Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been hindered by his troubles outside of the Octagon over the past few years. Most recently, Jones was pulled from UFC 200 just 48 hours before he was scheduled to step into the Octagon with Daniel Cormier in hopes of reclaiming the light heavyweight championship he never lost in the Octagon.
While an appeal process saw Jones handed a year long suspension retroactive to July, the damage had already been done. UFC President Dana White infamously explained after Jones UFC 200 withdrawal that the former light heavyweight champ would never headline an event again.
With Jones now rumored to return at UFC 214 against Cormier, in the co-main event, Jones’ manager Malki Kawa spoke to MMAMania to react to the news, saying:
“It’s the funniest thing ever,” Kawa said. “Listen, to be honest with you, it’s funny. And my personal opinion, I think it’s ridiculous, because at the end of the day, I mean, yes, he missed out on UFC 200, and I think the whole situation behind it was stupid and ridiculous.”
“Listen, I always look at everything people do with intent, so if somebody intends to do something, to harm someone, then that makes that person messed up,” Kawa said. “Jon didn’t intend to cancel UFC 200. Listen, we are all sitting here every day training, cutting weight. We find out Wednesday or Thursday before the fight, and no one wanted that to happen.”
“At the end of the day, when (Dana White) says ‘I can’t trust him,’ look, I understand what you’re saying from your end, because you’re upset, pissed off and I get it, Malki said. “But it is what it is. But from our end, if you think you’re going to sell better by saying Jon Jones is a co-main event or it protects you better, then you got to do what you got to do.”
