Outside Source
Jon Jones said he spent his camp for UFC 309 in pain. | Getty/UFC
Jon Jones didn’t know he was being recorded when he revealed that “severe arthritis” would prevent him from considering a wrestling match against Daniel Cormier at a future Real American Freestyle event.
“I have severe arthritis,” Jones said in a video via Home of Fight. “Most people don’t know that. My left hip is covered in arthritis. I actually already qualified for hip replacement. My last training camp I went to bed in so much pain.”
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Since that video became a hot topic of conversation in the MMA community, Jones addressed his condition in an interview with TMZ Sports.
“Looks like a private conversation I had at DBX 5 in Houston made its way out into the wild,” Jones said. “It happens. Like most fighters, we deal with injuries quietly sometimes and like in my case, for years. A lot of us walk around limping most days, paying the ultimate price for our health.”
While Jones’ admission was unwittingly captured on camera, the former UFC two-division champion confirmed that he has battled arthritis in the later stages of his career.
“If you’re wondering whether it’s true, it is. I’m grateful for all my battle scars, and if I could do it all over again, I absolutely would without hesitation. It’s been what I wake up for in my career everyday,” Jones said.
“Even after becoming one of the most accomplished fighters in the history of the sport, my critics still give me grief about slowing down over the past few years. That’s called living to fight another day taking the lessons learned and applying them to business instead of the Octagon. It’s called evolution.”
Not a Secret
Jones hasn’t competed since November 2024, when he defeated Stipe Miocic via third-round TKO in the UFC 309 headliner. After turning down a Tom Aspinall fight and a brief retirement, “Bones” re-entered the drug testing pool in hopes of competing at the UFC White House event. That’s something, despite his apparent physical limitations, that Jones still hopes to achieve.
“The UFC knows the extent of my arthritis,” Jones said. They also know that if I were to put it all on the line one last time and endure that level of pain, the reward would have to be something special and something more than a fat payday. For me, that was and is still the White House.
“Whether that fight happens or not, my career has been one for the ages and nothing short of legendary,” Jones added. “I left a big part of myself in that Octagon, and I’m grateful for every bit of it. And don’t get it twisted, I’ll still kick 99% of your asses out there. Still putting up big numbers under the squat rack. Still training. Still outworking most of you … just maybe after a proper warm-up and a good stretch.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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