Following his brawl at the MGM Grand with future opponent Daniel Cormier, UFC Light Heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, told the Nevada State Athletic Commission that the brawl caused him to lose his endorsement with Nike. It turns out that wasn’t the true story, or at least the full story.
During a recent UFC 182 media conference call, Jones admitted that he may have worded things incorrectly.
“When I was in front of the commission, I definitely worded it wrong. Nike did not drop me because of that fight and I kind of owe an apology to Nike for saying they dropped me because of the fight. They actually didn’t. Nike has been known to support its athletes through much worse things than a brawl in the middle of MGM.”
Jones also said that he no longer wished to be affiliated with Nike, due to the fact that they were planning on removing themselves from the MMA sphere.
“I said, ‘You know what, if you guys aren’t too serious about martial arts, then I don’t want to be a part of the company. Hopefully, I can respectfully leave.
It was already official. Everybody at headquarters knew. My team knew that I wasn’t gonna do my third year with Nike. And then we got into the brawl.
The truth of the matter is, I did not get dropped by Nike. It was a mutual thing, something we had discussed months before the actual fight.”