Some fans were taken aback when Jon Jones confessed to Ariel Helwani in a recent appearance of The MMA Hour that he still indulges in marijuana and alcohol every now and then. One of these people is former opponent of Jones, Chael Sonnen, who was not just surprised by Jones’s confession, but was pleasantly surprised:
“In many ways, I like this,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “I like this for all of the wrong reasons, but I still liked it…from a PR standpoint of telling the truth, of not creating this false, fake, nice-guy image, not trying to pretend to be the scout master or the choir boy and just saying, I’m a regular guy. I work hard at practice. I have my stresses, and this is how I go let my hair down.”
Chael Sonnen has criticized Jones a lot as of late, but in this instance, Sonnen is giving Jones credit for improving in an area he believes has often been an area of criticism for him: portraying an authentic image of himself:
“All I’m speaking of from that statement was the candidness,” Sonnen continued. “And even if that’s not great or you want to preach and talk down to Jon Jones, go right ahead. He gave you the ammunition to do it. But from a PR standpoint of setting expectations and letting everybody know, ‘This is what I do…” and I’m not Mr. Perfect. I would just like to be judged on my athletic performances because I’ve been introduced and exposed to this world for my athletic performances…and if we could just keep our eye on that and leave me alone about what I do in my off time,’ I thought he was rather effective.”
Do you agree with Chael Sonnen? Was Jon Jones’s honesty about his marijuana and alcohol use a case of refreshing honesty?
