Manager: Jones’ belt should not have been stripped
Malki Kawa: “And I definitely just don’t agree with the belt being stripped, because if this gets resolved in the next 60 to 90 days, then what?”
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ manager Malki Kawa appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and said that he agreed with the suspension, but took issue with stripping the fighter of his title.
“I was very surprised,” said Kawa as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMAFighting.com. “I didn’t think they were gonna do that. I don’t think they should have done that.”
“Jon Jones won that belt inside the Octagon. Nobody beat him for the belt. That’s just one case in itself. But on the other hand, we’re jumping to a lot of conclusions. We haven’t let things play out. He hasn’t had his day in court and I don’t think it’s OK to just hand punishments down like that. But I do definitely understand where the UFC, sponsors and everyone is coming from. I can totally understand.”
“I think we totally accepted the suspension. I thought they had to do it. I agreed when they handed it down. I just don’t know that indefinite was the right thing to do, per se. And I definitely just don’t agree with the belt being stripped, because if this gets resolved in the next 60 to 90 days, then what? Now you’re saying, ‘Well, now you’re reinstated.’ Then what? To me, I just felt like it shouldn’t have been to that degree. But again, I’m coming from a more biased place than maybe everyone else is coming from.”
“If you’re Daniel Cormier and you win this belt, right, and you go parading around the world and you’re this and you’re that, do you think anyone on the face of this Earth can actually take you serious?. It would be such a joke at that point.”
Anthony Johnson fights Daniel Cormier for the UFC light heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 187 on May 23, 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
