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got a publicist with you huh no didn't yeah she want she didn't want me to do this without at least definitely don't chew that on on the Air Boom we're live people going to get mad at you chewing that on the air I'm hearing it right now they like God damn it Jon Jones almost finished you had all this time almost finished you're going to finish that [ __ ] thing that's that's an athlete that's someone who works out a lot there's like there's there's imperatives right you got to get that food in there nutrition

is key it is key but that's [ __ ] what are you eating what is that a kind bar thing that's [ __ ] oh it is but is that a good one is that one ones with the five grams of sugar or one of them caramel fake candy bar type cies yeah five gram of sugar definitely a little closer to that J Jones how you doing brother I'm on the road you know okay I understand I got to get you some stuff to bring with you man bring some good ones you ever uh you

ever [ __ ] with that guy uh um Primal kitchen his uh his stuff he's got some great stuff I I'll give you some before you leave I love to try it yeah you're doing the number one thing that people get mad at on this podcast when we do fight Companion podcast is chewing people get furious so s there's something about being in someone's ear like my daughter was in my ear last night and she was chewing she was trying to sit on my lap and she was chewing in my ear and I'm like this

should not be bothering me like why is this bothering me I was having an internal dialogue I'm like honey you're eating in my ear and T's like what do you give a [ __ ] so I'm eating in your ear I'm your baby you [ __ ] I you give a [ __ ] how old was your kid uh that this one that was on my lap of six a how many my youngest I have three oh great I got a 20 I got an eight I got a six 20y old yeah wow yeah good

for you how many you got I have four whoa John Jones yep eight I uh 9 eight six and three all girls it's crazy right y I want to son so bad Jeremy stev says it's the Fighter's curse I've heard that yeah bad asses get all girls Mark Coleman all girls yep think Don Fry's got all girls yeah I want his son so there's a surgery that you can do um where I guess they take uh my semen and they take out all the girl um like all the girl hormones or whatever chromosomes injected into

the wife gives you like a 90 something per chance of getting a little boy really uhhuh is that legit have you Googled it uh I've heard a lot about it I haven't Googled it but if it's a possibility I think we're going in that direction for the next one yeah see that's one of those things that I would Google I would make sure that it's not some horeshit created by some dude who just wants to collect your sperm I feel like I think I heard Kanye did that to get a boy the second time oh

yeah and Kim yeah I don't know I obviously going to look into it uh extensively before even trying to go in that direction but that's the plan hopefully it's real wouldn't you think in some way now I'm not really too much of a spiritual well I can't I wouldn't say I'm spiritual but I don't believe in I don't how do I phrase this would you worry that you would anger the gods by trying to [ __ ] with DNA that's so funny that that's a great question so I I actually thought that you know cuz

obviously I'm a religious guy um I thought that my theory has always been God is going to give me a son when I am mature enough to raise a man to teach a man how to be a man so that was always my thing and I felt like um I felt like God was waiting for me to get married before uh given me and my fiance this boy that's deep and yeah that that was my whole Theory I was just like when I'm mature enough and you know and when we're married you know God feels

like we're in this good place he's going to give us a boy and then I'm thinking you know but if we have another girl that trial in erir is so expensive that's 18 more years of raising some another girl you know so cuz me and my wife already had three um I call her my wife my fiance she's pretty much my wife for being together forever um so I'm like I don't want to risk I don't want to risk but you you think about it in terms of a Financial Risk I I can afford to

have a thousand kids you know what I'm saying like what are you doing people but that's something that like gets ingrained in your head people always say that oh the cost of raising kids and you start thinking about man that cost to raise kids it's more the time yes that time that you know you got to put in like you know you're raising another little girl it's all TR in air so I'm thinking let's just put a little science in there and wow I feel like I feel like God gives people the intelligence to come

up with uh uh these ideas and and these different you know surgeries or whatever to be able to you get what I'm saying like M God giv someone the the idea to be able to do this so maybe he's okay with you choose a boy or girl well they didn't have the foresight when they were writing the Bible to take out genetic diversity testing or whatever the [ __ ] they're doing what what would they be doing like some sort of DNA chromosomal Jazz I don't know what they're doing I don't know I don't know

what the process is but yeah well people I mean wouldn't you say personally that like people who are religious almost all of them sort of pick and choose what they decide to agree with and not agree with I mean you're a religious person but you have a tattoo right of you have a religious tattoo which is double ironic because it says in the Bible not to get tattooed right not to mess with the temple right but then you got to pick and choose right what you want to listen to yeah it's not the way it's

supposed to go either but you know we're imperfect and he knows that do you think when we were talking about like um wanting to wait until or that God would give you this opportunity when you were more mature when you're mature enough to raise a man do you do you think about that like man why do I have to wait like why am I not mature right enough right now like if if I can internalize that and if I can understand that like what is the difference between me in the future when I am mature

enough to have a man and me right now like why why have I not learned the enough lessons why have I not why have I not balanced myself out enough I feel like I I'm learning lessons every year you know every month every day I feel like I'm growing as a person as a man but I only I know about some demons that I still struggle with and and I feel as if when I'm over those um I'll feel I'll feel ready to be able to raise a man and teach a man how to be

a proper man but you don't feel like you're over those yet no you're in the middle of it you're in the struggle um yeah definitely kind of still in the struggle of of of of some things you know but um but I've definitely got over a lot of things that I that I used to struggle with which I'm excited about but you know life is is a it's a work in progress well you were telling me before the show that you like you don't do Instagram anymore you're not doing anything you're just sort of laying

low you're not doing any interviews so like before you were about to do this you're like oh [ __ ] I haven't done anything like this in a while yeah yeah the main reason why I I decided to come on your show was um I'm getting ready to do this grappling match against Dan Henderson on the 11th and um there's going to be a lot of media surrounding it and there's a lot of you know I got to do like a onh hour phoner with a bunch of different uh media guys and then there's a

a few reporters that's going to be there physically to to do some interviews with me and uh I feel like there's kind of just like a lot of things kind of untalked about and that you know people are just wondering how I'm feeling and what I'm what I've been up to and stuff like that and I I didn't want to have to answer the same exact questions over and over for a thousand people so I was just like you know what Joe Rogan has a lot of respect amongst the MMA Community you know his foll

goes obvious beyond the MMA Community he's a smart guy and I was just like you know I'd rather let me just talk with Joe about kind of everything and get it out of the way um but yeah outside of uh this this interview with you I have not really done anything publicly uh since July when UFC 200 was canceled you've been on a crazy ride just not just through July but for the last couple of years you've been you been involved in a lot of crazy [ __ ] you know mhm what are you have

you are you disappointed in yourself with a lot of this stuff I am I totally am I totally am yeah what does it feel like like like like like give me the thought like we can go through all of them but give me the thought like probably the most I was disappointed in you and I love you as a person I think you're a great guy I love you too Gio thanks I really do I've always had a good time hanging out with you but I was very disappointed with you with that car accident thing

when you ran away from that car accident that to me was like God damn John's in a bad place yeah it was it I was in a bad place it was a it was a messed up situation man I literally I in a point of my life then when I was winning all these fights I was uh the it boy in the UFC um sponsored by Nike and Gatorade and you know greatest of all time finishing Legends after Legend after Legend um just really in this position where I felt so untouchable and I just felt

like I just felt like everything was meant to go my way in that that time in my life um um started to I was obvious I was smoking pot you know majority of my career drinking me too [ __ ] maybe it's happen to me drinking you know every weekend pretty much you know to the point of blacking out just blacking out yeah just just being Hammer you know and just being a total party boy but still um still training my butt off you know I'm working really hard believing really hard I had big goals

Big Dreams uh but just being a party boy and uh I think I just took everything that I had for granted because everything for the majority of my career has gone my way and um that that morning I got in a car accident man I just it was it was just it was it was a huge reality check and it was you know I think in some people's mind they they envisioned me you know hitting this car and running up and seeing that it was a pregnant lady and then taking off running and then people

said that I came back and grabbed a load of money which is the stupidest thing ever why would a millionaire need to grab cash right unless did you run back to the car so I literally I I went through a light um it was like a green light that said that I could turn left but you supposed to yield for the right away right to to turn left and um um person came through and I I just assumed it was my green light to go obviously being um not completely clear-headed and and I ended up

running into a car um I was definitely disoriented um disoriented from the accident from the accident for sure just kind of like what the hell just happened it was a really big hit um but I was fine I had no injuries and I just felt like well maybe it wasn't that bad of a hit so I literally um step out of the car and I realized like seconds later I realized my Bull's in the car so your bowl my bow my yeah my my my yeah my pot Bowl pot pot yeah and I wasn't smoking

weed in the car or anything like that but it was in the car but my bull was the head residue was in the car so I literally I open my car door I like take two steps away from the car and then I go back to the car and I I like searched the the car cuz I had it in my cup holder and when I hit the bull fell somewhere who knows where it flew to but I knew I knew [ __ ] like if I can't find that bull that's going to get me

in trouble just having a bow in my car so I looked for like 2 seconds couldn't find the bow and I just took off running um did you look at the other person in the other car no I had no clue that it was a woman I had no clue that it was a pregnant woman um how much time were we talking about like from the time literally the from the time that I hit I had I had I I was over a fence probably 8 seconds later it was it was literally a super reactionary

like just I just felt I hadn't been home yet I stayed at a friend's house I wasn't drinking and driving you know my decision was to sleep at my friend's house because I knew I couldn't drive home he woke up early the next morning to go to work and he's like John feel free to stay here and uh you know you can make yourself breakfast or whatever whatever and uh the guy has a family he has a wife and he has a newborn baby and I didn't want to stay at his house while he's at

work so I was just like no I think I'm okay but really I had maybe like two hours of sleep and um I didn't realize that I was still wasn't ready to drive so um you know I wake up and get in my car and uh you know I just wasn't ready to drive or whatnot but um why didn't you look at the other car because it all happened so fast yeah sorry yeah so it all happened so fast and um I just knew I was uh I knew I smelt like alcohol and um I

just felt like if the police came I it would be a bad situation for me and and um I just thought the person that I hit had to have been okay because I was totally okay I was like maybe this Collision wasn't that hard um so I just feel like in a lot of people's minds they see me as like uh I knew it was this woman I saw this woman hanging out the window crying and bleeding or something like that and like I just chose the lever and and I I didn't know what I

