Jones: I am the champion, feel it in my heart
Jon Jones: “I don’t need the physical belt or even to be in the rankings to know I am the champion. It’s something I feel in my heart, I know what I’ve done.”
Former UFC light heavyweight Jon Jones is arguably the greatest fighter to ever enter the Octagon. And he is a cautionary tale.
A fan recently reached out on his social network at said, “The belt will always be yours homie!” Jones agreed.
https://twitter.com/JonnyBones/status/1001910615164661762
Jones had stated it more definitively, but deleted the message.
“I don’t need the physical belt or even to be in the rankings to know I am the champion,” he tweeted. “It’s something I feel in my heart, I know what I’ve done. I know what I’m going to do.”
Screen capture via MMAjunkie.
Jones’ most recent known fail occurred after the title fight vs. Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 in July of 2017, when Jones testing positive for metabolites of oral Turinabol, a banned performance enhancer. Jones has maintained his innocence, denying he knowingly took the banned substance; he remains suspended, pending the outcome of a full USADA investigation.
The test failure doesn’t make sense.
It is widely known that the Turinabol metabolite M3 that Jones tested for can be detected for 45 to 60 days, or more. Jones passed tests for Turinabol and its metabolites on July 6 and July 7. So Turinabol entered Jones’ system between July 8 and July 28. Given the window for Turinabol metabolites, you wouldn’t take the PED knowing you were going be tested at the end of the month. This is Jones second infraction, with a theoretical four-year suspension; at 30 it could be the end of his career. No rational athlete would knowingly take Turinabol in the window he must have taken it.
Had it happened to a fighter with an otherwise reasonable background, there would doubtless be sympathy for the inexplicable fail. However, there is compassion fatigue with Jones, who broke the arm of one too many pregnant woman before running away while stuffing cash into his pockets.
So Jon Jones has now been stripped of his title after each of his last three fights. He was stripped of his title after fighting Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 on January 3, 2015, for violating the UFC’s Athlete Code of Conduct policy. He was stripped of his interim title after fighting Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 197 on April 23, 2016, after testing positive for the controlled substances clomiphene and letrozole. And he was stipped of his title after fighting Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 on July 29, 2017, after testing positive for Turinabol.
It’s 2018. Odds would seem to indicate that Jon Jones is about due to a title stripping.