The hits keep coming for Jon Jones who’s already been stripped of his UFC light-heavyweight title and suspended indefinitely after a hit and run incident in New Mexico that’s left him facing up to three years in jail if found guilty.
The latest news is that Reebok have now opted to abandon their sponsorship deal with the the 27 year-old star who signed up to a partnership with the brand in December of 2014 to, “help inspire millions to train with fighters.”
“In light of recent events, we have made the decision to terminate our contract with Jon Jones, effective immediately,” a statement from Reebok today reads.
Jones had previously had a deal with Nike which also turned sour earlier in 2014, with Jones asking to leave after believing that the company weren’t as serious about MMA as he would have liked. The two parties mutually agreed to part ways and the split was then accelerated when Jones became involved in a brawl with Daniel Cormier at a UFC pre-fight press conference in Las Vegas.
He didn’t have long to wait to get a new deal with another major brand however as Reebok were signing up to a major sponsorship deal with the UFC and also sought out individual deals on top of that with a number of champions at the time like Jones as well as Ronda Rousey, Johny Hendricks and Anthony Pettis.
Reebok stuck by Jones when he was found to have tested positive for cocaine during a pre-fight drugs test prior to UFc 182 and he would go on to star in a high-profile advert for Reebok’s relaunch of their famous ‘Pump’ trainers, showing him running around a city scene.
That commercial has already come back to haunt them however, as in recent days a parody of it appeared on social media, depicting Jones sprinting away from the scene of his hit and run incident at the weekend after pumping up his Reebok trainers.
In addition to everything else, Jones has also now been removed entirely from the UFC’s official rankings. Until today Jones was No.1 on the light-heavyweight rankings and also No.1 on the pound-for-pound list, a spot now held by featherweight champion Jose Aldo.
