'Humbled' by jail stay, Jon Jones hopes to embody resiliency on way back to belt

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones won’t blame anyone else for his recent stay in Albuquerque’s Metropolitan Detention Center, but he does believe the ordeal proved a humbling experience. But “Bones” said it’s not going to slow him down.

“I just felt humbled,” Jones told MMAjunkie. “I felt re-grounded. I thought about what type of life I’ve created for myself, and how I’m blessed to have so much and how that could all be taken away.”

During a recent traffic stop in New Mexico, Jones was ticketed for drag racing, exhibition driving, weaving, failing to properly display his license plate, and modifying his exhaust pipe. While the citations aren’t serious offenses, Jones was still on probation from a hit-and-run accident this past April that left a pregnant woman with a broken arm. Jones was taken into custody while he awaited a hearing that ultimately saw him ordered to complete a driver-improvement course, enroll in an anger-management course and complete 60 additional hours of community service.

A lapel video shot by Albuquerque police officer Jason Brown (which can be seen above) shows his heated confrontation with Jones, who denies drag racing and calls him a “liar” and a “pig.”

While Jones was certainly in the wrong, Brown’s behavior in the video isn’t exactly pristine, and Jones admits he feels the officer let him down with his actions.

“Being in jail, it hurt me, being in there,” Jones said. “I felt as if I was really let down by this officer in this situation. The system really let me down in this one. I’m not blaming them for anything. I definitely caused a lot of my own heartache, but in this situation, I really feel as if I was profiled and picked on.

“Three days in jail for revving my engine – and now I have all these terms and conditions of my probation, all for revving my engine. I feel let down. But I’m a very optimistic person, and I always try to find the good in everything that happens in my life.”

The good for Jones (21-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC), for now, is a UFC 197 contest with Ovince Saint Preux (19-7 MMA, 7-2 UFC). The interim title contest headlines the April 23 event at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Jones was supposed to fight Daniel Cormier, instead, but the current UFC light heavyweight champ suffered a leg injury and was forced to withdraw from the contest.

While Jones hasn’t always welcomed short-notice replacement opponents (see the cancellation of UFC 151 as a prime example), the 28-year-old said he took this change as a message.

“Initially, I felt sadness,” Jones said. “I was sad for my coaches. Sad for my trainer. We’ve all been doing lots of reps for almost a year now, focusing on Daniel Cormier, and we felt so well-rehearsed, so well-trained to just dominate Cormier. So I was sad that that was going to be postponed.

“Then I started to think, ‘You know, everything happens for a reason. Maybe I was meant to go out there and fight somebody different first.’ … Right now, I feel better than ever. I’m taking things really seriously, and I feel like the best light heavyweight in the world. So if I’m the best light heavyweight in the world, then I’ve got to be able to beat them all.”

Jones is a heavy favorite in the contest but believes Saint Preux is a deserving opponent who would have eventually worked himself up to the top of the rankings, anyway. Should “Bones” prove victorious, the much-anticipated rematch with Cormier would loom on the horizon.

But Jones isn’t looking past Saint Preux, and he’s not taking anything for granted. After spending a few days behind bars, Jones says he now truly realizes what’s at stake in both his personal and professional life. And while he won’t defend the actions caught in the infamous lapel video, Jones believes Brown deserves some of the blame, as well.

“I’ve watched it quite a few times, and I feel as if that officer, I think the moment he saw my face, he knew he was going to be giving me a hard time,” Jones said. “I don’t know how to feel about it. I just feel like the guy really took advantage of his power, and it really hurt to be in that situation because I went to school to be a police officer, and I actually do have a lot of respect for law enforcement. But individuals like Officer Brown really, that’s the type of people who turn citizens away from being supporters.”

Nevertheless, Jones is moving forward. It’s the only thing he can do, the only thing he knows. Jones believes it’s just the latest chapter in a long story of resiliency, and he hopes it’s a message from which others can learn.

“I think one of the biggest things driving me is I think my fans know that one thing about Jon Jones, or my friends know, is that I’m resilient,” Jones said. “I try to represent ‘resilient.’ Never quitting. Vitor Belfort almost broke my arm. I continued to fight through that fight. Alexander Gustafsson had me bleeding, had me losing regular rounds, then the championship rounds, I pulled it together and dominated. Getting in trouble with the law and just continuing to move forward. Things I’ve been through in my childhood, things I’ve been through in my life, growing up the way I grew up, me knowing my own story, I’ve always moved forward, and I want people to be encouraged. Struggling with drug addiction, now being sober and owning it, kicking sobriety’s ass. I want to represent never giving up, no matter what.

“There was a shirt made for me that said, ‘Unbroken,’ and I really take that slogan to heart. That’s my life’s motto now. Don’t break easy, no matter what you’re going through. Attitude is everything. You can do it no matter what. Chael Sonnen, I had a broken toe, and I finished that fight. Never quit. Never surrender. If I can do it, you can do it, too.

“We all are resilient. We’re all stronger than what we think. Mind over matter. So yeah, I just feel like at the end of the day, when I win my belt back, it’s going to be that much sweeter because of all I went through to get there.”

For more on UFC 197, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.