hit I didn't know if I hit a truck I didn't know if I hit a a punch bug I didn't know what it was that I hit I just knew it was another vehicle but you didn't even look no I didn't look no no clue and I didn't go back for cash but it doesn't make uh it doesn't make uh what I did okay the fact that you know I didn't go back for cash and I really went back for my bull that's that's no better right um whole situation was just a shitty situation I

was in a I was in a really bad point in my life taking like I said everything for granted if you wanted to have a a situation come up with just like worst case scenario that is the worst case scenario pregnant woman oh yeah it makes me look like a Monster yeah it makes me look like a monster when you found out as a pregnant woman what was what was going through your mind I I thought man I am I'm done I'm done first I was afraid that there would be some type of uh problems

with her baby because you know obviously if she had a a difficult pregnancy then that's that's a whole different level of uh being in trouble um God forbid if she was having miscarriage um you know I would imagine that that would be 1,000% put on me so I thought about the fact that I went from just partying and enjoying this career and this amazing fairy tale life um I went from I thought I was going from that to like literally being in jail being labeled as a murderer so that was my that was my number

one um thing was just hoping that the baby was okay what what about what were you thinking about yourself like when you did that when you r i mean there's no way you could be happy with yourself that you did that I felt terrible what were you thinking well I I uh me and my mom have a great relationship I'm a mom's boy um um and then I'm the father of four daughters so um you know if anything my my my respect for for women is is I have tremendous respect for women and I I

try to like uh obviously being a father I like I try to I just felt like a monster I felt like a monster you know what I mean um I just felt terrible I felt I felt really bad I was just I was mainly just concerned with this woman's health and safety and and I'm really glad that she ended up being okay I felt really bad I was just like dude even in the Public's eyes like you just heard a pregnant woman like doesn't really get worse than that but but yeah you know I had

no clue I had no clue that it was even a woman that I hit and I felt terrible and what was the what was not just the what was the reaction from your family and friends um you know surprisingly it was it was okay you know um they they they support me so much and they love me so much and they know that you know that I have a really uh I believe I have a good heart they know that I have a good heart um and they just they were just thinking man like did

anybody step in and say hey man you got to get your [ __ ] together oh I've had I've had a lot of people tell me I need to get my [ __ ] together and what was it about like what besides that uh what do you mean like besides this one instance what other things have people come to you and said hey John you got to get your [ __ ] together um well kind of all of it everything that's happened over the last you know two years or what not uh makes people feel

like they can tell me that I need to get my [ __ ] together I I recently I recently um went outside to my garage my garbage man was coming up and I was late get one the garbage out to the side of the road so he waited for me and he even told me he was like he was dping my garbage and he was like Hey man like I'm waiting to see you fight again like you really need to get it together I'm like man this dud parked outside of my my little mansion pretty

much telling me to get my [ __ ] together taking out my like everybody feels like they have the right to tell me to get my [ __ ] together um and at the end of the day you know I I sit there and I humbly take it because they're right uh yeah they're right but at the same time you know how many [ __ ] there are in this in the world you know what I mean like so many people uh are into all types of crazy [ __ ] yeah but you can't compare

yourself to the The Losers of the losers I know what you're talking about you say hey well compared to dudes like to go out and goats I'm fine exactly who knows what weird [ __ ] this guy's in he's telling me to get my [ __ ] together it's like just cuz my shit's publicly don't mean you're any better than I am that's true but you know what that that conflict is never ending and you can't get involved in it like that that conflict that you're starting up in your own brain right now it's it's

a rationalization conflict you start rationalizing your behavior versus well a lot of other people do worse well a lot of that is a dead end that's a bad road that a lot of people go down to make themselves feel better right the only thing that can make you feel better is to be Pure or to be clean together yeah because like if someone comes up to me and says hey man you've been ripping off old ladies and stealing money from the church I'd be like what the [ __ ] are you talking about it doesn't

make any sense that's not true at all so if someone says something to you that's rude that's not true it doesn't have any impact on you but when someone says something to you that's rude but true then you have to rationalize then you have to go well what about you man what's going on with your life maybe you're into some dark [ __ ] you know right that's a d that's a bad Road and it's a it's a defensive Road and as a fighter it's a natural instinct somebody hits you you want to hit them

back you know somebody attacks you you will yeah well what about your weaknesses and you want to try to search them out and I'm sure a lot of people go through that when they read social Med media and they see these Anonymous eggs on Twitter saying mean [ __ ] to you you start thinking I want to know who this [ __ ] guy is and what's going on in his [ __ ] life that is a trap man that's a trap well you know um like I said I do respectfully take it like I've

never had someone say Hey you know get it together John and then I sit there and be like oh what you know I always I always you know you know thank you so much for caring thank you so much for you know rooting for me still and and I really appreciate it and I'm working at it and and I I seriously have been working on my personal life tremendously and as of right now I feel I feel amazing I feel better now today than I did when I was uh beating everybody's ass and you know

sponsored by the world and and like I I literally feel better today because I I feel like I've conquered a lot of demons in my personal life main you feel better meaning you feel more at peace you feel more calm more at peace you know like not worried about social media all the time like that that has brought a lot of peace to me not worried about what people are saying not even worrying about what's going on in the UFC like who has the build or or or you know just just just being Jonathan Jones

and having my my group of friends um across the country who genu like uh genuinely love me um focusing on on my kids every day you know taking my girls to Che and practice picking them up from school dropping them off at school basic stuff like me me and fiance um you know being just living life being on top of stuff yeah being on top of stuff you know I got man no debts you know everything's caught up everything's everything's spot on you know things I wanted to get fixed around the house you know that

paint chip is painted now you know everything's just everything's going everything is so put together right now in my life um outside of sports and and uh obviously haven't having the clear mind something that I haven't had in a long time you know I just feel I just feel really good right now so um as far as and then and then also being in a position where I don't really need to fight again either you know what I mean financially mean financially but don't you though don't you though in your mind oh yeah I I

have to fight because I have to fight because the story can't end like this yeah well it's like the financial thing is beautiful and everything like that it's wonderful that you're set for life and you can just kick back and your children will be taken care of and your wife will be taken care of that's all beautiful but you have a responsibility of greatness there's there's very few people that ever get to the position that you not just were in when you won the title when you were the youngest ever UFC heavyweight or light heavyweight

champion not just that the youngest ever UFC champion not not just that there's there's also responsibility that comes with potential right it's not it's not just like what you've done and you know it's what you could have done right you you fought Alexander gipson be honest about that how much did you train for that fight I trained I trained for the fight but but I um I definitely I I had this thing where I just felt invincible and uh I did a lot of wild stuff leading up to the fight I definitely didn't give it

my all as far as partying and not sleeping right M partying dring drinking staying up all night yeah yeah I mean when you win a fight like that where you weren't 100% does that sort of almost reinforce this idea that you could do anything you want and then man imagine if I trained next time if it's someone big I'll train like so I have this I'm going to share something with I'm not sure if I've ever shared this with anyone else before but I had this crazy thing that I would do um where I would

party one week before every fight and I did it throughout my whole career and uh and this was stupid but it was this mental crutch that I had I literally would one week before every fight I would go out and I would get blacked out wasted and my logic was if this guy were to beat me somehow um I I can look myself in the mirror and say that well I lost because I got hammered the week before the fight so so it was a built-in safety net it was a safety net yeah exactly so

I did it my whole career I I would go out and get hammered one week before every fight have you ever worked with sport psychologist no but now but now I don't U my um my open St per fight was the first fight that I did not do that it was my worst performance so I I don't think it was your worst performance I think you were very unjustly criticized for that fight because I think oen St PR is a very tough guy he's a very difficult fighter he's very strong he's got a brutal left

kick he's athletic he moves well I believe it was a good performance but it was still my worst performance see I think think oven St pu is a really tough guy and it was a tough fight and you hadn't fought in a long time you were off for how long how many months 16 months or something um yeah it was it was over a year yeah it was a long time over a year had a lot of stuff going yeah lot pressure you're fighting a guy who' been pretty active and fought some good guys had

a great victory over Shogun and looked real good in a lot of his fights and was an upand Comer main thing about ovin that really bothered me was um he was he was the most um well he was seasoned he actually has been fighting longer than I have a lot of people don't realize that but he was just so um green and raw still like skill wise skill-wise like I I don't um I study everybody extensively and then I come up with their patterns um I figure out the way they Flinch I figure out their

first favorite punch their second favorite punch their third their favorite combinations their setups to their takedowns when they clinch what side of their head's going to be literally everything I know everything about every opponent what side they're going to shoot whether it's going to be a head inside head outside what am I going to do about that you know I figure out everything why they shoot where what area of the cage they like to shoot everything um and uh with oven St PR he he he he doesn't know what he's going to do he's he's

so um unorthodox unorthodox um you know and he gets these random Knockouts from these weird angles and he just Wings St he almost closes his eyes and next thing you know he's knocked somebody out you know so the scary thing about him was uh he's so unpredictable uh and so and I had a lot on the line um so I just said you know what this guy is uh he's in a shell pretty much the whole fight he was Defensive the whole fight and uh and I just thought I I coose through the fight um

and not really risk anything uh which I felt like I let myself down because um normally I would just I mean normally when you get someone like that you just you know take him out you know you should I should have just been able to take him out but I was content with winning and I think that was I think that was one of the first fights where I actually just wanted to get the win get my money go back to uh what I my actual goal which was DC um instead of um wanting to

finish this guy like normal so I had to really question I really questioned myself on why um why I was like that why I was content with coasting well that was a fight where you that had the most pressure on you and any fight you've had before as far as like people wanting to see how you respond to the adversity outside of the Octagon right right I agree I agree I had a lot of pressure and I feel like I responded great to my adversity you know I I did all the things I had to

do to get back to um get back to uh the stage you know I handled all my probation obligations and and um and I I stayed healthy I started powerlifting and I hired a nutritionist I looked better than ever I felt better than ever physically um I did everything I had to do I manned up and and and was responsible for my actions yeah was it Greg Jackson that thought that the powerlifting might had a bit of an effect on on your performance he thought that you were doing too much of that yeah well I

