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UFC Figher Jon Jones Confesses To Being Pot Addict

LAS VEGAS, NV - JANUARY 03: Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones waits in a timeout as he defends his title against Daniel Cormier during the UFC 182 event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on January 3, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jones retained his title by unanimous decision.

Being the top ranked UFC fighter in the light heavyweight category doesn’t go hand in hand with marijuana abuse, but Jon Jones announced that he suffers from marijuana addiction. He called himself a drug addict and has been smoking pot since he was in high school and all the way through his professional fighting career. “It was literally what I would do in between fights,” Jones said. “I was just sitting, enjoying life and thinking that I was a hippie. I didn’t feel I was hurting anyone else, didn’t feel I was being a bad person.”

He continued, “It became who I enjoyed being. I thought I was preserving myself from all the negatives and evil of the world. I would pop out of my cave for fights.”

His record inside the octagon is 21-1-0 with nine KO’s and six submissions. He is 6’4”, 205 pounds and has an 84” reach.

Though most people don’t think of weed when it comes to addiction, the problem still exists. A study given the seal of approval by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), says that about 9 percent of people who use the drug will become abusers.

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If the scope includes marijuana dependence, the rate might be higher than 20 percent, at 4.5 million users.

Jones has had a few other incidents out of the octagon. In 2012, he drove under the influence, plowing his car into a pole. Before UFC 182 in early 2015, Jones failed a cocaine test but still fought and beat Daniel Cormier.

Then in April 2015, he was involved in a hit-and-run in Albuquerque and pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. He was sentenced to 18 months of supervised probation and the lapse cost him the UFC light heavyweight title. The company’s chiefs stripped away the belt, following their policy. Jones can avoid a felony charge if he completes an extensive program involving community service and charity work.

He still feels as though he can redeem himself in the public eye and get back on track in his fighting career, not that it derailed much anyway. “A rough beginning doesn’t have to mean there is a rough end. I’m ready to be the best me I can be,” he said. In that case, watch out UFC.