UFC Jon Jones: Addict Or Just A Slip Up?

jon jones positive for using cocaine but swear not addict 2015

The UFC doesn’t need its biggest star testing positive for cocaine. If that happens to a low level fighter with no belt and little notoriety, it is not a good thing certainly. However it is not a huge black eye for the sport. Jon Jones, the UFC‘s pound for pound best fighter, is the last guy Dana White wants to see in trouble. Fighters are rarely squeaky clean, but cocaine in the system right before a big pay per view is a long way from squeaky clean.

I hate news like this for the kids who are fans of the UFC and Jones as an individual. I also hate it for the naive adult fans that were shocked by the news. I was only a tiny bit surprised because you don’t expect great athletes to be cocaine users. But as I have said before, we do not know these people! We don’t know athletes, celebrities, or politicians. All we know is what they put out there for public consumption. If all you watch are UFC highlight shows and the fights themselves, you are likely just seeing the positive aspects of the sport and the fighters. I hate it for the kids who had their hero fall from grace, but as for the naive adult fans….grow up. These athletes are just people. They have special abilities, but all the possible shortcomings of everyday folks.

Jones received a lot of criticism as he checked out of rehab after just one day there. That does seem like a short stay for any kind of drug abuse help. And most pundits called it just a means of satisfying the public with a dog and pony show. If that was the case, then his camp did a terrible job since the one day stay at a rehab joint made him look even worse.

The Light Heavyweight Champ says he isn’t a drug addict. Probably not. I doubt he would be the at the level he is at if he were abusing cocaine regularly. It is possible he is just an occasional user, but I am not a drug expert. And the fact that denying you are an addict is a good sign you have a problem allegedly. But I’m sure there are drug users who deny being addicted to drugs who truly are not addicts. So that’s always a hard statement to swallow 100 percent of the time.

Only time will tell if Jones really has a cocaine issue or if he just made one hell of a dumb mistake. Either way, he needs to clean his act up. If he is an addict I want him to get help asap. Addiction is a real problem in this world we live in, even for superstar athletes like Jones. Even though he could win a fight against almost everyone on this planet, he is no match for addiction on his own. If he just messed up and got carried away while partying, then he needs to get past that also. He is one of the main draws for his sport and can’t afford slip ups like failing a drug test. He will burn out pretty quickly if he starts slipping up like that on a regular basis.

Jones has had very little trouble inside the Octagon. He dominated Daniel Cormier in the PPV in which he had cocaine in his system. As a side note Cormier made no excuses directly after hearing out about the possible cocaine issue. He made it clear he lost the fight fair and square and stated that he needed to become better as a fighter himself.

Correction: Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) executive director Bob Bennett stated, “Jones’ post-fight carbon isotope ratio (CIR) test reportedly returned clean last week. And Jones was found to be clean of street drugs in a separate test taken after UFC 182 on Jan. 3, too. Those results came back this week. Bennett said he would have the official documents out to the media within the next 48 hours.”

Jon Jones is finding out what it is like to be a superstar when things appear to go sideways. It is great to be internationally known when the crowd is cheering wildly, fans are begging for a simple autograph, and women are throwing themselves at your feet. The fun stops when you have to give interviews about drug use, knowing your mom is watching, along with millions of fans. I don’t have a clue what it is like to be a star at the level of a Jon Jones. I am sure the guy needs to blow off some steam now and then. Hopefully he finds some better ways to do that than with the white powder. He may think he is in control, but drugs have conquered many a human before him. His future is secure with the UFC as long as he gets his act together though. A string of missteps could lead to a suspension however.

Hopefully Dana White has made it clear to Jones just how important it is to stay out of the news for the wrong reasons. Talk is cheap though and it may take something like a suspension to get the champ’s attention if he doesn’t have a handle on his cocaine use.