Judging by their latest comments, troubled UFC star Jon Jones and UFC President Dana White appear to have polar opposite viewpoints when it comes to the fighter’s future.
Speaking on the Jim Rome Show yesterday, White made it clear he’s essentially given up hope that the former UFC light-heavyweight champion will stop his self-destructive behaviour outside of the Octagon.
“He’s not a ‘just about the money’ type guy,” White told Rome. “He’s really not that kind of guy. I just think that Jon likes to party and he’s a guy that likes to go out and have fun and do whatever it is that he does, and I think the money and the fame made it a thousand times worse.
“This guy couldn’t control himself and would completely go off the deep end. I’m not sitting here acting like Mr. Holier-than-thou, we’ve all gone and had fun and probably partied a little too much here and there, but he consistently, consistently kept doing it. Even when he would completely f**k up, he would pull himself together and come out and completely f**k up again. Even this last time when he came back, fans forgave and he was the most popular fighter and everybody wanted to see this guy succeed, and he did it again. It’s just unbelievable.
“Even worse than that, this guy was looking at jail time. This judge gave him another shot and this guy was looking at some serious jail time and a lot of bad stuff and that still didn’t wake him up.
If that’s not a wake-up call, you’re unfixable.”
Jones appears to disagree though. While he’s not addressed White’s comments specifically so far, yesterday the fallen star posted a message to his fans on Instagram stating that he wanted to climb back to the top again.
“If I made it to the top of the mountain once, I can do it again,” Jones said. “I believe there are talents inside of me I haven’t even discovered yet. There’s nothing I put my mind to that I can’t achieve, just got to be willing to put in the work. Who’s ready to work? 💪🏾
He also posted a video of him hitting pads in his backyard alongside the tags, “#Day1 #PickYourselfUpAndStartAgain #GoldMedal.”
However, whether Jones will be afforded another opportunity to do so in the Octagon any time in the near future still hinges on a still pending hearing into his latest drug test failure for steroids at UFC 214, which has already seen him stripped of the 205lb title he just won back from Daniel Cormier, and leaves him facing up to a four-year suspension from the sport.
Jones’ team are believed to be working behind the scenes to try to prove that he unknowningly took the steroid, and if so that could give him the lifeline he needs to argue for a significantly reduced sentence.
