Usually when the Jon Jones’s name appears in headlines in connection to his personal life, fans of the fighter may undergo an increase in heart rate and click the link with tension. If you are one of those fans, you can breathe easy and smile, even, as the former light heavyweight champion himself had a wide smile on his face himself as he signed inside the notebooks of his donated backpacks of the children at Robert F. Kennedy Charter Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. On Instagram, Jones wrote:
“It takes a village. This I know to be true. The city of Albuquerque has been incredible to me and my family and shown tremendous support to me throughout my career, but I haven’t always given it back. That changes now. I know a lot of people in this community struggle to get by and I’m taking steps to help. I’m donating backpacks filled with the complete list of school supplies to Robert F. Kennedy Charter Middle School. Change is never easy but I’m learning what it takes to make a difference.”
Jones certainly seems to be in high spirits these days as the status of his UFC career remains in limbo as he awaits his USADA hearing stemming from the failed drug test in connection to his UFC 214 fight against Daniel Cormier, which is now officially listed as a no contest. Last Sunday, Jones reflected on where his spirits have been on what was the one-year anniversary of his second bout with Daniel Cormier:
“Time has a way of putting things into perspective,” Jones posted on Instagram. “To go from the spotlight to darkness, and have everything taken away from me again was a hardship the public will never truly understand. It bent me but did not break me and I had to learn to fight in a different way.”
“I’ve spent the last year living right and getting healthy, but much of that work was spent correcting and repairing my mental space,” he wrote. “Call it weakness if you will but even the toughest individuals need assistance getting back on track. I’ll be back, and when I am it will be a more complete version than the world has ever seen. You have to turn the lemons life gives you into lemonade, and you have to take time to sit back and enjoy it. The struggles don’t define you. It’s how you handle them that determines who you are.”
Jones has handled his struggles by attempting to shine a light of positivity not only for his fans and followers, but for the children of Robert F. Kennedy Charter Middle School.
Do you believe Jon Jones has grown as a person?
