LAS VEGAS – Did Jon Jones lie to the Nevada Athletic Commission?
That question made the rounds in recent days, after Jones said during Monday’s UFC 182 press conference that Nike did not terminate his endorsement contract because of his brawl with Daniel Cormier in August at the MGM Grand.
That seemed to contradict his testimony under oath during a NAC hearing on the matter in Las Vegas Sept. 23, in which he claimed he lost his landmark deal with Nike because of the scuffle.
On Wednesday, Jones clarified his comments, saying that he did in fact lose quite a bit of money on the deal because of the Jones brawl. And while he might have misspoke, he did not intend to deceive the commission.
“The fight sped up the process of my losing my Nike deal,” Jones said. “I had like thousands of dollars of credit left on my Nike account that I never got to spend. I had several months of monthly revenue money that I never got to receive … So I lost several thousand dollars because of that fight, so technically that fight was the reason for thousands of dollars being out of my bank that I couldn’t receive. So technically, there’s, they have nothing to come back on me for.”
Jones’ deal with Nike, signed in 2012, was the first major sports apparel sponsorship for the mixed martial artist.