Jon Jones' biggest opponent is himself
— -- LAS VEGAS -- I wanted to believe Jon Jones.
When we sat down in Los Angeles last week to talk about his life and career heading into UFC 200, he was like a movie producer scripting out his improbable comeback story and the happy ending that was awaiting him around the corner.
"I want to show the world that you can be down but never out," Jones told me. "I want to be a story where someone risked losing so much but ultimately turned everything around. A lot of times you hear these stories about athletes who ruined their career and they go away and no one knows what happened to them, or they're bankrupt or they end up in jail. They just ruined a great career. I want to be one of the few stories you hear where I was ruining things but ultimately turned things around and became a hero. That's my vision for the way my story is going to play out."
Like most scripts in Hollywood, however, it became apparent Wednesday night that Jones' comeback story was nothing more than a facade -- a fictional tale that would never play out the way he had envisioned it.
Jones was pulled from his UFC light heavyweight championship fight against Daniel Cormier, the main event of Saturday's UFC 200, after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency informed Jones of a potential doping violation Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, an emotional Jones apologized for the incident at a news conference.
"I want to apologize; I really don't know what to say," Jones said. "I'm really sorry about this happening."
Jones wiped away tears during the news conference, leaving after five minutes to compose himself before returning to a dais that was stripped of any UFC signage before the news conference began.
"The whole situation really sucks," Jones said. "It really sucks, really hurts a lot. They supposedly found something in one of my samples that I have no clue what it is. I don't even know how to pronounce it. I've been taking the same supplements for the majority of my career. I've been so outspoken about being against any type of performance enhancers. I'm still to this day extremely against performance enhancers. The whole thing sucks. Being labeled as someone who would cheat hurts me more than anything else I've ever been through in my career."