was doing too much of it so um I literally I started powerlifting um and I took off seven months of martial arts training I didn't show up to Jackson for seven months and I I showed up to this place called Zia strength systems um powerlifting gym um um four days a week just getting jacked getting jacked I became I became obsessed with lifing heavyweight and I literally did no martial arts training and then about four months out from uh the fight I started to come into the room a little bit more and then only three

months before the fight did I actually start a training camp now why why did you do that as far as like cardio and things like that wouldn't you think that your cardio would dramatically suffer from just lifting weights oh I I did a lot I had a lot of weight to lose cuz I had gotten big and I uh I actually did a lot of um a lot of cardio training but I was also I had these new coaches new strength and conditioning coaches who specialized in powerlifting so I had to almost we had to

come up with a plan together of how we were going to start not weightlifting and doing all cardio and even at the beginning stages it was like okay well let's just lift lighter weights more and I was like no no no I need like cardio cardio and so it was just a big learning thing that we had to do together so these guys were they were they involved in martial arts at all these uh my power powerlifting coaches no no they weren't so but and they were giving you advice about martial arts training so they're

like sort of learning on the job yeah kind of learning on the job but they weren't giving me advice about martial arts training they they um it was just a learning curve I don't think they had ever worked with a an endurance athlete the way that I am and so um mostly they work with football players or powerlifters they work with a Philadelphia Eagle and a lot of powerlifters yeah um but these guys to their credit they were really humble and they they listen and they were able to and they quickly adjusted what we were

doing every day to make it more about um endurance and not about maintaining muscle or strength and things like that and and I I feel like I got in really good shape with these guys so and now we're at a place um because I'm still working with these samees guys now now we're at a place where um we realize the importance of endurance and we're going to start way farther out and and like I said these guys are humble enough to do what I need them to do is put me through some strous workouts that

I think are a great idea make sure my endurance is in the right place so other than the fact that you did so much strength and conditioning or so much powerlifting what else was like what did you feel when you got into the Octagon when you fought over in same PR did you feel stronger did you feel like your endurance had been diminished slightly because of all this power lifting well um like so so like I was saying I I took off seven months of martial arts and then I did a three-month camp and so

if you like anything if you take off seven months of anything your your game is going to change a little bit so literally throughout my training camp I found myself trying to get learn how to fight again pretty much I felt like timing was off my timing was off my creativity was off the things that the go-to moves that I used to do weren't quite there um I would watch some of my old training practices or my old fights and I'm like man I'm not doing this stuff that I was doing before um so I

was really nervous going into the I knew that I was ready to beat DC because I was so well rehearsed and like the the the drills and everything were so well rehearsed to beat DC but um as far as going in the fight with open St PR um I just felt like my creativity was kind of gun my ability to improvise or wasn't quite there and that was just from taking off so much time uh from martial arts so in the fight with oen st PR um I felt really strong I felt really really strong

like picking him up against the cage and and and uh taking them down felt effortless um as opposed to the way you used to feel you felt stronger I felt I felt really strong yeah stronger um what else um endurance felt good it felt good it wasn't as sharp um as normal like uh a few times when when I took him down um I remember I wound up in a punch and I threw a big punch and then I wound up and then I hit hit him again in DC said it was in back of

the head which it wasn't it was on the neck um but I was throwing big shots on ens instead of throwing uh a whole bunch of shots and that was because I was feeling lactic acid in my arms so um so that kind of made me nervous that I I didn't have the normal level of endurance that I normally have do you think that's because you had more muscle bulk I think it was yeah I think it is because I more muscle but on the bright side um and not that this is a good thing

to to injure someone but I did break or fracture his arm with a kick and that's something that I I've never done before so that showed me that definitely came that has to be connected to just developing so much uh Power in my hips and in my legs it's a point of it's there's like a balancing Tipping Point right where it's like strength versus endurance and trying to find that perfect line right and right now as as I sit here today I'm I'm uh I'm using my past experience and you know to measure what I'm

doing uh as we speak so right now I'm strong as hell um but my endurance is actually in a really good place right now and I'm not fighting until July so I'm figing out right now as we speak when you got really big were you doing that were you thinking hey you know one day I'm going to fight heavyweight let's see what I would be like as a heavyweight you know I didn't know I didn't know what I was going to do at that point um I just I just needed something to be passionate about

um something to be competitive about while you were suspended while I was suspended yeah and you know I I I went through a real self-destructive state right after the car accident and then um how so I just started to party more I was I was really I was really depressed yeah the belt had been stripped from me and and um not until Anthony Johnson and DC fought um that first time did I did I join the gym and and get my get myself together why was that just watching that fight watching these guys competing for

your belt yeah just seeing them compete for the belt I thought to myself man I am wasting um I'm wasting Talent I'm wasting everything like you know I believe I can beat both of these guys and they're up there and uh on TV where I should be and I'm sitting here at home um kind of you know living in this depression and so um literally the next day I called uh the I walked down there stoned right and and uh just like hey I need to get my life together I need something I need something

to uh be excited about something to to inspire me motivate me get me up get me out out of the house and uh and I just completely turned everything around from that day for and just started to to um find a new passion and and that was weightlifting and and I I got so strong so fast um and it became it became everything to me like just for my numbers to go up every week um and which they did and I found myself really happy again like you know squatting 500 pounds being 64 and only

weighing you know 225 you know with these really skinny legs 500 pounds is a lot of weight deadlifting 600 lb you know there was there are guys who have been training at that gym for years who still can't do those type of numbers um and I was able to do it so I was just like man you know I can do anything I put my mind to and uh I just thought I was going to become one of the strongest [ __ ] in Albuquerque like that was my that that was my plan well powerlifting

gyms are very competitive and guys get super hung up on the idea of like lifting heavier and heavier weights hooked I had uh Mark Bell on the podcast of four and we also did a podcast in Columbus with uh Louis Simmons who's a world famous powerlifting uh Guru and he's a [ __ ] maniac and it's all with all those guys it's all just about putting up big numbers keeping going keeping going keep it going heavier numbers you know yeah it yeah I fell in love with it it's crazy sort of discipline it is yeah

it's so it's so simple too you just lift it up but it's very satisfying for people looking at like who gives a [ __ ] if you squat 500 lb but when you're doing like yeah you're screaming yeah exactly everybody high fives chalks flying in the air it's the best dude I'm telling you I love it I I I really love powerlifting a lot you worried at all about getting injured though because that's a big part of powerlifting too no I have uh I have pretty good trainers and and um and they teach me the

right way to do things but they also allow me to um be out of position a lot of times too because um a lot of times people focus on the perfect form at everything but when you're lifting real big weight you're not always going to be in the perfect form so they they almost allow me to be out of position sometimes or not in the perfect form and still power through positions that way you're you're strong in a grappling sense yeah you're strong in every you're strong in every every every part of the movement whether

you're in good form or bad form you're still able to lift big weight well that's the big theory behind functional strength right that's why people like doing things like power cleans and presses because it's such an awkward thing to do with the weight and you're you're in weird movements and you're doing things with your whole body right right now what are you doing these days so these days I am uh I have just been doing um uh are you back a bunch of powerlifting and a bunch of wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu that's been my thing lately

no striking uh no I haven't done any striking my my whole goal is to uh not get punched in the head at all that's your goal well that's what my plan is yeah I'm I'm going to eventually alter my my workout routine to where I'm doing a lot of myths and and working on my versatility um working on my versatility and and just my abilities on my feet so you you're not throwing any punches these days not throwing any kicks that sounds crazy to me but my plan is to get into that that that's not

going to last for too long but I I won't be doing too much sparring especially heavy sparring right but even without doing any sparring you don't hit the bag you don't go in no lately I've been doing a whole bunch of wrestling in Jiu-Jitsu wow and I'm I'm really starting to love it too just Jiu-Jitsu really yeah I'm I'm really starting to love Jiu-Jitsu Jiu-Jitsu has been the art that I've neglected the most over my entire career and surprisingly I have the most submissions in light heavyweight history um I think Kim sh Kim Shamrock is

right behind me with maybe five and I I have six Ken Shamrock or Frank one of them one of the Shamrock brothers are behind me for most submissions in well Ken was never a light heavyweight right uh I mean Ken went to light heavyweight when he fought Tito but in the early days like when he was he was a heavyweight I'm sure someone could figure figure out he was a light heavyweight in the Tito days but that was Ken you know later on in his career how many submissions did Frank have maybe it's Frank I

don't know Ken or Frank I think one of the Shamrock brothers are right behind me on submiss that's interesting mhm Legends Legends of the sport yeah Pioneers man but now I love jiu-jitsu man and well you're built for it that's for [ __ ] sure uhhuh these long arms man I'm I'm I'm I'm becoming a choke M I just I'm I'm shocked like I would assume that someone who's a professional mixed martial arts fighter has to at least maintain uh a maintenance level of striking all right constantly and and my plan is to get back

in I still July is still very far away now when it's July how does that work when you're suspended because this is a question that I've always wanted to know like if you're suspended for a peed or something along those lines aren't you not supposed to train with other Fighters that are in the UFC or is that [ __ ] I I I haven't heard anything about about that sounds crazy right can't train especially if you're trying to help friends which would be very therapeutic for someone who's on the outside and that's you know I

spent a lot of time helping other Fighters does that help you a lot when you're trying to get back into things just sort of absolutely there's always someone at my house studying their opponents yeah that's a that one of the best parts about MMA and martial arts in general I think is helping friends giving back yeah something that's new to me too because martial arts can be a very selfish sport you know it's a it's a team sport but um if you're not Point yourself first then you're not going to make it to a certain

level so I've been really selfish um my entire career and um that's one thing my coaches have always gotten on me about hey John I know you live in New York I know you got a family but you need to get back down here and help these guys they have a fight coming up and now that I live in Albuquerque um I'm constantly giving back and and and helping other Fighters especially you know since i' have all these suspensions happen do you surround yourself with too many people that like to party I used to you

used to I used to for sure yeah I used to um have a lot of wild friends and when did you stop hanging out with these people for the car accident um or like yesterday no after the car accident when I when I decided that I was going to be completely sober I uh I let lose a lot of friends and it was crazy because um I used to my phone used to BL blow up on Friday nights because everybody knew that John was going to be buying everything that people needed like you know like

