Rashad Evans and Kenny Florian weighed in with their opinions on Jones immediate future in the UFC after being involved in a hit-and-run incident on Sunday, and they didn’t pull their punches.
Speaking on FOX Sports 1, Florian got the ball rolling by suggesting that Jones should be stripped of his light-heavyweight title as a result of his actions outside of the Octagon.
“There’s gotta be some kind of punishment, because it seems like he’s kinda getting off with some of these things and he needs to be held accountable,” Florian stated. “I also think something needs to be done for his career as far as the UFC goes. I don’t know if it’s stripping him of the title – that’s what I would like to see – and maybe six months off, maybe even a year off for competing, because at the end of the day he needs to take care of his own issues. He’s got to go and get help, take a step away from the sport and take care of that stuff, be close to his family, heal up and get better.”
Former light-heavyweight champion Evans, who was once a training partner of Jones before the two fell out and eventually fought in the Octagon, agreed that something was going wrong in ‘Bones’ life and he needed time out to address it.
“You’re definitely right, he does need time away from the sport,” Evans said, going on to say that when a fighter loses sight of the fact of how privileged he is to be in his position, “that’s when you have to have a sit down, that’s when you need to take a break, and that’s when you need to have consequences that equals more than a slap on the wrist.”
Evans also urged those closest to Jones to have a heart-to-heart with the fighter to stop him from heading further down the slipperly path he’s currently on.
“He does have a strong family base. His mother and father are very strong with keeping there kids in line and he has some great brothers that play professional football, and I think they really need to sit down and say, ‘Jon, we love you. We don’t know what you are going through, we don’t know the pressure you’re going through, but listen, this is not the way to do it because this right here will end your career faster than you think.”
Watch Evans and Florian’s full conversation for yourselves below.
