The feeling of foam beneath your feet and melodic sounds of hanging Thai bags swinging in unison can postpone real-world problems. In an outside world filled with vitriol and negativity, the gym is one of the few places left for Jon Jones to find peace and solitude.
The former UFC light heavyweight champ’s recent fall from grace has been a tumble into obscurity. He went from being hailed as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world to completely being erased from the UFC rankings. Weeks have passed without so much as a whisper from Jones.
Journalists continue to write stories about him, and fans continue to vehemently defend polar opposite opinions of him. But it all falls on deaf ears. Jones has been radio silent ever since his apologetic tweet, following his felony arrest for a hit-and-run in Albuquerque a few weeks ago.
Got a lot of soul searching to do. Sorry to everyone I've let down.
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) April 29, 2015
Carlos Condit, a former UFC interim champion, is hard at work preparing for his return on May 30 against Thiago Alves.
While training at Greg Jackson’s MMA, he looks up from time to time to see the most polarizing superstar in the UFC still putting in work, sharpening his sword as some might say, despite his personal life being set ablaze by worldly mistakes.
During an appearance on The MMA Hour, Condit told Ariel Helwani:
Jon’s been around the gym a little bit, which is good. I like to see him down there. It’s a crazy situation that he’s going to have to deal with. I think having him in the gym doing what he does best, training and trying to keep that side of his life going, is a good thing. [I] Talked to him briefly, but not about the incident but about the situation. He said, ‘I'll be back, I'm going to be back.’ I believe him, there’s no doubt. I think there’s a good chance. In his mind, he’s fighting again.
Malki Kawa, Jones’s manager, recently hinted at the possibility Jones would never fight again. When speaking with Ariel Helwani, he claimed there is a chance the 27-year-old legend quietly rides off into the sunset, leaving his perfect fighting career forever frozen in time.
But we won’t be fooled by those odds. Walking away from competition isn’t an easy feat for most athletes, especially world-class ones like Jones. The fire to compete is the one thing that transcends even Father Time. Former athletes grow old and reminisce on past glory, wishing they could turn back the clock.
The same fire burns within Jones, who continues to grind away in the gym, according to Condit.
In a strange way, Jones has been forced back to his roots. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson and Daniel Cormier will compete for the light heavyweight title on Saturday at UFC 187. The burden of being a champion has been lifted from Jones’ shoulders.
For the first time in a long time, he gets to slow down and look at his career through a more objective lens. When did everything go sideways? What ever happened to that unassuming, eager fighter taking it all in bit by bit, graciously enjoying the moment?
No one is immune to the trials and tribulations of life. Those same trials and tribulations increase exponentially when wealth and power gets involved. Like hip-hop legend The Notorious B.I.G. said, “Mo Money Mo Problems.” Distance isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes it helps us get back what was lost.
If a timeout is the cure, so be it. The vintage Jon Jones is definitely worth saving.
Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He also is the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.