I literally um the guy who went to the bar and um I would just buy like 40 shots Patron right and I'm just like and literally if you're standing around me you're getting a shot of Patron I'm just passing them out right and next thing you know people who don't even know each other they're all hugging and I'm really good at merging people together and having a good strangers and great time that was my like walking to a bar where I know people and now I have new homies and like everybody's just hanging out um

and so when you're like that you know Friday nights come around 8:00 everybody's like yo where are you going to be tonight you know you know if I'm out there's going to be more people around you're going to have a way better time your chances of getting laid is going up cuz you're hanging out with me like it's just the truth you know so I just had a bunch of people around me and um and um but since I became sober um a lot of those phone calls they slowly stopped they SL they slowly stopped

you know and so now um I've been sober for uh almost 16 months and um and now I'm I have I have the best times have the best times I I I remember everything that happens um my friends don't try to ever encourage me to drink or anything and and uh they know I'm not going to right and um I just have the best times I have the best times and and I have how were you able to make that transition did did you follow any programs I I stopped being no I didn't I just

stopped I I stopped answering my phone call for a lot of people um and I um I just kind of went into hiding for a while I just um I just stayed away from the scene until I felt like I was strong enough to just not do it and um and and and it it helped it helped a lot and now do you ever go to bars now and order a water or anything like that can you do that yeah I go out I go out um and uh I'll drink Red Bull I'll drink Red

Bull whenever I'm in a situation where a lot of people are drinking sometimes I feel like I'm just kind of chilling and like a little bit too chilled out so like in order to like keep up with a bunch of drunk people we're talking you drink Red Bull I'll drink a Red Bull yeah and drink too many of those though man that sh bad for you it's terrible for you but I mean it's way better than just getting turned up right right so it's funny because I I've developed this uh this way of just having

so much fun completely sober where a lot of times when I'm leaving like a place someone like hey how are you getting home I'm like I driving dude drink yeah so it's it's great I I really do appreciate my sobriety I love it now you haven't you were saying you were having a problem with pot too yeah dude I've I've been uh I've been a stoner since High School yeah um is that like stopping that was that as easy as stopping drinking or is it uh what's more difficult it was um it was I think

staing pot was really tough because I literally didn't associate with too many people who didn't smoke that that's the way I I kind of like a lot of people on my own team I didn't hang out with them because I was I was kind of one of the hard is working guys on the team but a little bit of a bad boy and none of my teammates were really a bad boy meaning you smok pot um just meaning I I was just always down for a good time right you know what I mean so I

just kind of a lot of my friends with people who weren't martial arts had anything to do with martial arts and I would always kind of associate with um just just party people people who like to have fun um so I realized once I quit smoking that I really didn't know too many people who didn't smoke so I had to kind of start um hanging out with people who didn't smoke which I kind of found I thought was just like like I it was people are boring you said it Joe they don't talk about [

__ ] they don't like to stare up at space they don't want to go to the mountains and meditate and [ __ ] cross-legged position yeah I had to find people who were just straight you know who were always just straight and um and I had to I had to find different activities too right and you know because when you're hanging out with people who don't party you know they have certain ways that they have fun and it's usually based around a lot more activities I feel like so I got into mountain bike Mountain Biking

and um you know jogging more and fitness just you know Fitness and things like that so now you know Fitness is like my drug I really love uh being strong and being healthy um and like I do mountain biking and Jiu-Jitsu I do a lot of Jiu-Jitsu these days and and so that's kind of like that's you know what I live for outside of family of course well it sounds to me that you've done an audit of your life and you've like looked at all the issues that you're you're you're dealing with and you've decided

to not engage in them anymore have do you write things down do you write like goals down or or things that you demand of yourself do you ever do that I do I have a I have a list in my phone of different ways of thinking that that I want to stand for different things you you think you're thankful for no different ways of thinking that I oh different ways of thinking yeah that I that I want to stand for yeah I do like like how so um just little things that help me uh be

patient and and to to be loving and to um appreciate um there just I have to look through my phone to kind of I just I I just write down a lot of reminders of what I stand for you know and and how I how I view things and yeah but I do write things down yeah now when you look at the future and you you see you see yourself from here on out do you do you feel like from now on for for my time on this Earth no more drinking no more pot no

more partying um I do believe that I'll drink really um just because I coming out of high school I started drinking in high school and I always felt like I needed alcohol to to be cool or to um put myself in certain situation to to conquer anxiety or whatever um to be a part of the the crowd and to have fun and to relax yeah I always thought I needed alcohol and um so I got to a point where I couldn't just go out and have a drink I would always get to the point where

everyone's getting crazy and things are getting wild you know and and um I never really had the opportunity to develop a healthy relationship with it it it just it just went from high school to college when you party even more to being a famous and being able to afford to buy everybody drinks every night right so I I just my relationship with alcohol it it it became unhealthy and I never went through a period of time where I where I had a healthy mature responsible relationship with it now being sober for so long I know

that I can have one drink and feel a little bit of a buzz and catch an Uber home or whatnot or I know that I can go out and and not have a drink at all and be the life of the party I know that I can go out and not have a drink at all and approach someone and talk to someone with zero anxiety or feeling like oh I you know I can sit amongst a group of drunk people and and know that I'm cool in my own skin just the way that I am

and that's something I never really had the opportunity to experience until now and so um now I feel like I'm in a mature enough place where um if I wanted to have a drink in the future to celebrate a victory or something like that or a glass of wine at home with my fiance I know that I could do that now um so I just my relationship with it has completely changed and I I believe that I could drink in the future and not run into some of the wild you know crashing a Bentley into

a pole right stuff like that that that I was doing before well when you say you believe you could you know it's interesting I'm kind of talking out of my ass here because I've never had a problem with alcohol but I know people that have and the people that have had a problem with alcohol they the way they describe it they're like I can't do it like if I go back I will go all the way right it's like that there's a there's a thing that alcohol does to you where it says or drugs you

know like just a little bit man just a little bit come on we're just going to get a little bit just a little bit just a little shot just a little just a little beer what's a beer everybody has a beer come on man right and then that's the siren song that leads you back to the Rocks I feel like um I had a problem with alcohol but I never wanted to admit it like you say had a problem did you have a physical problem like when you got off the alcohol did you have withdrawals

did you feel weird no I didn't feel weird no I wasn't waking up and drinking every day so it's a psychological thing yeah I was I was getting hammered on the weekends right right um I wasn't waking up and and like I didn't need alcohol but I always said to myself I don't have a problem with with alcohol but then when you uh run into a pregnant woman you have a problem with alcohol the day that uh something fects you the first gwi you know it's a problem you weren't thinking straight something was causing you

to not think straight and it was your actions and what you chose to take into your body and then you said all right I'm done with that but you feel like you could get back to that I feel I feel like um I feel like alcohol was never really like I was never really addicted to alcohol I was addicted to um I just really enjoyed partying a lot and I made a lot of bad decisions with alcohol so now I I I really have had the time to see clearly um where I went wrong with

alcohol obviously getting being a public figure and living in a small town I never need to be getting black out in public again anyways it's just something that I look back and I hear stories my boys like yo you remember the time you f you did this and we at that you know I'm like I can't believe I used to get blacked out in public and living in this small town that I live in it's like so I I just I've had a lot of times they evaluate marijuana actually is something that that I don't

think I want to go back to really I I don't think I want to go back to you feel like you have an unhealthy relationship or had an unhealthy relationship with marijuana I I re I I I was smoking way too much pot I was smoking way too much pot literally breakfast lunch and dinner in between workouts uh to study film to do everything I was just I was just uh and for me there's some functional smokers who can wake up and they have eight things they were going to do that day and they do

all eight things like me I would wake up and I I had eight things I needed to do that day and I like oh I got three of them done today like I'm good with that like I just I it just it slowed me down it slowed me down and and now that I haven't been smoken I just feel a lot better I feel a lot better I feel um I feel more on my game I feel sharper I'm thinking it's sparking up a joint right now go ahead I'm like what are you saying I

know it's probably hard for you to hear I know this probably well no I mean honestly it HS everybody it absolutely does it absolutely does that's important and so does Red Bull and so does alcohol and so does everything else you know there it was it was all day every day for me but do you think that you um was it all day every day because you were looking for an escape or was it all day every day because it had formed a habit and you just that's what you were used to doing it became

it just became a way of life it became a way of life for me when you're dealing with the amount of stress and I just the amount of uh pressure is probably a better word of being you know one of the great fighters of all time I mean you're without a doubt one of the best fighters that's ever fought in MMA and there's so many eyes on you and there's so much pressure and there's so much money involved and accolades and all these different things these the in you know hey John we've got a business

meeting for you hey John this company wants to talk to you about doing this and hey John and it's just so much coming your way do you feel like it's almost like you had set yourself up in a position where you needed like some Escape you needed an escape valve and that's what you had found through the drinking that's you had found through the pot You' found these ways where you could not be Jon Jones for a while you could be this black out dude at a bar all of a sudden you feel normal you

know if nor as normal as you can feel by being a 20 whatever year old millionaire [ __ ] throwing shots around in Albuquerque that you You' found a valve to release you from some of the intense pressure of being one of the baddest [ __ ] on the planet yeah yeah I yeah agree with you yeah absolutely it definitely made you feel uh for those moments um take take your hands away from me so that's all right she just blocking the microphone it's sound weird I um yeah I I do agree that it it

for those moments made me kind of feel um nor like like normal yeah for sure especially the bar thing especially the bar thing like going out and just having a good time like sometimes I I forgot that I was a celebrity and that there was a lot of eyes on me and but for those moment I felt like I was like I think that was one of my biggest problems I felt as if I was amongst I didn't really hold myself to a higher standard because of who I was and and what I did I

