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Jon Jones breaks silence, coming clean on accident and ripping UFC over treatment after UFC 151

Three years ago, Jon Jones decided against fighting Chael Sonnen at UFC 151 on eight days' notice.

When he did, the UFC cancelled the entire event, and Jones was rescheduled for a fight against Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 three weeks later.

That wasn’t before UFC president Dana White got in a few choice words about Jones and more specifically his trainer, Greg Jackson, in an official conference call, calling Jackson a ‘sport killer.’

After three years, one would think that bygones would be bygones, and with all the mutual money made between fighter and promoter, that the incident at UFC 151 would be water under the bridge.

Apparently that's not the case for Jon Jones.

Jon Jones has bulked up in his time away from MMA. (MMAWeekly)
Jon Jones has bulked up in his time away from MMA. (MMAWeekly)

“They wanted me to sacrifice everything that I’ve worked for, for the greater good of the company,” Jones said in a revelatory tell-all to MMAFighting.com. “This is a dog-eat-dog world and I’ve seen so many fighters who once they retire they don’t get jobs by the UFC. They don’t get checks by the UFC.

“The UFC lets you go when they’re done with you, for the most part. So, why would I risk everything I’ve earned to fight Chael Sonnen on eight days' notice? Any smart man wouldn’t have done that. And instead of saying, ‘Hey, I’m sorry guys, but the fight fell through, I’m sorry we didn’t have a strong enough card to keep the [event] going anyways,’ they blamed everything on me. [They] made me sounds like a coward when I was fighting the greatest fighters that they had to offer. They made me sound selfish.”

Three weeks after the cancellation of UFC 151, Jones fought Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 in Toronto. Jones would win the fight via submission in the fourth round. But it wasn’t without plenty of fight from Belfort.

And a September report from Deadspin alleged a shocking cover-up by the UFC in the weeks leading up to Jones’ fight against Belfort at UFC 152. According to the report, Belfort, a multi-time PED offender, allegedly had dangerously high testosterone levels leading up to 152. Belfort's tests were then accidentally emailed by the UFC to members of the media, who were then in turn quickly asked to not publicize what had been sent to them.

Well, Jones thinks he knows what he saw in those tests. He alleges that the UFC knowingly let Belfort fight him despite the tests as some sort of punishment for not fighting at UFC 151.

"I totally understand what happened,” Jones said. “Vitor Belfort was on steroids when I fought him. The UFC was very well aware, way before the fight. They did nothing to penalize him. They let the fight go on knowing that I was fighting a guy on steroids, which is a hazard to my life. What do you do? I don’t know what I’m going to do about that yet.”

He admits that he hasn’t spoken to the UFC about it yet but definitely plans to. And before he continues speaking about Belfort, he left a cryptic tidbit, highlighting even further his displeasure with the UFC.

“It all goes back to what I was saying about the power of the UFC and this athletic commission. Eventually something needs to be done about it….”

When asked what exactly he means, Jones quickly responds with, “I’ll just leave it at that.”

Jones goes on to say how he is very interested in hearing the UFC’s explanation about the whole Belfort debacle. He goes as far as to call it a ‘slap in the face.’ Jones says that he isn’t sure if the UFC held resentment toward him after UFC 151, but assumed they did because he lost them "a few million dollars.”

When Jones is asked about his relationship with the UFC higher-ups, he says that he isn’t interested in bashing Dana White. He calls White more of a ‘business’ guy and he prefers dealing with Lorenzo Fertitta if at all possible.

Jon Jones' last fight in the Octagon was a title defense against current champ Daniel Cormier on Jan. 3. (Getty)
Jon Jones' last fight in the Octagon was a title defense against current champ Daniel Cormier on Jan. 3. (Getty)

The fighting future of Jones is unclear, as fans await his return to the Octagon. A potential match between current champ Daniel Cormier (the man Jones fought, and beat, in his last fight before his title was stripped) is rumored for April, but that is far from official.

His goal is to regain the UFC light heavyweight championship and work on his ‘comeback story.’ As far as his feelings on the UFC, Jones admits that the handling of UFC 151 will always be “dear to my heart…the way they butchered me in the public.”

It is anyone’s guess how the UFC will react to this new, outspoken Jon Jones. For the most part, Jones has been a true company man over the years, rarely speaking about any of the controversial issues surrounding the Las Vegas-based fight promotion.

Apparently, that part of Jones’ career is now over. Because he has plenty to say about the UFC now.

“I would like to be more of a company guy and do things right, you know, but at the same time, I've been bent over quite a few times by them," Jones said. "It's just like...it's hard to see where I stand, man. I just hope the fans are aware of some of the shenanigans they pull."