Jon Jones: Rocky Road to Redemption

Hero is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a person who is “admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities, a person who is greatly admired”.

When the headline act for UFC 200 was finally set, Jon Jones found himself in the unfamiliar role of being the hero. Riding into town on his trusty steed to save UFC 200, figuratively speaking of course.

Hero is not a word that has often been used to describe Jones, yet here he is, stepping up to challenge Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight championship of the world. Stepping up to save the biggest card of the year.

When Conor McGregor was pulled from the card, this rematch between the bitterest rivals in the UFC was arguably the only logical fight that would fit on a card of this magnitude.

It also completes a remarkable turn-around for Jon Jones who has gone from zero to hero in just over a year.

Throughout his career Jones hasn’t always played his part or towed the company line. He famously refused to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice at UFC 151 after his original opponent Dan Henderson got injured and was forced to pull out. This led to the complete cancelation of the card, a move that clearly irked the UFC top brass.

Despite this setback, the New York native continued to blast his way through a who’s who list of former champions and top contenders.

For Jones, his biggest issues have always been outside the cage. These extra curriculum activities hadn’t really impacted on his prize-fighting career until April of 2015, when he was stripped off his world title and suspended by the UFC following a hit-and-run incident that saw him fled the scene of the crime.

The suspension came as a triple blow to Jones. Not only was he facing the real possibility of jail time, he was also removed from UFC 187 and then he had to sit and watch as his greatest nemesis, Daniel Cormier, defeated Anthony Johnson for his light heavyweight title.

Jones was reinstated back into the UFC picture in October 2015 but his love of driving like a little boy racer continued to drag him in front of judges. The most serious of which saw him wearing an orange jumpsuit after a stint in a county jail in Albuquerque, New Mexico. All this happened just weeks before he was due to make his return to the Octagon.

With his life seemingly spinning out of control, ‘Bones’ Jones looked for sanctuary in the one place that he seems most at ease and the one place the majority of people would fear the most. The cage.

At UFC 197, Jones did make his comeback when he overcame Ovince Saint Preux in an uninspiring display. Ironically, this was Jones’ first attempt at saving a UFC main event when he agreed to take on a new opponent on short notice after Cormier got injured.

He obviously got a taste for playing the role of hero and he made it clear when asked by FOX Sports if he would fight in July, “absolutely. I’d totally step in to UFC 200 and fill in that main event slot”.

And so it is set for July 9th at the brand new T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jon ‘Bones’ Jones, the unlikeliest of heroes, has a chance to reclaim the title that he never lost, inside the one place he rarely finds himself in trouble.

By Shane Curtis