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The major story that has thrown the world of MMA into a state of chaos and turbulence was the Jon Jones’ hit and run incident about a week ago. Jones, who was the former UFC Light Heavyweight champion and was set to defend the title in a couple of weeks’ time at UFC 187 against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson allegedly ran a red light, and rammed his rental car into a car driven by a pregnant woman. The victim thankfully escaped with minor injuries, but Jones did himself no favors by fleeing from the scene, before returning to retrieve a stack of cash from the rental vehicle.
The investigating officers also found a marijuana pipe in the car along with marijuana, as well as documents stating that the car was registered on Jon’s name. The UFC has since stripped Jon Jones off the UFC Light Heavyweight title, and has suspended him indefinitely. That is the least of Jon’s problems however, as felony charges have been filed against Jon Jones, who may be looking at 3 years of imprisonment! Here’s a video of one of the officers talking about the incident.
As fighters and coaches have come out to defend the sport and, in the process, crucify Jon Jones in the media, Jon’s manager shed some light on the bleak future of the former champion. On Ariel Helwani’s “The MMA Hour”, Malki Kawa, Jones' long-time manager and confidant, discussed about the future of Jon Jones, and revealed that we might’ve seen the last of one of the greatest pound for pound fighters inside the Octagon.
"It could very well be the last time we've seen Jon Jones in the Octagon. I think Jon Jones is going to focus on Jon Jones. I think he's going to take the time to do whatever he's got to do. And if it's the last time we've seen him fight, it's the last time we've seen him fight. And I'm okay with that.
If he ever doesn't come back to the sport, it's because he doesn't want to come back to the sport. If it was because of too much pressure, could be. If it's because of the belt? Could be. If it's because the competition is too much, it could be.
Whatever he decides is the reason why he won't come back to the sport, but it'll be solely on him. I'm not going to blame anything or anyone for anything Jon Jones does. And no one, at the same token, can take credit for anything Jon Jones does. Everything that's Jon Jones' is Jon Jones'. The good, the bad and the ugly.
He'll still go down as the greatest of all time and no one is going to convince me otherwise. No other fighter has done what he's been able to do and I don't think anyone has been able to impact the sport the way he has.
The reality is you can try to bring him down any way you want. You can say the things he's done, things he didn't do – whatever. But I really do believe at the end of the day, he's the greatest of all time inside the Octagon. No one can take that away from him."
Writing on the wall?
Couple of months ago, Jones’ striking coach, Mike Winkeljohn had some prophetic words to say about Jones’ future which, looking back now, turned out to be true.
“Honestly, I would have thought long ago, if you would have asked me five years ago, I would have thought, gosh, Jon would have fallen off a cliff, because of the influences from all these idiots hanging out with him. I thought he would fall off the cliff. But Jon has good balance. Apparently he stood at the edge of the cliff, but he didn't fall off, so now he's getting back on the path. Sure, I'm definitely worried about it. We've had that conversation. So, not only does he hang out with idiots, he acts like an idiot sometimes, and if he keeps doing it he will become an idiot himself.”
Elsewhere, UFC’s woes with injuries before PPVs continued, with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone’s original opponent and one of the top prospects in the Lightweight division, Khabib Nurmagomedov pulling out of their scheduled bout on April 30th due to a knee injury. Many felt the fight would decide the number one contender for the Lightweight title, but John Makdessi has since replaced Khabib on the card.
Daniel Cormier will face Anthony Johnson in the main event of UFC 187 for the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight title on the 23rd of this month, while the co – main event will witness the much anticipated fight between the UFC Middleweight champion, Chris Weidman as he defends the title against the number one contender, Vitor Belfort.