I I and even to this day I just feel like I'm one of the guys like right well you are yeah I am one of the guys like I I don't try to I don't really seek hanging out with other celebrities all my friends are like um just normal average go Joe guys in and um back when I used to party I used to feel like that was me just not being John Bon CH and just being one of the guys like just doing the wild [ __ ] that everybody does and then when something

bad happens it's like you're quickly reminded that millions of people around the world know exactly who you are so it's just it's like but isn't it it's a two-edged sword too because the people that get completely lost in the idea that they are this unique and special person you eliminate yourself from all those other folks and you you separate yourself then it's extremely hard to relate right there's a lot of celebrities that go into a shell and everywhere they go they have security that takes in places and they get delusional they have a they they

have a completely distorted perception of how people interact with them because they don't just go hang with people right yeah and that's that's definitely not me I I um I meet a lot of people and people say man you just you don't act like a you don't act famous and I'm just like um I don't know like I like I really have a lot of pride in just doing what like just normal [ __ ] like going to places that most people even fighters in aler you don't don't go just being amongst the people and

and I I think a big part of me long to just kind of just be not famous sometimes now my question the reason why I asked you that is how do you plan on handling that now because if you're not going to be drinking and you're not going to be smoking pot and you're you're you're going to I mean right now you're living life as just J Jones the person and happy with your family and happy with your life and just working out and having a good time doing Jiu-Jitsu and all that stuff but eventually

everything's going to ramp back up again media obligations going to ramp back up again all these things are going to happen and the pressure is going to be back on you again what are you going to use as that escape valve then have you considered that no I haven't really no that's very important I I feel like I I feel like I I have matured in a way where um I don't think it will affect me the way it used to I've really got had the opportunity to step away from it all realize what I

had and who I am and what I was and um and um I just feel above what you used to be yeah I feel above the way I used to like let so much consum me like even right now like I don't know it's it's just so hard to explain I just I don't feel like I'm in the the same I don't feel like I I look at things the same well I'm sure you don't I mean that's the thing about growth and that's one of the things that when people are haters what they try

to do is lock you down to the old you right they try to lock you down to you at your very worst yeah man you remember that [ __ ] in 2010 when you said that [ __ ] up thing when you were blacked out that's you bro you're like I don't even remember that I was blacked out what did I say you tell me you know and someone can you know someone can believe that they are their past yeah but we're not no you're you yeah you and if you have not had fuckups then

you don't understand the consequences I mean you've had considerable amount of fuckups and a lot more than the average person in a public sense there's a lot of people that have done a lot of [ __ ] up things but no one knows about it and the rep repercussions they feel is not the same as yours you feel the repercussions of millions of first of all millions of people that loved you that were disappointed millions of people that were jealous of you they're like I [ __ ] told you he was going to throw it

at all away there's a lot of that too A lot of people psych that you [ __ ] up it's far far from throwing it all the way I sometimes I get people write me and say do uh say things like oh you ruined a great career or like you uh like people have this mindset of that it's all over yeah I saw a lot of people saying that people that I I I like said that and it's like I was like you're crazy you're an idiot you're crazy he hasn't thrown it away I haven't

thrown it away right now there's a pause going on but as far as it being all over or whatever is just so far from being true do you do you file boxing I a little bit little bit do you know Bernard Hopkins story no Bernard Hopkins one of the greatest boxers of all time for sure and he'll he'll fight December 17th for his last fight at 51 years old cuz he's a goddamn defensive wizard he still does commentary for HBO still sharp his attack but Bernard Hopkins went to jail and uh he decided when he

went to jail when he was a young man he decided that from that point on he was going to be disciplined and that there's no more [ __ ] in his life no more robbery or assult or any of the [ __ ] that got him into the position where he's in and then he was going to dedicate his life to being a world champion boxer and from that point on he became one of the most disciplined boxers ever never ate bad food never drank never did anything stupid always was in shape and we'll go

down in history as one of the all-time greats guaranteed shoin Hall of Famer and I feel like Bernard Hopkins was created by the darkest moment of him being arrested and him doing time in jail and when he came out of that jail one of the first things that um one of the Corrections Officers said to him was you'll be back and he he used that as fuel and he knew that like there's no [ __ ] way I'm going to look at that dude again there's no way there is no way he's right there's no

way and ultimately Bernard Hopkins escaped his Demons by facing them by being in Hell by being in hell I think he was in jail for I forget how many years but just enough just enough to to cement in his eyes to harden him to the fact that what he needed was discipline and control over his own destiny yeah and I think that for a guy like you you can take all those dark moments that you've experienced over this and [ __ ] man you think about it man you got away pretty light that girl could

have died you know uh horrible things could have happened while you were drunk driving when you slammed into that that Bentley into the tree all all these terrible things could have gone wrong that you kind of got away with you kind I mean boy I mean if you wanted to think that someone's looking out for you you got all the evidence in the world that points to someone actually looking out for you yeah God's grace for sure something out there whether it's luck or whether it's intention or whether it's God or whatever the [ __

] it is man the bottom line is right now at this moment you are still in your athletic Prime you're still only six months away from a sus when is your suspension about eight months yeah eight months away from a suspension being released and I mean that's this is all a great thing how old are you now you're 30 29 29 you be when when's your birthday July 19th so you'll be 30 when you come back 29 still when I come back it's your [ __ ] athletic Prime that's you that's at your best really

your Prime is like 32 that's why I like um I put the uh I put the the Jordan meme up the Jordan crying face as my Twitter picture have you seen that no I put that up is it with you with the belt on the Jordan face yeah yeah the reason why I put that up is because uh is because um I know that right now I'm in a position to do some magnificent and extraordinary things I uh I know that because I've made so many mistakes I make the perfect role model I make the

perfect person to to um to still be able to inspire millions of people there's very few people who are who are perfect and Flawless and just that clean cut never did anything wrong athlete uh there's way more people who are like me who has struggled with drugs or just being an idiot or just doing wild [ __ ] way more people who have let their parents down let their families down let their friends down let themselves down um and because because I made so many mistakes on on such a public you know such a big

scale and so public um I feel like all the great things that I from here and out are going to be that much greater because of where I came from to to do it I feel like um I feel like my Best Is Yet To Come and there's just I feel like I'm in a position to to Really um touch a lot of people and inspire a lot of people because of where I came from so I'm really excited um is that something you concentrate on more than you concentrate do you you concentrate on that

as much as you concentrate on just doing it for yourself um doing it for doing it for other people um motivates me probably more than doing it for myself why why is that is that from all of the accolades that you receive from all the fans you just realize that you have all this love out there from all these people yeah I I just feel like I don't need it I don't need anymore I I feel like I um I feel like I've I've done everything already I've I've been in all the wildest situations already

I've had all the craziest experiences stayed at the nicest hotels I've seen the world I've ate at the nicest resta like there's nothing else that I really need out of this uh out of this thing I've literally been there and done that already um um I feel like um I just feel like ultimately I've already gotten so much out of the sport and what I need to do is uh to truly get something what I really need is to know that I'm changing lives like that motivates me more than than anything else right now um

the story The Legacy and um so the reason why I put that laughing meme up is cuz I'm laughing at my pain and my struggles right now I'm laughing at what I'm going through right now because I know my future is just so incredibly bright and I know the impact that I have um I know I know what I can do and what I'm going to do like right now I'm just I'm in a waiting period where I have to wait before I can show the world what I'm actually capable of what I can be

and what I'm going to do for someone else one day um and it's also laughing at like people who actually think that I'm out down and out like people who actually think that my story is over or you know it's just like I'm just laughing at it all because um what I've have done is like I've seen some athletes come back from way worse stuff rape charges and murder and attempted murder and you know all this type of crazy [ __ ] you know I've if anything I've done parted too much and I've done a

lot of stupid stuff like from being a party boy you know I know I'm not a bad person I'm not like this evil athlete you know I just does it bother you when people think you are cuz people some people no no I don't I don't because when I ask people you know it's like no I don't there's people who wants to believe that I'm this terrible uh you know just one of the worst things that has ever happened in sports you know people want to believe that cuz they just don't want me to to

be all of that can be and and it's also because people look at the worst case scenario and they look at the worst possibility you know they look at you as this guy's had so much success so many things handed to him that maybe he thinks he's better than everybody else he thinks of course right of course yeah but they don't think you know they don't think about it that way I know I know that but they don't think about it that way and they see the worst case scenario I mean the the way it

was played out a pregnant woman in a car and you get a car accident you took yeah I mean it is like for the haters it's like a dream come true yeah it is but I can man one thing I've learned about myself is that I can't be held down I don't I'm not held down very easily unless you I just can't be held down man I I deal with adversity very well man I I always find a way to get my [ __ ] together and and dig myself out of uh situations and like

and ultimately rise above situations that's beautiful as long as you don't count on it right oh well I'm at a position now where I'm of getting in my own way and like like UFC 200 let's talk about that I literally what happened I I did everything that I could to be back in the position to win that belt back I was getting ready to just show this triumphant amazing story of someone who just made it through a hit and run situation had almost had everything taken from him and and got it all back and then

um and then um I'm sorry I'm thinking about so many things that once having um so let's just talk about what happened you tested positive for some um estrogen Inhibitors yeah estrogen blockers estrogen blockers that uh a lot of people associate with people who take steroids people take steroids they want to restart their system or if you want a testosterone boost you take uh Clomid or chopine and these are these are standard drugs in the steroid user world yeah this is a yeah all new for me yeah um basically what did you take so I

took a I took an offbrand seis pill offbrand it was it wasn't actual Calis but it was described to me as being a Calis and so I thought it was a seis and I I just took it so why does a guy like you need seals I have a huge [ __ ] jail it's too big it's too big it's a good answer we don't have the resources to get it normally uh yeah you know I um you partying no I wasn't even necessarily partying no I I've taken like male enhancement before and for people

who haven't taken it you literally you know you go from being like that to just it puts the twist at the end of a punch twist at the end of a punch you know what I mean it like it it it's it's a good time you know and uh it's a good time that's going to be a quote it's a good time now um what was this like one of those gas station Rhino pills one of those things no I had I had a teammate basically uh tell me hey uh he was talking about how

his girlfriend's are pharmacist and and he he's capable of getting all this stuff and and all that type of stuff and I was like well I don't do I don't do uh drugs or anything like that and he's like you ever take a seis and I was like yeah he's like I got a seis and I was like well you said you don't do drugs or anything like that but you had done drugs well yeah yeah but no he was talking about all these painkillers and all this different [ __ ] that he other things

on top yeah that he has because his girlfriend's a pharmacist and I and he was where she getting this off-brand stuff from it's like I don't know people get a lot of stuff from China I mean that's what happened with Anderson yeah Anderson got liquid seals from China and it was tainted yeah wow this look this happens I know for a fact it I mean everyone knows for a fact it happens the the supplement industry has a giant issue with the people that mix the stuff like if you have a vat and you're mixing up

whatever creatine or something like that and right before I mean if this is done in some country or some place that doesn't have excellent standards it's not scrupulous you could have been scooping up steroids in the batch before that you just throw the creatine in it and some of it gets contaminated they don't clean it yeah and that's pretty much uh well I'll get to that but okay so you take this offbrand seal yeah the guys like you ever you ever do like seis viagras and all that stuff and I'm like yeah I've you know

