Getty Jon Jones walks to his corner in between rounds against Dominick Reyes in their UFC light heavyweight championship bout during UFC 247 at Toyota Center on February 08, 2020 in Houston, Texas.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was dealt a major blow following his arrest and accusations last month.
“Bones” has been charged with misdemeanor battery domestic violence and injuring or tampering with a vehicle, a felony, following an incident in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Friday, September 24, 2021. To read more about the situation, tap here.
The most damning accusation was that Jones got physical with his fiance, Jessie Moses, in a hotel room, pulling her hair.
And according to Jones’ coach Mike Winkeljohn, Bones won’t be allowed back at his longtime gym until he works on himself. Jones has trained at the Jackson Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for years, helping shape Jones’ success inside the Octagon.
On Wednesday, October 13, 2021, Winkeljohn spoke with Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour” about Jones’ status with the gym.
“I’m very disappointed,” Winkeljohn said via BJPen.com. “It’s tough. The hardest part was when you hear that his daughter says you have to call the police officers. It’s tough from my standing, I’ve got three daughters. I have a wife and three daughters, I teach women’s self-defense called Smart Girls self-defense. It just makes it hard when he keeps getting in trouble. But I just had a conversation with him. I said, ‘Jon, here’s the deal man. You’re like my little brother. You have to stop drinking and fix these things for a certain period of time until you come back to the gym. So at the moment, he’s out of the gym.”
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Winkeljohn Said He ‘Had to Do That’ Even If Jones Ends Up Hating Him for It
According to Winkeljohn, he felt like it was necessary to ban Bones from the gym as he didn’t want to continue ignoring Jones’ history of legal issues.
“He’s not allowed to come into the gym. I felt like I had to do that because ignoring it and expecting different results, as they say, is insanity,” Winkeljohn said. “He’s got a lot of yes people around him that won’t tell him the truth. He might hate me for it, but I had to tell him the truth.”
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Winkeljohn Wished Jones ‘All the Best,’ Complemented His Intelligence & Charisma
During the show, Winkeljohn praised Jones’ fighting IQ and charisma. He also left the door open for a return in the future, wishing the former UFC champion “all the best.”
“But in my heart, God, that guy’s good for greatness,” the coach continued. “And I’m not just talking about fighting. In my heart, I hope Jones comes back and wins the heavyweight title, stops drinking, and goes forward, and goes onto bigger things. Oh my goodness. He’s so charismatic and so damn smart and he can sit down and break down and fights and he can sit down and break down a lot of things in life.
“He’s capable of doing much bigger things than just this MMA world. That’s where we are right now, but we’ll see what happens in the future. I hope him all the best.”
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