Jon Jones is still the best MMA fighter in the world and possibly of all time but last night’s FS1 interview did little to change people’s mind about Jon Jones the person.
Jones gave very quick and clear answers to every question he was asked, unlike Alex Rodriguez when he lied during a similar 1-on-1 interview in 2007, but that does not mean that fans got the entire truth from Jon jones.
The interview seemed to be a public relations booster more than one geared towards finding out the complete truth. Charissa Thompson did a great job interviewing Jones but when she did ask the tough follow up questions he skated past them or repeated that he didn’t know why he did it. For Examle:
“I had done it (cocaine) quite a few times in college, I had experimented with it.” said Jones. ”
Charissa followed up with, “So in college and in December were the only two times you’ve done this drug?”
Jones responded, “Once again I’m not perfect and I do not dab into cocaine, it’s not my thing at all.”
It is easy to believe Jon when he says these things but that hint of skepticism still remains. Jones’ entire UFC public persona has been a stretch from the man Jones is in real life. He’s never been this clean cut and polite man, yet he portrays that on television. Is this another one of those times when you get Jon the media creation or is he being sincere?
When athletes like Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen call him fake or a bad guy, this is what they speak of. It’s no secret in the MMA world that Jon Jones lives a double life but every time he got close to disclosing that in this interview he backed away.
Jones also discussed his feeling the day of the drug test:
“It was a nerve-wracking day. I knew that I did something wrong. I knew the test would show that. I didn’t tell anyone. Not even my own coaches knew that I was possibly dirty for a drug test. I kept it very private,” Jones said.
“I knew that the test would come out positive. I knew there was nothing I could do about it. I was stressed out about it, but I thought I would just focus on what I could control and that was the fight.”
Another answer by Jones that leads to more questions.
We still don’t know exactly how much cocaine has to be in your system to test positive in the administered NSAC test. I highly doubt 2 lines of coke will make you fail a state drug test. If it was only one night as Jones claims how much of the drug did he do that night to be truly worried about failing a test.
Then there’s the question of why would someone who rarely does cocaine, and hasn’t really since college, decide to take enough of the drug on a random night to flunk a test?
It just seems odd that he’d be so willing to take a fair amount of a substance that he says he doesn’t “dab into.”
Then there was Jones’ statements regarding his one-day rehab stint.
“Me going to rehab … it was like a collective decision between myself and some of my business partners. They thought it would be good,” Jones said. “I told them right away, ‘I don’t have a drug problem; I just got caught.’ They said, ‘Jon, we don’t know if you have a drug problem or not and, listen, how about you go to rehab and let them decide on how healthy you are or not.'”
“I don’t know how the process works. I feel like I’ve been getting kind of chewed out for the program they put me on. When I went to rehab, I was willing to stay there as long as needed to be there,” Jones said.
It seems as though the entire rehab process was used as a quick PR move according to Jones’ statement. It seems as though it was never Jones’ idea to check into rehab and that he feels deep down that he doesn’t have a problem. He says he doesn’t have a drug problem, but truthfully all drug addicts say the same thing. If Jones didn’t truly have a problem or if people around him weren’t truly scared for his health he would’ve never went to rehab, they would’ve never suggested it.
Jones did seem to be genuinely sincere towards the end of this interview when talking about his fans.
“This whole situation has been really embarrassing,” Jones said. “I had to explain to so many people that I’m not a cocaine addict by any means or not even a frequent user. I just made a really dumb decision and got caught with my pants down in this whole situation. No excuse for it. I can just apologize.”
Jones wasn’t punished for this failed test and it would’ve been easy for him to just keep quiet and train for his next fight, but interviews like this only gives fans a reason to question whether they are trying too hard to cover up something they deem isn’t a problem.