I've had Mel enhancement pills before and he's like oh I got Calis and I'm like oh this is great so I ended up taking one of the SE Alis bills and um um and I thought everything was fine in Dandy I had no clue um what had you know that I that I was now having something else in me that was illegal I took the seatt spill on June the 14th June 16th um usada came over to my house 6:00 in the morning hey what's up guys got coffee going offering everybody water bottles super nice

hospitable come in um laughing and joking with them I had no clue that that test was going to be the test that derailed my life and um you know right before UFC 200 um my manager Mony calls me over to his hotel room and he's like hey I want to talk to you man like what's going on he's like hey you're not going to be fighting I what are you talking about he's like you know you didn't F you didn't pass your drug test and uh the level of hurt and just and confusion and I

I literally had an anxiety attack and I had never had one of those before what did that feel like I felt like the whole room just came in on me like the whole room came down on me and I was just I couldn't breathe I remember opening up his hotel window looking for a balcony so I could just breathe and realize that I'm like not trapped um there's literally the window opened that much I was like what the [ __ ] so you don't jump out like is it hotel in Vegas where was it yeah

in Vegas [ __ ] I'm freaking I'm breathing they don't want G leaping through the [ __ ] I'm breathing through the thing calm myself down and um and I instantly started thinking about the weight of the I had the weight of the world literally on my back I knew that I knew that I wasn't going to be fighting a few hours before everyone else knew the public knew and I was just I could already start hearing everything even my own coaches were looking at me like just their hearts were on the floor like I

had done so much to get back to fighting at UFC 200 like getting my life in order getting the people around me in order getting my my health my mind you know just being in order to to beat DC and and like literally right now I've done so much so much of the right things to be back in a good position and right now you know people look at me as if I still don't have my [ __ ] together but the only thing that I did was I took a pill uh that I thought

was going to give me a boner and literally it's caused me a lot of heartache and and a lot of uh disappointment and a lot of you know just threw me back you think in any way shape or form when someone gives you this pill and you don't know where it came from you don't know what did you think man I don't know what's in this no I didn't no I didn't think of it because um I have been dealing with the athletic commission I've been in the UFC for a long time and I've taken

little gas station dick pills before like you know like and I've never failed the drug test ever and then you did you ever think that you might have got lucky no I didn't think I got lucky I thought that you failed drug test when you're doing sketchy [ __ ] right but didn't you think there might be some sketchy [ __ ] some Chinese gas station Rhino dick pill I I um what you know about the Rhinos my friend Ryan my friend Brian called it he was on on the podcast he he said you know

John likes to party I bet he took one of them dick pills um no um that's funny he called it yeah well he he was he was on um um I have been I've taken them several times before and with the Nevada State athletic commission um I always pass my drug test and and I know that I would never do anything to cheat the sport I have a lot of pride in my work ethic and knowing that dude I like I've been skinny my whole career whooping people's ass I'm not a knockout artist I win

because I'm smart and you know I work hard um but with you with the Nevada athletic commission I never had an issue and then I was suspended when usada came so I was never really educated on how serious usada really was like I um I came back into the game and there was like oh we got this new company named usada instead of Nevada what were you suspended for when usada came Oh you mean when they came into the sport I understand what you're saying not when they came into your house when us came into

the sport I was spended because of my hit and run and so I never had even met anyone who worked for usada I never been set down on a us a seminar what to do and what not to do and how serious it is and what could happen if you do this and only thing I knew is I had to report where I was at like if I go to La for the weekend I got to let usada know that I'm in LA because they can drug test me at any time that's the only thing

I really knew about usada I didn't know that doing something that I had done several times before could ultimately lose me a fight so um the only difference was I had taken like little gas station pills and I've taken viaga before this was this teammate gave me something that was seis I thought the only thing that it would do is make me bigger and and stronger for longer that's all I thought was going to be happening right I and then when I find out that that I just faed the drug test do you know that

VI Viagra is uh actually illegal in the Olympics I didn't know that yeah you can't take that stuff the Viagra is a performance enhancer it's a Vaso dilator I believe I believe that's how they describe it and it actually has athletic performance enhancing um properties to it how does it how does it help you I don't know you'd have to look into that but I think it it's similar to in a lot of ways to nitric oxide supplements like a pre like a pre-workout gets your gets your your blood cells open it does something to

open up your blood cells and get you pumped I mean it does something not just to your dick but to all of your muscle yeah yeah I don't know if I would want to be pumped up during a fight I don't think it works that way I mean I I don't I think it actually can possibly potentially help endurance wow yeah I know but know that athletes take it for that reason that's why it's banned from the Olympics yeah but um but yeah you know I understand it wasn't your intention it was not my intention

I I had no I had no clue that I needed to report this to usada because I thought you know literally I was reporting everything else what supplements what uh pre-workout what you know my amino acids my protein powder like you saw I had all my stuff and so what happens once you find out did you how did you narrow it down to this pill I literally I went through my supplements and I um handed it to I I hired a private lab and a lawyer and we started handing giving them everything that I took

which isn't really a lot of stuff at all you know stuff that everyone should take fish oil basic basic supplements protein protein powder fish oil um you know liver cleanser like or whatever um just grape seed extract that kind of stuff yeah just very you know multivitamin for men basic very basic stuff okay and um and then and then Gat nutrition was like you know we we've scanned all of our stuff we know it's not from that Gat nutrition website though is [ __ ] hilarious we went to the Gat nutrition website the moment we

found out about that someone said John's sponsored by Gat nutrition so we go okay let's check that out Gat nutrition is some [ __ ] dude is Just Jack they they a lot of they have a lot of great great products that if you want to get big and strong then you can definitely go to them you know but we saw that we were like what in the holy [ __ ] is he taken oh no I mean but people saw you you got gigantic from the power completely completely uh completely natural that's I have

great pride in being a natural athlete but um but uh so they got they got all the Gat stuff tested and clear right everything was clear um does Gat have other things that us don't regulate absolutely but the things that they gave me they're super smart about and uh and all the productss I was thinking were clear and um and uh so my manager was like think outside of the box like did you take anything that could have possibly been and I was like I don't think so then I was like well one of my

teammates did give me this this dig pill and he's like I need those so we got those pills tested and sure enough they uh and their ingredients they listed about five products in their ingredients and they actually uh there was actually like seven products uh two that weren't listed in the ingredients the two estrogen blockers were never in their ingredients U so um it was a tainted pill you understand what I'm saying yes so um so the usada was able to tell okay this was totally in intentional there's no way in no way in hell

um John would take these Esten blockers first of all it was very small traces so it wasn't like I was loaded up with estrogen blockers right and um why the [ __ ] would they put estr blockers in a dick pill dick pill uh we believe that uh the factory that created these these dick pills um were maybe manufacturing these pills in a dirty laboratory or whatever and there were because con just tainted yes because each pill that we that we had tested some of them had more estrogen blockers some had almost no EST blockers

some had small traces actually none of the pills were consistent so it was obvious that and we we tested several different packages so it was obvious that that these pills were probably getting made in the same machine and there was just traces right uh literally we enough to show up in your system when you get drug literally we found some of these dick pills that had none no estrogen blockers you're like damn why did I get that one yeah exactly so I I took one that was just contaminated enough and literally I got tested 2

days later and it was in my system so it was it was obvious that it was complete accident right and even and uh even if I would have reported the dick pill to yada they would have read the label and the label would have never said that it was ex Blocker in there and I still would have had a dirty right because Anam contaminated pill where does that leave you how much time did they suspend you for I got suspended for for a year back from starting from back in July so now I fight in

july of 20 I love you I love what they're doing I don't agree with things like that I don't agree with things like that because what you took does not enhance your performance it it's especially in such a trace amount I feel like in certain circumstances like there's been several Fighters like Chad Mendes um he has uh I believe he has eczema and he was taking an eczema cream that had some sort of uh was it a hormone precursor or a hormone peptide I believe some sort of uh hormone peptide I think that enhances uh

the the the use of this cream I don't I don't know the full I'm obviously not a doctor or a scientist but I'm there's something about suspending someone for something like that that seems ridiculous yeah well in my situation they they the the even you's lawyer he show he showed a little bit of remorse I I can feel that he felt bad about what was happening to me cuz I think he could really even the arbitrators they could tell what had actually happened right but their problem was um they said John it was just negligent

like you didn't you should have reported this pill but that doesn't it seems to me that's silly that mean that's not but even if I would have reported the pill they would have read the ingredients and they would have never saw that there was a trace of of something that wasn't advertised so why why suspend someone for something like that because they they because they said they was Zero Tolerance policy it was just like I was the first fighter to ever take them to into arbitration and and and they were more upset that I didn't

let them know that I took the pill than what actually happened there was like the rule is you tell us what you take and we can point you in a different direction right but I never told him what I took my whole argument was even if I told you what I took right it still was never on the label yeah so unless you guys were going to spend all the money to take it to a private lab or take it to a laboratory to test this individual pill you get what I'm saying I still would

have ran into the same situation I think it's great to protect people from people that ACH I don't think it's great to pun someone for taking something that has a trace amount of something that does them absolutely no benefit whatsoever and clearly and wasn't supposed to be in that pill and wasn't supposed to be in that pill and clearly wasn't being taken to enhance athletic performance right that seems silly it seems like a mess right it seems like a mess that I mean I I understand there's zero tolerance policy I don't agree with it in

