White: Jones may be biggest waste of talent in sports’ history
Dana White: “The guy is so talented and gifted, God knows what he’d be doing right now if he had never got in trouble.”
UFC president Dana White appeared recently on The TSN MMA Show and said that if former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones latest failure results in a lengthy suspension, then Bones is the biggest waste of talent ever.
Ever. Ever, in all of sports,” said White, as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. “The guy is so talented and gifted, God knows what he’d be doing right now if he had never got in trouble. He could possibly be the heavyweight champion and have the defense record that couldn’t be broken. The list goes on and on of what could’ve been with Jon Jones.
Whatever happens [with his suspension], happens. Believe me, I’m not mentally or emotionally invested in that anymore.
Jones ran his rental into a vehicle operated by a pregnant woman breaking her arm, and then fled; his title was stripped. He took a bootleg erectile dysfunction drug, ordered by acquaintances along with prohibited doping drugs; his title was stripped. Now he tested positive for the steroid Turinabol, source unknown; and once again, his title was stripped.
The latest failure is puzzling in that the window during which the anabolic steroid Turinabol entered his system is such that Jones would have known he would be caught, given that he would be tested on fight day. UFC drug czar Jeff Novitzky has asked that fans wait until the investigation is complete before judging Jones.
That’s fair.
Jones has a hearing before the California Athletic Commission in December. So until then, and perhaps longer if further investigation proves necessary, fans can hold off on deciding if this latest failure is egregious or not. But it’s fair too at this point to have given up on Jon Jones.