Dana White Continues To Blast ‘Unfixable’ Jon Jones
Disgraced former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones may have recently teased his umpteenth comeback, but UFC President Dana White isn’t having it.
White famously said Jones could have a difficult time dealing with all the fame and money he was about to be bombarded by when he became the youngest-ever UFC champion in 2011, and indeed that’s been the case over a long, disturbing set of incidents that have the MMA great’s future in serious jeopardy.
There’s little point in rehashing all of “Bones'” concerning outside the cage troubles, but he currently is awaiting a potential USADA suspension after testing positive for anabolic steroid Turinabol prior to his UFC 214 knockout win over Daniel Cormier, a bout after which he was widely accepted back with open arms from fans. But he messed up yet again and is now facing a possible four-year ban from the sport.
Due to the long list of transgressions and the hindrance they’ve placed on his career, White recently branded Jones “the biggest waste of talent ever” in the UFC, and he further expanded upon that this week. Speaking to The Jim Rome Show (via MMA Fighting), White described Jones’ baffling tendency to continue screwing up:
“I don’t know. He’s not a ‘just about the money’ type guy. He’s really not that kind of guy. I just think that Jon likes to party and he’s a guy that likes to go out and have fun and do whatever it is that he does, and I think the money and the fame made it a thousand times worse.
“This guy couldn’t control himself and would completely go off the deep end. I’m not sitting here acting like Mr. Holier-than-thou, we’ve all gone and had fun and probably partied a little too much here and there, but he consistently, consistently kept doing it. Even when he would completely f**k up, he would pull himself together and come out and completely f**k up again. Even this last time when he came back, fans forgave and he was the most popular fighter and everybody wanted to see this guy succeed, and he did it again. It’s just unbelievable.”
The PED suspensions are undoubtedly concerning, especially for an athlete whose main goal is to inflict harm on another human being, but White referred to Jones’ disturbing hit-and-run accident in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that left a 25-year-old pregnant woman with a broken arm and Jones with a punishment many felt was not commensurate with his crime.
White admitted that the judge let Jones off easy, and if he couldn’t change his ways while facing jail time, then he was simply ‘unfixable’:
“Even worse than that, this guy was looking at jail time. This judge gave him another shot and this guy was looking at some serious jail time and a lot of bad stuff and that still didn’t wake him up. If that’s not a wake-up call, you’re unfixable.”
At this point, it’s difficult to argue with White on this topic, whether you like him or not. Jones has shown an extreme pattern of concerning troubles that have ruined what would otherwise be the most decorated career in the history of the UFC.
Still, his team is ramping up for yet another defense, and based on what USADA decides, he could bafflingly find himself fighting in the Octagon once again someday.
Should the UFC offer their talented-yet-troubled former champion yet another shot?
