jones examined sure for anabolic steroids, he was once stripped of his belt for a 3rd life and his knockout of Cormier was once modified to a no-contest.
White stated later that it may well be the top of Jones’ occupation. On Thursday, he stated that regardless of rigidity of their operating dating, it made “common sense” to retain reserving him fights.
“You cannot deny what this guy has accomplished. And most of the things he’s accomplished, he’s done with not being very good to himself,” White informed The Athletic. “He’s the greatest of all time and one of the baddest human beings to ever walk the face of the earth. And when I talk about him, I talk about his dark side, too. I mean, Jon Jones is a scary dude.”
He added: “I told (former UFC chief executive) Lorenzo Fertitta: ‘This is a guy you can’t build a business with.’”
Jones shouts right through a information convention in 2016 later his clash with Daniel Cormier is scrapped days earlier than UFC 200. (Picture: Ethan Miller / Getty Pictures)
But Jones has precisely that stature, with manage billing in what may just fairly be regarded as UFC’s largest match of the yr. Jones is scheduled to clash Stipe Miocic, some other superb within the game, for the heavyweight name on Saturday night time at Madison Sq. Farmland in Untouched York.
“I think Jon Jones battles with these inner demons sometimes on who he is and I think he wants to be that good guy. I think he has a lot of internal battles with who he really is. But at the end of the day what Jon Jones has to come to grips with and what he has to realize is Jon Jones is a killer and he was put on this earth to do exactly what he’s doing right now,” White stated.
Jones declined to speak about specifics round his arrests and alternative issues, however extensively stated his stumbles. “I haven’t always lived a perfect Christian life,” he stated, a connection with the spiritual subject matters that he says had been a bulky a part of his population and personal moment. (A Bible verse will likely be etched onto his trunks on Saturday to reflect one in every of his tattoos.)
“I’d like people to remember me as just a person that overcame, a person that was very much human, a guy who had a lot of flaws and a guy who really loved God from start to finish,” he added.
His folks, Camille and Arthur Jones Jr., raised 3 sons who reached the manage echelon in their sports activities. Either one of Jon’s brothers had been Tremendous Bowl-winning defensive linemen; his used brother, Arthur, within the 2012 season with the Baltimore Ravens; his more youthful brother, Chandler, within the 2014 season with the Untouched England Patriots.
Each and every morning, Jon Jones stated, his father is up at 4 a.m. fasting and praying for his sons, later blowing up their telephones with sermons and Bible verses. Camille, who died in 2017 from headaches of diabetes, was once praised by means of girls of their church at her memorial for her impact on their lives, Jones stated.
“She showed me that you can be a rock star without being a professional athlete, without being famous,” he stated.
Jones stated his folks confirmed him how he may well be admired. His family errors, conversely, are for him to possess.
“The best sides of me definitely came from them, as far as the humanitarian side of me, the compassionate side of me, the side that really genuinely cares about my neighbor. Now, as human beings, we have many sides to us…” Jones stated earlier than trailing off.
Within the octagon, Jones is unclouded that he’s combating for his personal ends instead than to feed into fights that can be in family call for.
Jones and Miocic pose forward in their UFC 309 name clash. (Picture: Josh Hedges / Zuffa LLC)
This month, he has rotated across the meantime heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, a British fighter who gained the meantime belt a yr in the past when Jones needed to delay a bout with Miocic with a shoulder trauma. Aspinall fought Sergei Pavlovich in lieu, or even defended the meantime belt previous this yr pace Jones waited to clash Miocic. Miocic has better title popularity, however at 42 is 4 years got rid of from his final victory.
Nonetheless, Jones turns out bored stiff in combating Aspinall, and indicated that he would instead clash Alex Pereira, the sunny heavyweight champion who has temporarily risen to be a celebrity. He may just additionally abdicate, a familiar advance old by means of warring parties for various causes – ceaselessly sincerely and in addition ceaselessly to pressure up their bankability in a game with a fight-by-fight payday.
“If the UFC is interested in having me come back to maybe fight against Pereira, I think that’d be a fight worth my while.” Jones stated. “And outside of that, man, I’d love to test my hand in Hollywood, and use some of this influence that I’ve gained to put me in some really cool roles and in movie roles and action films and things like that.”
Jon Jones is ready to hold up the gloves.
The heavyweight champ informed @TheAthletic his major objective for #UFC309 is to turn out to be the primary guy to publish Stipe Miocic, “and I’m prepared to retire after that, very happily.” pic.twitter.com/6jeOiJh32q
— Mark Puleo (@ByMarkPuleo) November 8, 2024
White stated he would handiest entertain Jones combating Pereira, who has turn out to be the brandnew UFC darling for his exciting taste and common, action-filled name defenses, if Jones fights Aspinall first.
“If Jon wants to fight Aspinall, we’ll do it. And if he beats Aspinall and then said he wanted to fight Pereira, I would consider it,” White stated.
The suspicion all units up for enough of drama regardless of the Jones-Miocic outcome.
“You can call me chicken, duck, goat, whatever,” Jones stated, including: “It’s not my responsibility to help someone else build a brand or give someone an opportunity. My job is to take care of my legacy and do what’s best for my legacy.”
Jones – at 27-1 with the negative tournament and his handiest loss a disqualification — recognizes that being regarded as some of the biggest warring parties is a part of how fanatics talk about his mark at the game.
“I feel like it’s always going to be an opinion. Some people would like fighters because of the way they carry themselves. Some people like fighters because of the way they compete. Some people like fighters because of the way they changed the sport. There are so many different opinions on that,” Jones stated. “I’m just grateful to be in the conversation.”
And White, regardless of announcing discovering it tough to paintings with Jones from time to time, stated the effects had been unclouded. “Win, lose, draw on Saturday night, his legacy is set. He’s the greatest of all time,” White stated. “Nobody’s accomplished what he’s accomplished.”
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(Picture: Chris Graythen / Getty Pictures)
