In retrospect, perhaps Jon Jones’ dominance over the UFC light heavyweight division was always going to end this way.
It had become increasingly clear that the fight company’s other 205-pounders couldn’t unseat him. If Jones was going to be forced from the throne, it would have to be by his own hand.
After a couple days of indecision, the UFC finally moved on its embattled champion late Tuesday, stripping him of the title and indefinitely suspending him in the wake of an alleged hit-and-run accident in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, over the weekend.
It was a shocking development, but only because many doubted the organization would have the guts to censure one of its longest-standing titlists and best-established pay-per-view draws. If there's any good to come out of this, it’s the notion that the move might finally force Jones to confront his increasingly destructive personal behavior.
It’s still way too early in the legal process to know how the justice system will end up treating him here. The felony charges against Jones might still be pleaded down to misdemeanors. He might merely pay a fine, be handed some probation and given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement with the woman who reportedly was injured in their Sunday morning crash.
In that way, it was tempting to say this latest public relations snarl was no different from the rest, that things might go on as normal.
In the MMA community, however, it felt like something close to the final straw.
For a while now, the man who would be GOAT has been baby-stepping toward disaster. Viewed in the context of the last few years, it was obvious that Jones’ assortment of smallish personal indiscretions didn’t just constitute a pattern—they were actually getting worse.
The Associated Press published a fairly disquieting list of his troubles earlier this week. Fox Sports 1’s UFC Tonight was kind enough to provide a visual to connect the dots, from Jones' driving with a suspended license (2011) to his DWI (2012) to his testing positive for cocaine (2014) to last weekend’s incident:
Altogether, it left the distinct impression that Jones’ life was trending in a bad direction.
Give credit to the UFC for recognizing that, or at least for feeling enough public pressure to realize it couldn’t keep him in his scheduled title defense against Anthony Johnson at next month’s UFC 187.
Here's hoping that Jones is maybe, finally, painfully realizing it, too.
Immediately after meeting with UFC brass in Albuquerque on Tuesday—but still a few hours before the company officially stripped him of the title—he took to Twitter to post the following apology:
Will the sentiment stick? With Jones, it’s impossible to know. We’re talking about a guy who famously handled that recent drug-test failure by checking in and out of rehab in 24 hours. Genuine remorse and personal growth haven't exactly come easily for him.
Prior to Tuesday, however, you could almost understand if Jones considered himself bulletproof. He was still the best in the world at his job, and the worst trouble always seemed to miss him, if only by inches. After that 2014 cocaine incident, Jones still showed up at UFC 182 and beat former Olympian Daniel Cormier by convincing unanimous decision. In the mind of an athlete, maybe that was good enough evidence that there was no problem.
If anything is different this time around, it’s that Jones now actually has a real incentive to change his ways. Now he's been forcibly put on the shelf by his employer and on Wednesday morning lost his individual Reebok sponsorship deal, too, according to ESPN's Darren Rovell. At the very least, a clear line has been drawn. The gravity of what has happened and what he must do to regain his status should be stark enough to get the attention of even the most narcissistic personality.
The UFC stood by him through a lot, and the fact that this episode was a bridge too far should be meaningful, especially since early on it appeared he might just skate once again.
Jones made an initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon and got mostly good news from the judge: His travel wouldn’t be restricted, his bond remained a fairly paltry $2,500 and prosecutors would have 60 days to decide if they even wanted to pursue a case against him.
At the moment, it seemed like his fight against Johnson might go on as scheduled. His bosses flew to Albuquerque to meet with him but flew out again without a decision. UFC President Dana White would say only that it was “a good meeting” and added, “You forget these guys are human, and people make mistakes,” via KOAT TV's Matt Howerton.
The truth is, there’s still an awful lot we don’t know about Sunday morning, when Jones allegedly caused a three-car accident and, according to an eyewitness statement, fled the scene on foot.
At the moment, there is no evidence to suggest he was drinking. There is no evidence to show there were any hard drugs involved. Though a marijuana pipe was found at the scene, we don’t know if Jones was high, or exactly where in the car the drugs and paraphernalia were discovered.
The most damning allegation against him was that he briefly returned to the scene to retrieve a wad of cash, and as of this writing it remains to be seen if New Mexico courts will give it all quite as much attention as people in combat sports circles.
To us, though, Jones had become a habitual offender. The often unwarranted criticisms that plagued him earlier in his career—that he was arrogant and out of touch—had morphed into something far more worrisome.
We’d started to see him as dangerous, to himself and those around him. We’d started to regard him as a person who thought only of himself, one who appeared bent on continually testing the limits of his own greatness in the worst possible ways.
On Tuesday, that limit was reached, and his career was interrupted. Even as Jones steps away from the division he’s ruled since 2011, however, he'll get one final chance to redeem himself.
While he’s out, Johnson will fight Cormier for his vacant title. It will be a fine fight, and the man who emerges with the belt will be a fitting quasi-champion, but he will still one day have to face Jones for the line of succession to be a proper one.
There will be some debate over Jones’ penalty and exactly how many more opportunities he deserves, but most people—at least those whose feelings for him go beyond knee-jerk hate—should now be rooting for him.
With any luck, someday we’ll refer to everything that led up to this point as Jon Jones’ “first” UFC title reign.
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