Jon Jones has had a strange start to 2016. After a hit-and-run incident which stripped him of his title and almost landed him in jail, the pound-for-pound great spent the latter half of 2015 power lifting, leaving many to wonder what a crazy beast he’d be once returning to the cage. But the past three months have seen him get hit with several traffic charges that violated his parole and put his return fight in jeopardy.
All that has been cleared up and Jones is good to step into the cage come April 23, but it leaves people with a lot of questions regarding the state of mind he’s in. And now he’s opening up even more about the period of time in his life which Rolling Stone’s Mike Bohn described as “living in a haze of alcohol and marijuana.”
“This may sound weird, but I believe that God meant for what happened to happen,” Jones said during the interview. “I know a lot of people may twist this or look at it like, ‘Why would God put this girl in a car accident with you? That’s a selfish way of thinking.’ But since that happened, so much good has happened in a lot of people’s lives. I’ve been able to reach thousands of kids.”
“I’ve told my story 72 times to completely different groups, to complete strangers. There’s something really freeing about being so real, open and candid with complete strangers and letting them judge you. It’s helped me know who I am. It’s helped me acknowledge the piece of sh*t qualities I had. Truth of the matter, I had some piece of sh*t ways. Still do have some. But at the same time, I have some really great qualities as well.”
Those 72 storytimes represent the 72 hours — three days worth — of community service Bones was sentenced to as part of his deal to avoid a felony conviction on his record. But with his recent charge for drag racing violating the terms of his probation, he’s got another 60 hours of community service to do now. No word on if he’ll get to spend it talking to kids and adults about the risks of being a ding dong or if it will involve more menial community service like trash pickup.
Whatever it ends up being, it can wait til after Jon Jones fights late replacement Ovince Saint Preux on April 23 at UFC 197. And then? Rumors have Jones doing a quick turnaround to face his original opponent, Daniel Cormier, at UFC 200. And with two fights back to back like that, Jones could start to erase the past year and a half of drug failures and driving incidents and court dates to get back to being known as the best fighter in the world.
(Via Rolling Stone)