Jon Jones says he feels alive before UFC 197, and would gladly headline UFC 200

LAS VEGAS – With a whole slew of issues now in what he hopes is the rearview mirror, Jon Jones is keeping a positive outlook ahead of his return.

Much is at stake for the former light heavyweight champion on Saturday night at UFC 197 in Las Vegas. The pound-for-pound great never lost his light heavyweight title in a fight – it was stripped from him, a consequence of outside-the-cage problems that included a hit-and-run accident.

Because of that issue, as well as other run-ins with the authorities while behind the wheel, Jones finds himself still trying to rescue attitudes about him in the court of public opinion. But he appears willing to do that one step at a time.

“It feels great to be back – I’m super grateful,” Jones told MMAjunkie. “I missed the game so much. … Over the last year, it’s been really tough to be a Jon Jones fan, for sure. I definitely haven’t made it easy. I wanted to do something positive. I wanted to save the day for these guys.”

Jones (21-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) was supposed to fight heated rival Daniel Cormier, who holds the 205-pound title he used to have, on Saturday at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. But a Cormier injury forced him out, and now Jones meets Ovince Saint Preux (19-7 MMA, 7-2 UFC) for an interim light heavyweight title and the chance to fight Cormier to unify the belts later this year.

When Jones mentions saving the day for the card, he does so with a bit of negative history on his resume. At UFC 151, he turned down a short-notice fight against Chael Sonnen when Dan Henderson pulled out with an injury – and that led to the UFC scrapping the pay-per-view entirely. The circumstances weren’t much different this time around – had Jones used the same philosophy from UFC 151, he’d have rejected a short-notice fight against Saint Preux like he did against Sonnen, preferring to have a full fight camp for a specific opponent.

But this time, he says he wanted to make up for that past decision.

“UFC 151 happened a long time ago,” he said. “It’s something that some people still hold against me to this day. To get in there for all these fans, saving this card, I thought it would give me some brownie points with the fans.”

UFC 197 has a second title fight on the card – flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson meets Henry Cejudo in the co-main event. Had Jones turned down the fight with “OSP,” it’s likely UFC 197 would’ve gone forward with Johnson-Cejudo in the main event.

But this whole business of saving cards might not go away for Jones soon. With Tuesday’s decision by the UFC to pull Conor McGregor from the UFC 200 main event against Nate Diaz, Jones said he’d be glad to step in and headline that card, as well, in July.

But he doens’t think McGregor is truly going to retire, despite his Twitter proclmation earlier in the day, before being pulled that that was his intention.

“I don’t think he’s going to retire,” Jones said. “A guy like Conor, he’s a fighter and he’s a winner, and I don’t think he would want to go out on a loss. If he doesn’t fight again, his legacy is really that Diaz fight (at UFC 196). So I’m pretty sure he’ll be back. …

“Conor knows what he’s doing. I believe he’ll be back. Conor’s made a lot of money, so I’m sure he’s in a position right now where he doesn’t need to jump up and fight in the next event. I’m sure he can afford to take a long time off. He’ll be back.”

Back is what Jones is on Saturday, and bringing a mentality he hopes will show he’s improved on the issues that have plagued him outside the cage.

“I feel alive,” he said. “I feel as if I’ve grown a lot. I feel as if everything happens for a reason. We’re all on different journeys and different paths in life, and I feel happy where I am today.”

UFC 197 takes place Saturday at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass. Check out more from Jones in the video above.

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