‘Jon Jones is a scary dude’: After years of setbacks, the UFC champ is still at the top

Jon Jones has accumulated a wealth of labels throughout a 16-year UFC career that is almost exhausting in its complexity.

First, he was the wunderkind, when he ran through esteemed contenders like Maurício Rua, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans, as he built his case as the new face of the sport. In 2011 at age 23, he became the UFC’s youngest champion.

Quickly, he was criticized for his maneuvering in the cutthroat and often caustic world of combat sports, when UFC president Dana White called him “selfish” for not accepting a last-minute opponent in 2012. Similar takes persist today on social media, from fighters and fans and observers in the sport who want to steer Jones toward their entertainment of choice. “On the internet everyone’s like, ‘You’re a duck,’” Jones said in an interview, referring to him choosing certain fights and, in some minds, ducking others. “Is being called a duck supposed to sway my decisions? What is this, high school?”

A string of deeper, more troubling setbacks throughout his career has often prompted even sharper assessments. He failed three drug tests, and explained the first to USA Today in 2016 by saying: “I was a drug addict.” Jones has regularly faced legal troubles, including accusations of hitting women, including his fiancée, and was stripped of a championship belt when he was accused of fleeing the scene of a hit-and-run wreck on foot.

His greatest rivalry, with Daniel Cormier, was sidelined heavily as a result, and when Jones tested positive for anabolic steroids, he was stripped of his belt for a third time and his knockout of Cormier was changed to a no-contest.

White said then that it could be the end of Jones’ career. On Thursday, he said that despite tension in their working relationship, it made “common sense” to keep booking him fights.

“You cannot deny what this guy has accomplished. And most of the things he’s accomplished, he’s done with not being very good to himself,” White told The Athletic. “He’s the greatest of all time and one of the baddest human beings to ever walk the face of the earth. And when I talk about him, I talk about his dark side, too. I mean, Jon Jones is a scary dude.”

He added: “I told (former UFC chief executive) Lorenzo Fertitta: ‘This is a guy you can’t build a business with.’”

Yet Jones has exactly that stature, with top billing in what could reasonably be considered UFC’s biggest event of the year. Jones is scheduled to fight Stipe Miocic, another great in the sport, for the heavyweight title on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“I think Jon Jones battles with these inner demons sometimes on who he is and I think he wants to be that good guy. I think he has a lot of internal battles with who he really is. But at the end of the day what Jon Jones has to come to grips with and what he has to realize is Jon Jones is a killer and he was put on this earth to do exactly what he’s doing right now,” White said.

Jones declined to talk about specifics around his arrests and other problems, but broadly acknowledged his stumbles. “I haven’t always lived a perfect Christian life,” he said, a reference to the religious themes that he says have been a big part of his family and private life. (A Bible verse will be etched onto his trunks on Saturday to mirror one of his tattoos.)

“I’d like people to remember me as just a person that overcame, a person that was very much human, a guy who had a lot of flaws and a guy who really loved God from start to finish,” he added.

His parents, Camille and Arthur Jones Jr., raised three sons who reached the top echelon of their sports. Both of Jon’s brothers were Super Bowl-winning defensive linemen; his older brother, Arthur, in the 2012 season with the Baltimore Ravens; his younger brother, Chandler, in the 2014 season with the New England Patriots.

Each morning, Jon Jones said, his father is up at 4 a.m. fasting and praying for his sons, then blowing up their phones with sermons and Bible verses. Camille, who died in 2017 from complications of diabetes, was praised by women in their church at her memorial for her effect on their lives, Jones said.

“She showed me that you can be a rock star without being a professional athlete, without being famous,” he said.

Jones said his parents showed him how he could be admired. His public mistakes, conversely, are for him to own.

“The best sides of me definitely came from them, as far as the humanitarian side of me, the compassionate side of me, the side that really genuinely cares about my neighbor. Now, as human beings, we have many sides to us…” Jones said before trailing off.

In the octagon, Jones is clear that he’s fighting for his own ends rather than to feed into fights that may be in public demand.

This week, he has circled around the interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, a British fighter who won the interim belt a year ago when Jones had to postpone a bout with Miocic with a shoulder injury. Aspinall fought Sergei Pavlovich instead, and even defended the interim belt earlier this year while Jones waited to fight Miocic. Miocic has greater name recognition, but at 42 is four years removed from his last victory.

Still, Jones seems uninterested in fighting Aspinall, and indicated that he would rather fight Alex Pereira, the light heavyweight champion who has quickly risen to be a star. He could also retire, a common move used by fighters for a variety of reasons – often sincerely and also often to drive up their bankability in a sport with a fight-by-fight payday.

“If the UFC is interested in having me come back to maybe fight against Pereira, I think that’d be a fight worth my while.” Jones said. “And outside of that, man, I’d love to test my hand in Hollywood, and use some of this influence that I’ve gained to put me in some really cool roles and in movie roles and action films and things like that.”

Jon Jones is prepared to hang up the gloves.

The heavyweight champ told @TheAthletic his main goal for #UFC309 is to become the first man to submit Stipe Miocic, “and I’m prepared to retire after that, very happily.” pic.twitter.com/6jeOiJh32q

— Mark Puleo (@ByMarkPuleo) November 8, 2024

White said he would only entertain Jones fighting Pereira, who has become the new UFC darling for his thrilling style and frequent, action-filled title defenses, if Jones fights Aspinall first.

“If Jon wants to fight Aspinall, we’ll do it. And if he beats Aspinall and then said he wanted to fight Pereira, I would consider it,” White said.

The uncertainty all sets up for plenty of drama no matter the Jones-Miocic result.

“You can call me chicken, duck, goat, whatever,” Jones said, adding: “It’s not my responsibility to help someone else build a brand or give someone an opportunity. My job is to take care of my legacy and do what’s best for my legacy.”

Jones – at 27-1 with the no contest and his only loss a disqualification — appreciates that being considered among the greatest fighters is part of how fans discuss his mark on the sport.

“I feel like it’s always going to be an opinion. Some people would like fighters because of the way they carry themselves. Some people like fighters because of the way they compete. Some people like fighters because of the way they changed the sport. There are so many different opinions on that,” Jones said. “I’m just grateful to be in the conversation.”

And White, despite saying finding it difficult to work with Jones at times, said the results have been clear. “Win, lose, draw on Saturday night, his legacy is set. He’s the greatest of all time,” White said. “Nobody’s accomplished what he’s accomplished.”

Required reading

(Photo: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)