This
past Sunday Jon Jones ran a red light, it is believed that he was driving while
impaired, in the early morning causing a three-car accident. One of the
drivers, a pregnant woman, was sent to the hospital with a broken arm and
wrist. The incident is part a continuing trend of poor choices by Jones which
was made worse when he ran off only to return moments later to grab a “large handful
of cash” out of his rented car and ran off again before the police arrived on scene.
The
UFC put their foot down on Tuesday following his arrest by suspending Jones indefinitely and
stripped him on his Light Heavyweight title, the first time in UFC history that
a champion lost their title due to disciplinary reasons. Jones was scheduled to
fight Anthony Johnson at UFC 187 at the end of May but he will be replaced by
Daniel Cormier, the #3 ranked fighter, with the winner taking the title.
What
is sad is that Jones as a person is not a bad guy. He is good family man, loves
his significant other and their three children and he has put himself in to
harm’s way to stop a thief who had robbed an elderly couple hours before a
fight.
Many
consider him to be the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world and was
set to defend his title for the 9th time against Johnson but now
that is gone. Since 2012 he has made bad decision after bad decision including
a DWI, a refusal to take a scheduled match, dirty fighting, slanderous slurs
and most recently a positive test for cocaine prior to his last fight in
December.
I
think there are things that fans are willing to overlook within reason but he
is looking at felony charge and possible jail time not to mention there were
injuries to an innocent victim. I think there will be a mass abandonment of
fans along the lines of Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Michael Vick and A-Roid. I am a Ryan Bader fan so I am not a Jones fan (he beat Bader in a 2011 fight to determine who was going to fight for the Championship) but I respected his training process and his fighting ability and this is such a disappointment and a waste of talent.
Autographs that used to sell for $25 or more as recently as December are now going for under $10 now and relics can be picked up for $2-$5 each. I wonder what the prices will be at in a couple of weeks.