Jon Jones’ recent mishaps have been greatly detrimental to his career, in more ways than one. His UFC 200 pull-out alone had major repercussions, including the possibility of no longer headlining a UFC event.
It may seem to be a huge blow for a fighter of Jones’ caliber, but this is not the case, according to his manager Malki Kawa. Speaking to Ariel Helwani during Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, Kawa first reasoned that it was never Jones’ intention to mess up the UFC 200 card.
“It’s the funniest thing ever,” Kawa said (transcript via MMA Mania). “Listen, to be honest with you, it’s funny and my personal opinion, I think it’s ridiculous because at the end of the day, I mean, yes he missed out on UFC 200, and I think the whole situation behind it was stupid and ridiculous.”
“Listen, I always look at everything people do with intent, so if somebody intends to do something, to harm someone, then that makes that person messed up. Jon didn’t intend to cancel UFC 200,” he added. “Listen, we are all sitting here everyday training, cutting weight. We find out Wednesday or Thursday before the fight and no one wanted that to happen.”
Kawa adds that while he understands Dana White’s hesitation in having Jones headline a UFC card, the said move will not be doing that much damage, particularly in the financial aspect.
“So, at the end of the day, when he (Dana White) says ‘I can’t trust him,’ look, I understand what you’re saying from your end because you’re upset, pissed off and I get it, but it is what it is,” Kawa said. “But from our end, if you think you’re going to sell better by saying Jon Jones is a co-main event or it protects you better, then you got to do what you got to do. It doesn’t affect us one way or another financially, he is still going to get pay-per-view points, his money and none of that matters.”
As of the moment, the rematch between Jones and current champion Daniel Cormier is marked for UFC 214 on July 29th in Anaheim, California.
Kawa’s interview begins at the 1:05:35 mark of the video.
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