This past month, Jon Jones shook the world of MMA to its core…but not with his skill in the octagon this time.
Sure, Jones has been involved in controversy before. His image was harmed when he was busted for a DUI in 2012. He was involved in a pre-fight brawl with opponent Daniel Cormier during a stare down at a press conference promoting their upcoming fight. He tested positive for cocaine this past January, and the UFC let him fight anyway, only releasing the results of the test well after the fight had already occurred.
However, when Jon Jones was involved in a hit and run at the end of April, it seemed as if the straw had finally broken the camel’s back. There was no hiding anymore, there was no escaping consequences. For once in his surprisingly still young career (considering the amount of elite fighters he has put down), the UFC decided to put its foot down and tell their champ that enough was enough. They had their reasons for suspending him and stripping him of his title. They needed to show the world that the face of their company acting in this manner would not be tolerated. They needed to keep Jon Jones in check and teach him a lesson before he really took things too far. I’m not saying that their punishment was right or wrong, warranted or not, but you can definitely see why they did it.
So what if fans wouldn’t consider the new champion the ‘real’ champion. So what if they would only consider the winner of this weekend’s battle between Anthony Johnson and Daniel Cormier a temporary holder of the belt until Jones could return and retake his throne. They were doing the right thing. But then UFC President Dana White jumped on The Jim Rome show and told the world that, “Whenever he gets his stuff together, he can come right back and fight for the title.” (Via MMAjunkie).
That’s the thing about ‘doing the right thing’, you have to actually do it. You can’t just half do it, and if you are going to half do it, you should probably wait more than a month to announce it. I mean, I’m not justifying it, but if you’re going to stick Jon Jones right back into a title match on his return, you might as well wait until his suspension has been lifted and he’s ready to come back. At least the memory of his suspension and what warranted it might have subsided a bit, if only in the minds of those casual fans we keep hearing about.
That’s the other thing: this announcement makes me think that Jon Jones will be fighting for his title again in December. I mean, if taking away the title was the biggest factor of the punishment, and that has basically been rendered meaningless, I can’t see the suspension lasting long. So what was the point of taking the strap off him anyway? All they’re really doing is delaying his next match, and putting him in the blue corner the next time he fights.
I just don’t see how this can be defined as a punishment if Jon Jones doesn’t have to at least fight one time in a non-title match, preferably against a top contender. Again, I don’t think I would have had a problem with them not stripping his title at all, just because most people would have still considered him the real champ. By giving him the winner of this weekend’s main event, you’re strengthening that argument considerably.
Is Jon Jones really any less of a champion if his last fight was a successful title defense and his next one is one in which that same title will be on the line? More importantly, how can we call the winner of Johnson vs. Cormier the champion if their first title defense is against the guy who held the belt a month before they won it but never actually lost it?
It’s a little confusing, and really not that thought out. I feel like anyone who was supporting their decision to strip Jon Jones of his belt has now migrated to the other side of the spectrum, because they didn’t go through with it. Instead of actually showing Jon Jones that if he keeps making bad decisions, he will lose the thing he has worked hardest to attain and maintain, the UFC is continuing to show him that he can do whatever he wants and avoid the consequences.
Put yourself in Jon Jones’ shoes for a moment. At twenty-three years old, he viscously beat down and finished one of the most decorated light heavyweights from the generation before his in a championship winning performance. He was immediately praised as the next best thing in MMA, the baddest man on the planet, the perfect fighter, the man who could do no wrong in the octagon. He went from not so rich to very rich in the blink of an eye. That does not excuse his actions, but it at least makes them understandable. The trouble is, the UFC never really let him know that those actions would not be tolerated. They just let him get away with it time and time again. It’s like a parent who tells their child to quiet down but never gives him a timeout when he doesn’t listen. Now, right when I thought they were going to take their boy aside and take away his toys, they instead elected to give him another stern warning with a wink at the end of it.
