Maybe that’s where they snort all that Chinese cocaine.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, gets special treatment. I think most mixed martial arts (MMA) fans knew that already. But just how special? Well, consider that Dana White and Co. moved an entire pay-per-view (PPV) event to accommodate his drug-testing needs.
Yes, Corey Anderson is still pissed (and I don’t blame him).
Even knowing all of that, it still came as a surprise to learn that UFC will actually shut down the new state-of-the art Performance Center — regardless of whether or not a fighter has an existing reservation — once “Bones” comes to Las Vegas to train.
“I’m getting ready to go to the P.I., I’m packing my bags and I get a call. ‘Oh, you can’t come to the P.I., Jon just came in and he wants to work out, so we’re closing the gym down, and you’re not allowed,” Anderson told UFC Color Commentator Joe Rogan. “Ya’ll called me two months ago and told me to set my schedule to come ahead of time, I’m literally getting ready to walk to my Uber that’s outside, and you’re saying I can’t come now? They’re like ‘Sorry, nothing we can do, it’s Jon.’”
“It’s the same thing when Conor’s there,” Anderson continued. “When I’m there in the summer and Conor shows up, they tell everybody, ‘You gotta leave, Conor’s here.’ You walk out and Conor’s got his car parked up on the sidewalk. They have security block the stairs off and everything. You’re not allowed to go up there. You can go to the cardio room and the weights, but you can’t go upstairs with the cage and the bag and stuff. They have security blocking the stairs so you can’t go up there.”
“That’s the first time I ever cursed at a UFC employee,” Anderson said. “I was going off. ‘You want me to change my whole workout schedule, it’s fight week, I’m cutting weight too, it’s not just Jon. I need to go in and get a workout, my coaches are meeting me there from the airport. ‘We can’t do nothing about it Corey,’ the guy kept hanging up, I was going off.”
Here’s a sample of Joe Rogan’s non-screaming reactions during Anderson’s account:
“Whaaaat? Really? You had to leave? C’mon!”
“Get the fuck outta here! Ewwwwwww, that’s gross!”
“What the fuck is that about?”
“That’s not my people, I’m an independent contractor, sir.”
“That is ridiculous!”
If Jones is involved, then yes, it’s probably ridiculous.
Following a dreadful 2017 fight campaign, one that saw Anderson get finished in back-to-back fights, “Overtime” got back on track by rattling off three straight wins, including his UFC 232 decision victory over Ilir Latifi. And the best way to end all that special treatment for Jones … is to end Jones.
Anyone think Anderson will be the man to do it?