It has been a wild ride for former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones these past few years.
Jones' last 205-pound title defense came back in January of 2015 when he took home a unanimous decision win over Daniel Cormier. He was then set to defend his title against knockout artist Anthony Johnson at UFC 187, however, that fight fell through after Jones was involved in a hit-and-run incident, in which a pregnant woman's arm was broke, and he was subsequently stripped of his title.
This opened up the door for Cormier to swoop in and defeat Johnson for the vacant title before going on to defend it a couple of times before being paired with Jones upon his return. Cormier and Jones were scheduled to rematch for the title at UFC 200 last year, however, Jones was flagged by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) days before the fight and was removed.
After being handed a one-year suspension for his actions, Jones is now set to make his return this weekend (Sat. July 29, 2017) against Cormier for the light heavyweight title. UFC President Dana White recently joined ESPN to talk about the upcoming fight, and admitted he hasn't spoken to Jones since the events that went down last year before UFC 200 (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“Jon Jones and I still haven’t talked since the last time he pulled out of UFC 200,” White said. “But he’s getting the opportunity right now to come back and face Daniel Cormier, without a doubt two of the best light heavyweights ever, both of these guys.
“Jon Jones has obviously had the potential to be the greatest of all-time, I mean, this guy still hasn’t lost a fight. If you look at his record, you know, there is a one there but that is because a referee that shouldn’t have been reffing, a guy who completely screwed up Jon Jones’ record, so this is Jon Jones’ chance to come back and stay undefeated.”
As for why White hasn't spoken to Jones in so long, the UFC boss admitted that the events that transpired prior to UFC 200 rubbed him the wrong why, and felt let down by "Bones":
“I wasn’t happy with him and what happened with him falling out of UFC 200,” White explained. “I feel like we’ve been there for the guy every time he’s had a problem, and for him to do that at UFC 200, I was just... I was not happy.
"But we don’t have to talk for him to come back and do what he’s going to try to do on Saturday night, we don’t have to talk. I’m not mad at him anymore like I was before, but we’ll see how this thing plays out.
"I mean, if he doesn’t show up for this one, that’s going be whole other ball game, but I’m cool with Jon Jones right now.”
What are your thoughts on White and Jones not having spoken to each other in so long? Let us know in the comments section below!