Earlier this year, Jon Jones was looking down a potential four year suspension by USADA, and if that came to pass, Jones was set to walk away from the UFC.
“I was facing a four-year suspension and that was devastating. I had to really re-evaluate a lot of things such as, what I think of the sport or fighting overseas. Who am I outside of the sport? It was a major learning experience for me to go through something like what I just got out of,” he said during a recent interview on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show.
“I would’ve moved on. I would’ve probably talked to UFC about getting out of my contract and fighting overseas. I feel like a lot of organizations would be happy to have me. I think they would paid me pretty well. Definitely not the money I get paid in UFC, but I felt like where I would move I would be on of their top priorities and treated well.”
Jones would have had options, as Bellator does not utilize USADA testing and was a work around for Mirko Cro-Cop who was under a similar suspension from the UFC’s drug testing partner.
“I wouldn’t have moved on from the sport. There are not many things you can do where you can make over a million dollars in one night. I am very aware of that, so I wouldn’t have moved on from fighting. This is a very special job I have,” Jones told Helwani.
Luckily for Jones, the year-long investigation into his failed UFC 214 drug test only yielded the two-time UFC light heavyweight champion a 15-month retroactive suspension, allowing him to return at UFC 232 on December 29th against Alexander Gustafsson.