As legendary boxer Bernard Hopkins was leaving Pennsylvania's Graterford Prison in 1988 after serving a sentence on a strong-arm robbery conviction, a ward flippantly said to him, "See you in six months."
Hopkins angrily vowed never to return. He didn't. He managed to not only turn his life around but to become an amazing success story, not just inside of the ring but also outside of it.
It was hard not to think of Hopkins after hearing the news Friday that the UFC reinstated former – it still seems odd to say that – light heavyweight champion Jon Jones from its suspended list.
Jones was stripped of his championship and indefinitely suspended by the UFC in April after he was involved in a hit-and-run accident in Albuquerque, N.M., that injured a pregnant woman.
Last month, Jones reached a plea deal with prosecutors and will avoid having a felony on his record if he fulfills all the terms of his sentence, including 18 months of supervised probation and making 72 community service appearances.
The UFC didn't immediately reinstate him and had a powerful Las Vegas law firm, Campbell & Williams, investigate the case.
But with the review complete, CEO Lorenzo Fertitta on Friday announced in a statement that Jones had been reinstated.
That clears the way for a rematch with Daniel Cormier, who won the light heavyweight belt in Jones' absence, sometime next year.
Jones, of course, thrashed Cormier at UFC 182 in January, fighting only a few weeks after testing positive for cocaine. But because cocaine is only prohibited in competition, and Jones' positive test came out of competition, he was permitted to fight.
It was troubling, though, that an athlete in training for a major fight against his biggest rival would be using cocaine in camp.
Jones is a magnificent talent, the likes of which the UFC hasn't seen before. Though there are a number of legitimate contenders such as Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Georges St-Pierre and Ronda Rousey who deserve to be in the conversation, Jones stands above them all as the greatest MMA fighter in history.
Jones has had precious few problems inside the cage. His only truly close fight was his 2013 battle in Toronto with Alexander Gustafsson that some regard as the best UFC match ever. Jones completed a rally with a stirring finish to retain his belt.
He had a brief scare in a 2012 title defense, again in Toronto, against Vitor Belfort when the Brazilian caught him in an arm bar. But Jones showed great fortitude by not tapping and went on to an impressive victory.
Outside of the cage is where things have been more difficult for Jones. He pleaded guilty to a 2012 misdemeanor of driving while intoxicated near his New York home, had the positive cocaine test and the April accident in Albuquerque.
He's never been particularly comfortable in the spotlight and has struggled to deal with his media obligations and the close scrutiny that comes from being a superstar athlete.
When he was suspended, he let it be known that he was no sure thing to return.
But his manager, Malki Kawa, told Yahoo Sports Friday that Jones has opted to fight again.
"I'm excited he's been reinstated and even more excited about what is to come in the second half of his career," Kawa said. "There was a period of time where he was debating whether or not he wanted to do this any more. I think the pressure was mounting and there were a lot of things going on.
"But once he was able to have all this time away from the sport and he was able to see what was taken from him, everything that he'd built up, I think he realized at the end of the day this was something he really missed and wanted to do."
Curiously, none of his issues outside of the cage seemed to affect him inside of it. No champion has beaten a stronger list of contenders than Jones. He's 9-0 with five finishes in UFC title fights and a strong argument can be made that the majority of those opponents will one day wind up in the Hall of Fame along with him.
He held the media in the palm of his massive hand at the news conference following his title-winning effort over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., in 2011. Earlier that day, he tracked down a man who'd robbed an elderly woman.
He had the media in stitches as he brilliantly recounted the story at the post-fight news conference.
That version of Jones, the one who obliterated an elite opponent and then was charismatic and humorous with a mega-watt smile afterward, should have turned him into one of the biggest things the UFC has ever seen.
But Jones' popularity waned after that moment, as relations with the media tensed and fans seemed to turn on him.
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, another future Hall of Famer whom Jones defeated at UFC 135 in his first title defense, suggested that Jones had a spy in his training camp. He told Yahoo Sports that he'd made up a story about having an injured hand, telling only people at his gym, and that four hours later after he'd told the lie to see what would happen, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva called to check on it. The source of Silva's information, according to Jackson, was Kawa.
It was typical Jackson, concocting a story to build a fight.
Jones, though, didn't see it as a joke and didn't take it as such. He was angered by it and turned against reporters who wrote about Jackson's allegations.
He doesn't have to be popular to win fights, though, or, as boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. showed, to sell a lot of pay-per-views.
Jones' second act will be interesting to watch, to see if he's able to relax and enjoy what has to this point been a career of unparalleled success.
Many of Jones' issues seemed to be more of a cry for help, a way to escape the pressure he wasn't equipped to deal with, rather than of a man who couldn't do the right thing.
And this is where Hopkins comes in. He vowed never to return to prison and did not. He battled vigorously with the boxing establishment in the early part of his career after his release, insisting on his rights and of being treated properly.
He eventually became a role model, though, an athlete who not only saved but successfully invested his money, who was always in magnificent shape and who used his experience to help make positive changes to the business.
Jones has the ability to do much the same thing.
It's likely, given the one-sided nature of his first fight with Cormier, that he'll regain the championship when they meet next year, though Cormier, of course, will have something to say about that.
But more important will be whether Jones can put all the issues and strife behind him and use his great ability in the cage to secure a happy and healthy future for himself and his family.
It's up to him, but here's betting that that's exactly what he'll do.
