Manager: Never seen Jones this focused

Malki Kawa, longtime manager of former UFC light heavweight champion Jon Jones, appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s “The MMA Hour’ and discussed Bones’ return. UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is on record as saying he will not fight Jones in his home state of New York, should MMA become properly regulated there, Kawa said it is his fighter who dictate where it takes place.

“I don’t think DC has any choice in the matter, to be honest with you,” said Kawa, as transcribed by Dave Doyle@davedoylemma for MMA Fighting. “Everybody knows who the champion is.”

“[Cormier is] a phenomenal fighter,. But he still hasn’t beat Jon Jones. No one took that belt from him. At the end of the day, him parading around like ‘I’m the true champ,’ it doesn’t really sit well with me. I’m just me talking from my perspective. With that being said, to me I think it’s an important fight for DC. So if Jon wants to fight him in February, March, April, May, June, July, whatever, I think DC should just step up and take the fight.”

“Here’s the thing people forget: He’s already beaten Daniel Cormier and it wasn’t close. So him talking, what does that really at the end of the day matter? He beat him up, he beat him up easy and it wasn’t even close. He said he’d take Jon down a 100 out of a 100 times if he wanted and all that other stuff. And Jon kind of had his way. Took him down and did what he wanted and it wasn’t a close fight at all. With that being said, if Jon wants to fight someone else, then Jon will push to fight someone else. If Jon wants to fight Cormier because he wants his belt back, and that’s what’s in Jon’s head, then that’s what Jon’s going to do. It has no dictation at all because of Daniel Cormier.”

Further, Kawa described Jones’s current mental state.

The only word that can really describe Jon right now is ‘focused,'” said Kawa, as transcribed by Ryan McKinnell for Yahoo Sports. “I’ve never seen him this focused. He’s super focused. He’s focused more than he’s ever been before.

Listen, everybody’s got their opinions – he did this, he did that, whatever – that’s all fine and dandy. He’s still the greatest fighter we’ve ever seen, right. I’ve watched him through many different camps and the coaches have told me how he’s done certain things in different camps…this is the first time that he doesn’t have a fight scheduled, he’s in Albuquerque, and he’s actually training. Most of the time when Jon doesn’t have a fight, he doesn’t train at all. There’s no weightlifting, there’s no jiu-jitsu practice, there’s no boxing, there isn’t anything. So, this is the first time we can sit here, all of us, and we can say he’s actually putting in some work. And he’s really putting in some work.

Personally, I think in a perfect world, New York State gets approved and he makes a comeback April 23 at Madison Square Garden. I mean that’s in a perfect world. If the stars align for UFC, the state of New York, and for Jon to come back and win his belt in front of his home crowd. That would be pretty cool.

Yes it would. And if Kawa’s remarks are accurate, then the Jones we have seen so far – the greatest fighter in the sport’s history – was not so focused and didn’t train out of camp. If that is accurate, then the prospect of a Focused Jon Jones will be something to behold.