this or the Chad Mena situation you know there's there's weird ones like yoel Romero he he tested positive for something they found out that it was uh in one of the protein powders or something he was taking it wasn't supposed to be in there wasn't listed that way and they gave him an abbreviated sentence he should have had no no no punishment whatsoever but um I mean my whole thing Joe is I'm so grateful um I'm so optimistic man and I'm always looking for light in every situation um and I think that's the way I

deal with things I just I'm always I always believe there's going to be good at the end of the day um that's just how I am and I'm just so grateful where most people will be so upset with themselves and all this type of stuff I'm really not I'm upset about the fans that I let down who flew out to UFC 200 and things like that but as far as the whole situation I'm just glad that that my my name would no longer be associated with steroids I'd rather be boner boy or whatever you want

to call me you know whatever you want to call me but steroids that that was that would have really that was really bothering me so I'm just glad that it's out what actually happened why did they choose to suspend you for so long um just just because because of the negligence behind it they didn't like the fact that I that I was handed a a sex pill and I never returned it I never turned it into uh them to check it out and if they did they still would have kicked you off a UFC 200

and if yeah exactly so I I don't know Ian they would have given you a more maybe a more abbreviated suspension but still it's just it just seems ridiculous wonder I wonder when we hand pills into usada or hand anything into the usada do they read the label and say oh yeah you can take this or do they actually take it somewhere and test it I'm sure they read the label I mean if they so we still would have been in the same position yeah they're not going to test things I mean that's that's expensive

and if it doesn't say it's on there there's no reason I mean if somebody gives you way protein powder well hey let's test this and make sure that it doesn't have Clomid in it or whatever it would take weeks to get it back and it'll cost thousands of dollars and if you're were doing that for every UFC fighter so yeah that's my whole thing I'm like even if I would have told you guys I took it you guys would have read the label and and gave me the okay mhm right because we're allowed to have

what's in vagar and seis and us we're those are actually allowed to but because mine was tainted and I didn't ask they were just like well you never asked so we're going to suspend you so I don't really know why they decided to go ahead with the full maximum punishment but I I I tend not to just question things I I I'm so I'm really young and and you know I believe that my best years in my Prime is even still ahead of me so I'm not even tripping about it I'm like you know whatever

like you know I believe in God so I try to always Point things back towards God and I'm just saying you know maybe this is God's plan for me maybe I need this time away from the sport um just to continue working on my own personal development and growth as a man and and I I do believe I'm in a good place right now so I'm excited to see where I'll be in July um when it's time for me to actually compete again when in July Are You released uh I think around July uh when

was UFC 200 July 8th July 5th no UFC 200 was December 10th or 11th December 11th no that was I'm sorry that was uh UFC 205 UFC 200 was ju July July 9th okay so July 7th I'll be eligible to fight two days before UFC 200 July 7th 2017 I'll be able to compete and I'd like to fight right in July yeah there's a big UFC July 4th card that we put on every year but you're GNA miss that um what do you think now when you look at the UFC title picture Cormier just had

a pull out he injured himself and uh Rumble Johnson decided not to fight musasi he decided to step back and wait for Cormier I don't blame him yeah I don't blame him I think that's a I think that's a smart idea um musasi is capable he's a very smart fighter of beating Rumble Johnson and um it's a highrisk low low return yeah low return why why do you need to beat uh musasi yeah yeah yeah the title fight picture is sort of waiting a lot of it is waiting on you it's a big part of

it waiting on you to return yeah I'm excited to go back and get my baby have they had conversations with you about when you do return what kind of Fight You would have would you go right to a title fight would you fight a contender no one has no one has spoke to me about uh whether I get an immediate shot or uh whether they make me uh fight at least once or twice before or no I have no clue what they're actually planning on doing but how often do you communicate with the UFC I

I literally haven't spoken to Dana White uh since uh like a week before UFC 200 now that the um UFC's been oh actually not a week before fight week of UFC 200 yes anyways now the UFC has been sold and there's these new owners what's your thoughts on all this uh I'm excited to um to get to know the new owners of the UFC I don't I don't I've had a few interactions with Ari before um but um obviously I've never dealt with them on a business level um but I'm excited I I do miss

Lorenzo vertia I I think I had a great relationship with him um he was always the calm cool Collective one the one I actually you know like leave emo motion behind and and and like really have a a good conversation with so you know we had a great relationship in that way um but um I'm I'm excited about the new leadership yeah it's interesting right it's a a new chapter and it is's a lot of who knows that that's what gets exciting and they're they're obviously very entertainment business savvy and uh see where it where

it leads to mhm um when you look at the state of uh mixed marshal Arts today what problems do you see in in MMA H do you do you see anything that stands out glaringly like here's here's some things that I think about um weight cutting weight cutting is a giant issue when you see all this work that's being put in by usada to make sure that people aren't taking things to the point where someone like you who's taking something that's not a performance enhancer gets suspended for a year and the idea is that you're

supposed to be protecting Fighters from someone who's doing something that's dangerous right that's the the take behind it the cheating and somehow could cause potential danger or damage to people but what about weight cutting man is I mean isn't extreme weight cutting one of the most dangerous things um so we're going to to put this on pause I have to peace oh okay go ahead go ahead PE I'm drinking this water and coffee one second talk about weight cutting John's GNA be right back go right to that door take the eggs on the light and

don't let your publicist talk you out of coming back in here she's probably listening interesting very forthcoming with the boner pill talk I think that's important I mean if anyone's going to believe him that's the only way to to really get it out there I [ __ ] hate weight cutting I do um I had a conversation with uh Ari Emanuel about it and I'm going to have a conversation uh soon with novitzki about it I just think is the most it's the most unnecessary and dangerous aspect in fighting the most important aspect in fighting

is Fighters being healthy and in shape and competing to the best their abilities and if there's anything that inhibits that other than not training it's the dehydration effect of weight cutting I think weight cutting is it's terrible and now that they they can't use IVs I'm obviously again I hate to have to say this again I'm not a doctor so I don't know what what is the most effective method of rehydrating but I've talked to doctors and I guess they vary in their opinions cuz some people say it's orally is the best way through W

you know drinking water slowly but some people say it's not some doctors say no IV is a far superior method especially when it comes to rehydrating the brain which could take as much as 72 hours um I think it's interesting that in boxing most of the deaths have come from the uh lighter weight divisions um and they attribute that also to weight cutting and dehydration hey so yeah my said that I've talken way too much and we're going to have to end this thing I knew it I knew it she's like you said too much

about the dick pills mom on the dick pills longer faster harder Jones really how much weight do you cut um I don't really cut a lot of weight at all I um I I get myself down to about 220 um on fight week and then what do you weigh right now right now I'm 230 232 2 30 uh but I get myself down to about 220 during fight week and then I make sure that uh the day of wein I I cut about 5 pounds of water that's nothing no it's nothing but that's a testament

to just you know preparation yeah I've been doing it for so long now I know my job is to be you know to have my way together when you see Conor McGregor weighing at 145 and he looks like like death right you know that when I see those that that's what scares the [ __ ] out of me when I see people that are just clearly cutting way too much weight or the worst one I ever saw was Travis lutter when he fought Anderson Silva Travis lutter he had like his lips were dried up and

cracked and he was shuffling to the scale like he couldn't walk he didn't have the strength to pick his feet up and walk he was like just shuffling towards and he still didn't make the weight yeah it's shitty but scares me the most because uh there's not a lot of options when it comes to weight classes if someone's 185 and they go you know man I'm having a hard time fighting 185 then they look at you and they're like [ __ ] that this is 205 that's a 20 lb jump right 20 lbs is a

big jump it's huge yeah yeah as far as weight cutting for me I just you know it's never really been an issue uh for me I've always made weight I've never come close to missing weight um I just think but aren't you lucky though that you're in the neighborhood of 205 like what if you were just a little bigger and you know then you're in the heavyweight Division if I was a little bigger then I I would I would go to heavyweight um but you know part of of our of our job is to uh

keep our weight under control you know you know if you know you're going to be fighting at 205 you have no business walking around at you know uh 250 right you know what I mean so you know you just you know do you think there's enough weight classes no I I would like there to be at least another weight class when it comes to as big boys you know what I mean I would love it if there a 225 like a 225 yeah I believe if there was a 225 P weight class I'd be I'd

be a two belt holder myself do you feel like that would be a better weight class for you uh I I I love 205 I make 205 just fine uh but 225 I I compete against 225 founder any day you know face the guy who's showing up fight night at you know 240 or whatever you know I Spar against heavyweights pretty much every you know I've been doing it my whole career anyway so um it'd be great to see uh some something that bridges that Gap a little bit from 205 to 265 yeah I would

like to see it I would like to see between 55 and 70 70 and 85 5 just just 15 lbs is a giant leap 20 lbs from 85 to 205 and then of course 205 to heavyweight that's a huge leap that's 65 lbs that's gigantic yeah a lot of people are like why don't you go up to heavyweight and try to win the belt there I'm just like you realize what you're asking me to do like these these guys are very skilled these guys are very skilled and and and they they can weigh what 60

pounds more than me that's that's very dangerous but but have you thought about doing heavyweight I I do want to challenge uh the heavyweight title um but I'm waiting for the perfect opponent and when you do do that when you challenge for the heavyweight title are you going to gain weight or you going to fight at the weight you're at I I I'll fight right around uh 2 2:30 so you'll just not lose any weight at all yeah I I would try to eat a lot and make sure my endurance and Speed and Agility is

where it needs to be and uh I've beaten up a lot of heavyweights man you know only people who are at Jackson have seen that I've submitted a lot of heavyweights I've slam Amed a lot of heavy weights I've May handled a lot of heavy weights but um but um and I've done it right at the weight I am now so um I know that that I uh that I'm capable I just want to make sure that I I compete against the the right stylistic matchup for me when I do go to heavyweight and challenge

for that title one of the things you said earlier that I thought was really interesting is you said you're not going to spar hard again yeah no not until this time I feel like I've I've been majorly preserving myself so um leading up to the oven St proof fight I I took almost I took no concussions whatsoever and then I've been uh suspended now for another year and I I've taken no concussions so um while I feel like a lot of these guys are in this race to to get better I'm I'm getting a lot

better I'm getting a lot stronger my wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu is getting a lot sharper um but I've I've completely my brain is is feeling great right now I haven't been polluting it with [ __ ] and I haven't damaged it and so I just feel like uh you got the best fighter in light heavyweight history who's still the youngest guy in the division um who hasn't taken any damage whatsoever and is completely regenerating himself and I'm going to come back and have this explo explosive second half of a career now there's a lot of guys

that are doing that now where they're not sparring hard um Cowboy barely spars at all I don't think he even spars he does like some technical sparring where you know it's just tap touch just move around but mostly just doing drills that's what I'm going to get into he said he changed that after the Dos anos fight he said when he lost to hael Dos angos he just felt like maybe he had diminished himself too much with hard sparring dude a lot of these guys they they leave their career in the gym you know like

you get no points I there's a few guys that come to mind right now at Jackson who who get punched in the head I'm sitting there watching them SP I watch a lot of fighting and I'm still a huge student of the game um but I'm not doing it myself these guys laugh and and like you know they get punched and they start giggling or or they just and that's the the dumbest [ __ ] to me ever like you know getting punched in the head pisses me off if I leave practice with a headache

