Finally breaking his silence in a phenomenal interview with MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani, Jon Jones has for the first time spoken about his crash, having his title stripped, and his suspension from the UFC.
The interview, which took place in Albuquerque New Mexico, lasted over an hour and in which Jones addressed many of the issues people have pondered since his shocking road collision in April and his subsequent hiatus.
“I’ve had the opportunity to kind of reevaluate life,” Jones said. “You know, look at myself outside of being this UFC champion and just kind of get back to being Jonathon Jones as a person, you know, as a father and not just this athlete. So yea, definitely appreciate the time away, and I do feel great.”
One of the biggest changes the former champion has claimed to have made to his life is a new found sobriety. Despite denying that cocaine was ever a real part of his life, Jones did confess to having a problem with marijuana and alcohol.
“I would have never been able to accomplish the things I have with cocaine, but I was addicted to marijuana. And because you can do so much while being a marijuana addict, it’s hard to admit that you’re an addict. But I was, and now I’m not.”
“I was handling my life just fine, so I didn’t think I had a problem,” said Jones. “But now that I’m completely sober, I totally had a problem. I’m upset about all the hours I spent being under the influence and all the dollars I spent getting under the influence, and I’m set free from it.”
Jones also addressed speculation about his fight with Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 in Toronto, Canada.
A report (by Josh Gross at Deadspin) came out earlier this year that Belfort’s testosterone levels were significantly high before the bout, that the UFC knew and yet still allowed him to face Jones at the event.
“Vitor Belfort was on steroids when I fought him,” Jones said. “The UFC was very well aware, way before the fight. They did nothing to penalize him. They let the fight go on knowing that I was fighting a guy on steroids, which is a hazard to my life. What do you do?”
“I will bring it up eventually, I’m just interested to hear their explanation, you know… I’m just interested to hear their explanation.”
Looking to the future, Jones spoke about his old opponent and rival Daniel Cormier, but denied the new Light Heavyweight champion offered him any further motivation to return.
“I beat him already. If i was losing and had knocked him out, and it was a fluke then it would be different. But I beat him already. I beat him already.”
Cormier has been exceptionally damning of Jon Jones in the past few months has recently stated that he would decline a championship fight with Jones at New York’s Madison Square Garden, citing the fact that Jones being a New Yorker would let him go unpunished.
“Why should I allow this guy to go and fight where he’s comfortable?” Cormier said in October after beating Alexander Gustafsson. “No, he has to go somewhere where he has to look at people in the eyes and hear the anger they have toward him for the actions that he did.”
Jones, perhaps to be expected, disapproves.
“I think that’s the most cowardly attitude ever,” said Jones. “If he honestly felt he was going to beat me, if he honestly had it in his heart like he was going to beat me, he would fight me anywhere.”
“The fact that the small excuse of where we’re fighting is in his mind shows me he’s not ready to beat me. He’s not going to beat me no matter where we fight, so we might as well fight at the garden and make some more money quite frankly.”
So when will the pound-for-pound great be back in the cage?
“There’s rumour of it being April. I’m speculating myself it’s going to be April, and I’m actually training for it to be in April.”
