Jon Jones opens up on traffic incident, why he feels let down

UFC pound for pound kingpin Jon Jones has had his share of legal troubles, however he feels that the recent traffic stop which landed him in jail for 3 days was unnecessary.

Jones was ultimately released from jail and ordered to complete anger management courses, as well as driver awareness classes. In addition, Jones must now get permission from his probation officer before driving anywhere.

The pound for pound kingpin spoke to MMAJunkie ahead of his UFC 197 interim light heavyweight title fight against OSP, to discuss why he feels he was profiled by the officer, and how he is still able to look for something positive in the situation.

“I’ve watched it quite a few times,” said Jones. “And I feel as if that officer, I think the moment he saw my face, he knew he was going to be giving me a hard time. I don’t know how to feel about it. I just feel like the guy really took advantage of his power, and it really hurt to be in that situation because I went to school to be a police officer, and I actually do have a lot of respect for law enforcement. But individuals like Officer Brown really, that’s the type of people who turn citizens away from being supporters.”

“Being in jail, it hurt me, being in there. I felt as if I was really let down by this officer in this situation. The system really let me down in this one. I’m not blaming them for anything. I definitely caused a lot of my own heartache, but in this situation, I really feel as if I was profiled and picked on.

“Three days in jail for revving my engine – and now I have all these terms and conditions of my probation, all for revving my engine. I feel let down. But I’m a very optimistic person, and I always try to find the good in everything that happens in my life.”

Jones continued:

“I think one of the biggest things driving me is I think my fans know that one thing about Jon Jones, or my friends know, is that I’m resilient. I try to represent ‘resilient.’ Never quitting. Vitor Belfort almost broke my arm. I continued to fight through that fight. Alexander Gustafsson had me bleeding, had me losing regular rounds, then the championship rounds, I pulled it together and dominated. Getting in trouble with the law and just continuing to move forward. Things I’ve been through in my childhood, things I’ve been through in my life, growing up the way I grew up, me knowing my own story, I’ve always moved forward, and I want people to be encouraged. Struggling with drug addiction, now being sober and owning it, kicking sobriety’s ass. I want to represent never giving up, no matter what.

“We all are resilient. We’re all stronger than what we think. Mind over matter. So yeah, I just feel like at the end of the day, when I win my belt back, it’s going to be that much sweeter because of all I went through to get there.”