Seeing a star athlete fall from grace is never a comfortable sight to see. For UFC fighter Jon Jones it became all the sadder since he had the world at his finger tips.
Jones has had notorious issues with both the law and with drugs. Both affecting his career as a fighter. Once a beloved figure, he is now one of the more polarizing athletes in all of sport.
In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, Jones opened up about his cocaine habit. It oscillates between someone who knows they did wrong and someone that doesn’t really think what they had done is such a big deal.
“As far as me doing coke before a fight, that’s not me trying to be a bad guy. That’s me frickin’ doing a bump — you know, at a party.”
“The truth of the matter is, you’d be surprised how many people have done coke. I’ve been around some of the greatest athletes in the country. Athletes with a lot bigger names than me do coke. But people don’t talk about it.”
Jones says the drug helps him have a good time — saying, “If you can afford to smoke a little weed, and do a little coke, and still win world titles, who’s to tell you you can’t?”
“I understand these things are illegal. And once you get caught doing it, it’s humiliating. But at the same time, I’m not an addict or anything like that. You don’t see me walking around weighing fucking 100 pounds with my teeth rotting out and scabs all over my face.”
Jones even notes how the weekend in which he did cocaine and beat Daniel Cormier was one of the best times of his entire life.
He also notes that he wants to be remembered for more than his mess ups- that he still has a long path ahead.
“I’d like to fight for about another five more years or so. All I want to do is just to not get in trouble. That’s it. I want to fly under the radar. I want to win fights. I want to accumulate enough money to support my family. Just winning and staying out of trouble is what I’d like to be remembered for: Staying out of trouble will be my success story.”
Jones’ story isn’t written yet and that should scare people in the MMA community. A motivated and drug-free Jones is a scary thought.
