Despite going on to arguably become the greatest fighter of all time, there were several times in Jon Jones’ career when he didn’t take it too seriously.
Throughout his career in the UFC, there were many situations where Jon Jones was wrongfully in the limelight because of his actions outside of the Octagon.
And it is because of that why his relationship with UFC boss Dana White was a love hate relationship, with White having admitted on several occasions that ‘Bones’ wasn’t easy to deal with.
His controversial history in the promotion now seems to be affecting his potential comeback to the cage, as even though he is targeting the UFC White House event in 2026, White has stated that he won’t be on the event because he can’t trust him.
Jones stayed out partying until 5am ahead of UFC title fight
Retiring with a relatively unblemished record apart from a disqualification loss to Matt Hamill, Jones clearly found a way to enjoy his life outside of fighting as well as getting the best out of himself.
However, one of the closest times he came to losing in the UFC was when he defended his light heavyweight title against Alexander Gustafsson in 2013.
Having cleared out an entire era of 205lbers, Gustafsson was being widely regarded as his toughest test at the time because of his striking skills.
Despite that, ‘Bones’ clearly wasn’t too threatened by the Swede, as according to security guard turned UFC fighter, Bogdan Guskov, Jones was out partying into the early morning during his fight camp.
At the time, Guskov was working as a security guard in a club in Moscow, and the UFC were in the country to promote the title fight.
“I saw Gustafsson leave at around 10-11pm to get some sleep. Meanwhile, Jon Jones stayed in the club until 5am. He was drunk as f—,” Guskov told Ushatayka.
“At one point, I even saw him and Frank Mir wrestling on the floor – and none of us dared to break it up. Luckily, they were just playing. I was shocked that a fighter of this level could party like that. He drank everything that was at the bar,” Guskov continued.
This wasn’t the first time Jones was out drinking during title reign
Of course, there is no saying that fighters can’t enjoy their lives outside of fighting, however Jones’ track record suggests that maybe it wasn’t a good idea for him.
And this isn’t the first time a UFC fighter has bumped into Jones out drinking as former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling claimed seeing Jones out at a bar changed his mindset on fighting.