While UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ positive drug test for cocaine was revealed several weeks ago, fighters continue to offer their thoughts – and advice – on the incident whenever prompted to.
The latest of these fighters is former UFC tournament winner Royce Gracie, who immediately explained how Jones had failed the countless children who look up to him as a role model.
“Man sometimes these guys forget that they are an example for the crowd. So it’s not just when they do the fighting inside the cage, [but] what they do outside the cage, the way they behave themselves. There’s a lot of young kids looking up to him. You see, he’s an example for the new generation, for the new kids. So he should behave when you’re the example for the new kids.
Although Gracie understands that some have come to Jones’ defence and proclaimed that the drug test was conducted out-of-competition, and that he should not be judged the same way as an athlete taking performance enhancing substances, he simply does not agree with this perception; drugs are drugs.
“I don’t agree with any recreational drugs or any drugs. But sometimes you lose [sight]. He’s the champion. He loses consciousness of how important he is for the young kids, and that’s not the kind of example that I want my son to be looking up to a guy that’s playing around. Well that doesn’t help, but a lot of people are saying “Well that’s just recreational. That’s nothing to do with the fighting business”.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s still illegal. It’s a drug.”
Transcription taken from Submission Radio.
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