Former UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones is still awaiting his fate after failing another drug test at UFC 214 back in July, but as he faces up to the possibility of being banned for up to four years, UFC President Dana White is still lamenting what could have been, while assessing where it all went wrong for the superstar fighter who had the world at his feet.
“He’d also go down in history as probably the greatest ever and if nothing ever happened he’d probably be fighting at heavyweight right now and who knows what could have happened?” White said on the Dan Le Batard show. “I’m in a business where when the fame happens and the money – you have to understand the crazy type of money that comes into the fight business instantly. Even in the NFL, they come in at a certain level and if they become great, they have the opportunity to make millions.
“Jon Jones came in and just started making millions of dollars immediately and he was, like, 24 years old. And you can go back to interviews of me saying, ‘That’s great, he’s talented enough to win the belt. Can he handle the pressure and all the stuff that goes along with being a world champion? With being famous? With being rich?’ And that question got answered.”
