(Video via MMAFighting.com)
Considering all the shit he’s taken over the past couple weeks from UFC fans and his boss since the cancelation of UFC 151, it’s actually good to see that light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones is relaxed and in good-spirits during this interview yesterday with Ariel Helwani. Jones has put the ugly recent past behind him, and when he finally gets the chance to have a one-on-one conversation with Dana White — because he hasn’t yet, if you can believe it — he plans to look DW dead in his beet-red face and forgive him. Here’s the transcription via FightOpinion:
JON JONES: “I’m going to say, Dana… you know, I’m just going to tell him that I forgive him, pretty much. I have a general intention of what I want to happen and basically it’s going to based on forgiveness. I’m not expecting him to apologize but I’m moving forward, you know, I’m moving forward and Dana… spoke his mind and, you know, ultimately he can’t take back what happened, I can’t take back what happened. I don’t think he wants to and I don’t want to, so, we’re just going to be men and keep this great journey that we have going. You know, we’re both ambassadors for the UFC and as for not being on the same page, as I said (Tuesday) on Sportscenter it makes no sense for us MMA fans, MMA nation so, uh, you know, I want to do great things and I think having them on my side or working with them and not being known as like, you know, a troublemaker with him will be beneficial for both of us.
ARIEL HELWANI: “How do you forgive someone who hasn’t apologized?”
JON JONES: “You know, I don’t know. I don’t know how that works but I want to try it.”
Yeah, we don’t know how that works either. The thing, I’m actually on Jones’s side here. Sure, he made an unpopular decision by refusing to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice, but he didn’t deserve to be publicly blasted and thrown under the bus by the head of the company. At the very least, Jones and Dana should apologize to each other.
But you know as well as I do that Dana White isn’t in the apology business, or the forgiveness business. He’s in the “you fuck me, I will put you on the fuck-you list for life, you fuck” business. So how will he react if Jones approaches him in the spirit of reconciliation and explains that he forgives Dana for what he put him through? Who knows — but I hope the Danavlog is there to catch the look on his face.