A quick look at Jon Jones’ Wikipedia page reveals a huge list of accomplishments during his career in the UFC that have defined him as arguably the greatest fighter of all-time but his issues outside the cage also eat up a huge part of his overall biography.
From a DWI arrest just a few weeks after one of his biggest wins over Rashad Evans to a hit-and-run car accident that involved a pregnant woman as well as an arrest on domestic violence allegations, Jones has faced a litany of legal issues during his career. That doesn’t even address behavior that didn’t involve the police such as Jones testing positive for cocaine just weeks before he fought and defeated Daniel Cormier in the UFC.
But for all his bad behavior, fellow UFC legend Matt Brown scoffs at the idea that Jones’ many missteps actually affect the legacy he leaves behind now that he’s retired.
“We’re going to remember him as the greatest ever still,” Brown said on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “All that shit, that’s what I guess the nitpickers and the hardcore people, that’s what they’re going to be talking about. Look, he fights in a cage for our entertainment and he did it at the highest level that’s ever been witnessed on this planet. I don’t respect the other shit he did, I don’t think anyone does. Like no one’s like ‘that was cool, whatever, forget about it.’ But do we really care?
“There’s a million people out there doing terrible shit all the time. He did that terrible shit and continued to be the best in the world’s asses. So I’m not justifying what he did or anything but I speak the name Jon Jones out of my mouth because of his fighting. That’s all I care to talk about with him. I’m only talking about myself, other people may have different opinions but I’m not going to change what I remember about him based on that shit. All I remember is what I’ve seen on TV. That’s all I care about. What is that other shit, it’s basically irrelevant. In my opinion, he should be remembered for what he did inside the cage and this shit outside, is a completely separate, irrelevant thing.”
Completely negating opinions regarding Jones’ many legal issues over the years, he also missed a lot of time in the UFC because he was dealing with the fallout from those situations. Jones also dealt with drug testing failures that prevented him from fighting at UFC 200 and eventually cost him one of the biggest wins of his career when his knockout win over Cormier in their rematch was overturned to a no-contest.
Brown acknowledges Jones’ history with performance enhancing drugs — allegations he’s vehemently denied time and again — are really the only asterisk attached to the career he put together in the UFC.
As far as Jones’ legal entanglements go, Brown argues that he still ultimately faced everyone he was ever supposed to fight during his career outside of the potential showdown against Tom Aspinall prior to his retirement.
“I don’t see where it got in his way that much,” Brown said. “He beat everybody’s ass that was a potential challenger. There was never a time where this guy needs to fight Jon Jones and it didn’t happen. Now we’re talking about the tail end of his career. We knew he was on the way out anyway. We’ve been talking about him retiring for a long time now. He’s talked about it for a long time. We knew he was on his way out.
“Some people are going to make the argument that he ducked Tom Aspinall and I’ll shoot that down right now. He’s not ducking Tom Aspinall. Maybe he’s not interested in that tough of a fight. I’ll give you that if that’s what you want to say. Ducking? Get the f*ck out of here.”
While he’s certainly not belittling the seriousness of Jones’ bad behavior, Brown knows from personal experience that troubles outside the cage can absolutely follow fighters into work.
Brown admittedly marvels at the fact that Jones somehow tested positive for cocaine from a sample taken just weeks before the fight and he still managed to deliver a definitive win over Cormier back in 2015.
“I’ve seen less f*ck ups really f*ck up someone’s fight career,” Brown said. “I’ve done a lot of cocaine in my life. It’s been a long time, many, many years —I cannot imagine for the life of me going out to a professional fight, nonetheless against a f*cking Olympian [Daniel Cormier], one of the greatest fighters ever and having a f*cking chance.
“I can’t even imagine walking out. I can’t imagine weighing in or walking out. That is a special, special motherf*cker.”
Of course, everybody is entitled to their own opinion when it comes to Jones but Brown says he’s only concerned about his accomplishments in the UFC and those are undeniable.
Is it possible Jones could have put himself in an almost untouchable category all his own if he didn’t have all those issues? Perhaps but Brown says Jones still had a pretty remarkable career regardless.
“Had he not done all those things, yeah, he probably could have fought more often and I think he could be 60-0 right now if he wanted,” Brown said. “In the light heavyweight and heavyweight division, there wouldn’t be a single guy in the division who didn’t lose to Jon Jones. He just beat everybody.
“He got out of his own way enough to have 14 title defenses and go undefeated. It’s like how much more greatness do we want out of the guy?”
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