On paper, Jon Jones’ path to UFC 200 was panning out impeccably.
He had been sober for a year, his performance against a game Ovince St.Preux at UFC 197,while not typically effervescent, was certainly effective, and he even settled for an interim UFC Light Heavyweight Title to show for his efforts.
Let’s face it. Everyone loves a redemption story.
And for all intents and purposes, it looked like Jon Jones was penning a captivating one. The fall from grace was followed by time spent in soulful reverie, and despite briefly threatening disaster in between, Jon Jones seemed to be on course to come full circle at UFC 200.
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Only for all of it to spectacularly fall apart.
Two days removed from arguably the biggest card assembled by the promotion, Jon Jones was pulled from the main event of UFC 200 due to a violation of the USADA anti-doping policy.
In a perfect world, this wasn’t in the script at all.
But we don’t live in a perfect world, and Jon Jones is hardly a perfect person, as he has so indelibly imprinted in our minds by now.
For a fighter who was widely expected to assert himself at the top of the pound-for-pound rankings after UFC 200, he’s staring down the barrel yet again, this time, to grapple with a potential 2-year suspension ahead of him.
Not too long ago, Jon Jones referred to Daniel Cormier as a ‘pawn’ in his destiny; a destiny that would no doubt see him reclaim the belt that he never lost. But perhaps for the first time today, in the year long odessey that has unfolded after his infamous hit-and-run incident, the narrative isn’t about Jon Jones anymore.
This one is about the everyone else.
It’s easy to be judgemental and resign oneself to a I-told-you-so mentality in assessing Jones’ latest indiscretion, but it’s hardly as simple as that. In a landmark card that was already deprived of the box-office attraction that is Conor McGregor, Jon Jones was supposed to have provided the silver lining.
There was a sense of poetic justice in how Jones, who had let the MMA world down when he was stripped of the Light Heavyweight Belt, returned in time to headline the UFC 200 card.
Quite honestly, it hurts the fans and the sport that it turned out to be a misguided one.
UFC President Dana White has been an unperturbed customer in trying circumstances before; be it in the face of a dissatisfied fan base after Conor was axed from the original card, or in dealing with the vicious public kickback after Ariel Helwani was stripped of his press credentials.
But in the press conference that was hurriedly patched together to break the news that Jones had tested positive, the abject disappointment and, quite honestly, visceral shock of the situation was etched on his face in plain view.
The fans are gutted. The UFC President is helpless. And one can’t even begin to describe the effect that the loss of his biggest payday and the possibility of dealing with a gnawing void in his legacy would have on Daniel Cormier.
For as much as this fight meant for Jon Jones, it perhaps meant just as much for Daniel Cormier.
In fact, it would even be justifiable to conclude that it was Cormier who had more to lose in this scenario; a win against Jon Jones at UFC 200 would mean that a rubber match would ensue, a loss may even have ushered his retirement.
After entering the sport at a relatively late age, Daniel Cormier’s glittering MMA career has only been one-bettered by the fact that he pitted his skill against a fighter touted to be a forerunner in the GOAT debate.
And when the fight was pulled from the card, his shot at rectifying the only blemish on his legacy has been dealt a sickening blow.
If anyone had quizzed Jon Jones in the lead up to the fight, I’m positive that he would have wanted to break Daniel Cormier once and for all. The tasteless irony of this whole situation is that he may have accomplished what he set out to do, without even raising his little finger.
