Jon Jones has been stripped of his UFC light heavyweight title and suspended indefinitely after being arrested in connection with a hit-and-run incident.
The 27-year-old turned himself into police custody and the UFC have moved to take away his title and pull him from their next pay-per-view event against Anthony Johnson in Las Vegas on May 23.
Marijuana was found in the star’s abandoned car at the crash scene in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after the driver was seen grabbing a handful of cash and fleeing, according to a police report.
Jones tweeted last week: ‘Got a lot of soul-searching to do. Sorry to everyone I’ve let down.’
And now his manager, Malki Kawa, has let it be known that Jones may never return to the sport.
‘It could very well be the last time we’ve seen Jon Jones in the Octagon,’ Kawa told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.
“What I can just tell you and you guys can read between the lines is that I think every athlete comes to a point and it’s not just Jon Jones,” Kawa said. “I’ve had other guys when they look in the mirror one day, they realize that a lot of it maybe is just sometimes too much. It’s just too much. If you don’t fight a guy on seven days notice, you’re trash. If you stop a mugger, you’re a great guy, thanks so much. Now you’re the new world champion, you have to do all these interviews. There’s so much that goes into it. It’s not just him, that’s what I’m trying to tell you. You see it with GSP, you see it with Anderson.”
Kawa also added:
“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 gonna 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.
“If this is the last time we’ve ever seen him fight and it very well may be, then it’s because of a decision he’s decided to make. It won’t be because of something you guys are perceiving to be a problem. It won’t be because of any of the negative headlines of the positive things he’s done. It’s just because he feels he’s had it. Maybe that’s it.”
“He’ll still go down as the greatest of all time and no one is gonna convince me otherwise,” Kawa said. “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.”
“If Jon Jones comes back to the sport of MMA, it’s gonna happen because he wants to,” Kawa said. “Not because of Daniel Cormier. Not because of me. Not because of anybody. It’s gonna be because he wants to come back. That’s all I gotta say about that.”
