Jon Jones has thrown his support behind Ilia Topuria in the wake of Topuria’s lightweight title defeat to Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250 in June.
Topuria lost the championship bout by Round 4 doctor’s stoppage TKO after sustaining significant damage to both eyes, a result that has sparked debate about how he will recover. Paddy Pimblett is cited as believing Topuria will not be the same after the punishment he absorbed.
Jones, however, expressed belief that the Spanish-Georgian contender is well-equipped to come back strong. “Ilia's going to be in a good position,” Jones said. “He has faith, he has a strong team, and that's a lot of what it takes. He has a work ethic. I think he's honest with himself. Ilia and I, we share the same agent, and we were talking about him earlier today. What I heard is that he is humble, that he is honest, he realizes that he just didn't perform well.”
The former longtime champion pointed to personal accountability as the key ingredient for a successful return. “I think that's the No. 1 step of getting back into the ring in a healthy way. It's the guys that make excuses, that's when it's hard to come back and win that rematch. Guys who just say, 'You know what, I could have did better. I could have did more.' Honesty with yourself is the key to MMA. Knowing exactly who you are, what you've done, what you haven't done. You can't lie once you get in that cage. What's real will come to the light.”
Jones, whose lone professional MMA blemish is a disqualification against Matt Hamill in a fight he was dominating, also reflected on navigating success and setbacks throughout his own career. He acknowledged, “I have fallen victim to all things that a young athlete can; the partying, the getting in trouble, all of it,” but credited his inner circle for keeping him on track.
“But in my situation, I had a team that always held me to a high standard, and they never let me get discouraged by my downfalls. They always just encouraged me to just keep moving forward. One of my head coaches, Greg Jackson, would always tell me, 'Jon, potential is the worst thing to waste. When you know you have a talent and you can do something, you owe it to the sport and to greatness to give it your all.' I always say, making it to the UFC is fairly easy. Staying in the UFC is very hard. Staying UFC champion is almost impossible. So I'm really honored and blessed for being able to do what I did in the sport.”
