Jeremy Stephens Admits He Had Suicidal Thoughts Following Jose Aldo Loss

UFC veteran Jeremy Stephens will return to the Octagon when he takes on rising star Zabit Magomedsharipov in the featured preliminary card bout of this weekend’s (Sat., March 2, 2019) UFC 235 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Yet up until now, we didn’t know quite how rough the road back has been for “Lil’ Heathen.” Stephens lost his last fight via TKO to former champion Jose Aldo at last July’s UFC Calgary. The loss snapped a three-fight win streak over Gilbert Melendez, Doo Ho Choi, and Josh Emmett that had him on the edge of title contention.

But the loss had far more lasting consequences than just that. Stephens admitted on today’s episode of “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show” that he had suicidal thoughts after the loss to Aldo:

“After the fight, I was looking at my kids who were 9 and 7, and that was when my parents split up, when I was 8 years old. I was ready to leave my wife, leave my kids and just leave it all. Thinking suicidal thoughts.”

Lack Of Belief

The source of his pain, according to “Lil’ Heathen” was that he kept failing at his biggest moments. He started to believe he didn’t deserve to be a world champion:

“I didn’t really believe in myself. Why should a young kid from Des Moines, Iowa, be a world champion? Right as I was about to get my title break, I would just drop the ball. There was no self-confidence. Those things were holding me back.”

He’ll need his confidence back if he’s going to get past the rising Magomedsharipov, who only has one loss in his 17-fight career. Stephens has been working hard on himself in the time since his last fight.

The longtime knockout artist also admitted he had experienced similar thoughts before. His parents divorced when he was young. Stephens attended 14 different elementary schools and was bullied. He didn’t have many friends in high school. Although he never attempted suicide, he said he had been to a “really, really dark place.”

Bearing that in mind, he chose to focus on the fight that while fighters are obviously tough individuals, they’re still human beings inside as well:

“People look at us as fighters, and yes, I’m probably one of the toughest dudes you’ll ever meet, but I’ve also been down in the dumps. I’m a real human being. I’m a person, I have feelings, I have emotions.”