I'm pissed you know I feel like I just took away from myself or or just that was one more punch I could have saved for an actual event so right now um you know I have great chin I've never been rocked or wobbled um and uh I want to keep it that way I'm going to preserve my myself um because the skills will come um but you know that brain once it's once it's uh Jello is jello forever you know it is jello forever and that's a scary thing when you see guys go when you

see a guy like maybe Chuck Liddell's one of the best examples ever because is he had an Iron Jaw at one point in time he was just indestructible and then he saw he just get wobbled by shots that normally he would just eat like like a Tic Tac yeah yeah and when it goes it just goes and it does not come back yeah I'm saving my [ __ ] Joe I hear you I'm saving it I want you to yeah now Jackson's is such a crazy place cuz it's a hot bed of MMA talent and

it's a it's a magnet for talented people to come there to get better because they know they're going to be training with a bunch of animals there but I'm hearing now with the opening of the new place you just you guys just got so many tough dudes coming there trying to make a name right do you have an issue with that when it comes to sparring where guys want to try to make a name sparring you I I personally don't have an issue with it so me uh since we've had our new gym um it's

a gigantic facility and we need people to pay the bills so we we literally we allow a lot of people to come into the gym who I don't think are always qualified to be in the gym um but we allow everybody to come and so anybody off the street like any normal person no you can't no so our gym manager he does have an extensive like uh try out thing that he does where he puts you through jiujitsu wrestling and kicking and striking and make sure you knowledgeable about the game so you have to have

experience like how much experience do they have to have do they have to be like an amateur MMA fighter Jiu-Jitsu like you just you can't you can't be a guy off the street who don't know [ __ ] [ __ ] but but outside of that you know if you have a general idea of martial arts and you know that we we're opening the door to a lot of people right now so is it like a pro fight gym or do they offer classes for beginners there's amateur classes um so if you you know know

almost nothing you're in the amateur classes and then there's the pro pro pro practices where you literally get you know guys who aren't very knowledgeable training next to me and Holly Holm cowboy Cerrone and you know all us so it's a it's it's a Fan Experience for sure and it's it's an experience for of a lifetime for a lot of people and I'm happy for a lot of these guys who come in here inspiring martial arts and gets the train with with me and and and the rest of us uh because I can only imagine

wanting to you know you get to play ball with LeBron James and you you just got out of college or you've never went to college like I am happy for them um as long as they don't get in my way that is the big difference though that someone who wants to come and play with LeBron James you know you want to make a name for yourself so with me you you could dunk on LeBron James and every be like like oh I can't believe he did that but big difference between that and fighting I have

a I have a way of of not letting this affect my game personally um I'm I'm a decent judge like I can read people's character a little bit and uh if if I see you for the first time you are obviously about 260 205 whatever 220 and you it's all about the way you look at me so if you come in the gym and you even look like you have an ounce of a chip on your shoulder or like an ounce of holy [ __ ] that's John Jones I'm getting ready to to spar him

today or like or like anything weird that's going on with your eye contact with me then I I'm I'm just not going to mess with you I'll say I'll say hi to you and welcome to Jackson's and what if they say hey man do you want to spar I like hey I I just I don't have any room for for people trying to prove anything with me but there's a lot of that there isn't there it yeah it happens so me the best way you can work with me when you come to Jackson is come

up introduce yourself be kind be polite be respectful and um show me that you are here to get better and uh and that you're not here to you know even some guys they come in and ask for a picture their first day here and I'm just like just like dude Ern like how about you come here work your ass off for a few days a few weeks or whatever and then get to this place where you feel like you're comfortable to ask for a picture instead of just being here being a fan people want those

[ __ ] pictures yeah like dud instantaneously yeah it's like bro you're here you're in the church right now you're in the like you don't take a picture here like if you don't I don't know I just I know what you mean no yeah I know you know what I mean like yeah you should that's not where your mind should be at like at my Facebook page right yo look at look what I train with today just like told you I was a bad [ __ ] yeahhuh yeah or yeah you'll see that they'll tag

you in a picture and it's like yeah just train with with the goat and really we didn't even train together like you were just in the room with me you know a little stuff like that but but um but I do see the benefits of having so many new people coming in and I mean everyone has something to teach and you know you can learn from from anybody from any country if you will if you have an open mind enough and a lot of the guys come in with a great attitude and they're just really

grateful to be there and they're and they um they go with a lot of the top dogs and you know we we can kind of beat him up a little bit you know cuz they're the new guy or whatever um but every once in a while you get that one guy with something to prove and and I've really found came up with a great way to protect myself from those type of people you but you've run into those uh um most people most people like I'm always very defensive when I'm going with the guy who

I feel like he could be trying to prove something like even when we're drilling my defense is always on I don't I don't give someone the opportunity to take a swing or take a punch I've had one guy uh hit me with a a monstrous overhand right while we were Drilling and that was intentionally to to knock me out and uh instead of retaliating I just was I said uh I said man you okay and he's like uh yeah I'm all right I'm sorry I just I don't know what happened and I just okay well

that was that was fun man nice working with you just would never ever work with you again that one guy punched me in the balls intentionally too not too long ago and uh and that was his last time ever training with me as well so it's smart that's a smart strategy a very smart stay away from you yeah yeah but you do find those Disturbed people that get involved in fighting and um they do want to take a chance at a guy like Jon Jones just take a swing at you what if I connect and

knock him out I knocked out Jones right I go like uh the few times that I that it has happened too I'll I'll let my teammates know I'm going to match what you're trying to do to me so you know don't be surprised if I [ __ ] you up with something that's a little bit more than what you would do to a training partner right if if I realize you're trying to hurt me do you meditate John I used to meditate a lot now I'm more big into visualization when did you used to meditate

um right around 2 around 2010 2011 um I went through this huge spiritual thing where I um I became obsessed with um the power of the mind and um I got into a deep like really deep just um meditation visualization and just realizing how powerful our minds actually are like how we really do paint our world with our thoughts and and our level of self-belief and so um right around 20 10 um I I just took myself to this different mental level where I took myself on being an average Joe kind of you probably hate

Average Joe huh doesn't bother I took like what's I'm so used to that name such a goofy name it's good it's like a blank it's like cardboard like there's nothing to it yeah so I took myself from being very uh average minded to actually believe in that I was the [ __ ] and believe in that that I could be the [ __ ] and that I could be the goat and be the greatest and never lose into like I took myself to a different place mentally and a lot of it came from um mental

practice and and meditation and visualization and just seeking Knowledge from people who are strong Believers guys like uh um Les Brown and Tony Robbins and guys like that I just became really obsessed with just learning about the power of the mind so I used to meditate um now I just kind of I have a lot of things that that's stuck with me a lot of ways of believing has stuck with me that just subconsciously I know uh who I am what I'm capable of and how I believe how powerful my mind actually is I'm a

firm believer in meditation because I believe that human beings can get caught up uh especially someone involved in a very difficult Endeavor like you are you can get caught up in the momentum of your life and sometimes it's very hard to reset it's very hard to to separate yourself from it and get a a balanced and as as much as you can objective perspective and I think one of the best ways to do that is to take time where you sit and you close your eyes and you do nothing and just concentrate on your breathing

and just just set it all aside and extract yourself extract your Consciousness from the momentum of your life and I think a lot of people don't do that and they get caught up in this hurricane of existence where everything is just constantly going on your phone won't stop ringing there's [ __ ] people knocking at your door you got this going on that going on you got to go catch this flight and oh [ __ ] you got a fight coming up and oh [ __ ] you got this and that and and sometimes you

lose yourself yeah you lose yourself in that wave of life I I definitely lost myself at one point in my life um and I feel like right now I'm at this position where I am I am myself and I can see John Bones Jones and I'm like I can I can like look at my career from a fan perspective you get what I'm saying and um and actually make fun of myself like damn you a [ __ ] idiot like like what have you done like you know what I mean like um I I have

a I have a good way of detaching something inside of me and and and seeing what's happening and okay oh no it's not over all you got to do is just do this do that do that and you get what I'm saying yeah um so I'm not I don't I'm not necessarily meditating these days but I do have the capability of taking away who I actually am at this point and realizing that this is just a part of me or this is just a situation in my life this isn't my actual life this isn't my

this isn't my final destination this is just a a small moment in time that I'm going through right now you get what I'm saying right I get what you're saying so um so that that's my form of meditation I I step away from a terrible sit situations and looking look at myself as if it's the future and I'm looking back on what's happened to me or what's happening and I say okay how can I get myself out of this how can I make this better what do I need to do to turn this around what

do I you get what I'm saying instead of being completely immerged in the moment and thinking that oh I can't get out it like you know so now I said earlier that UFC 205 was in December I know it's November that's what I [ __ ] up do 205 205 yeah oh 205 think sorry but what I'm thinking of in December when is your grappling match with Dan Henderson December 11th that's December 11th okay that's what I'm [ __ ] up on um what is this is this uh is this ebi rules so this is

submission this is ch's Sun's I think think he's the president of it or something like that yeah do we have the you have the information for all that let's put it up so tell people how they could see that what what made you decide to do this just to mix it up while you're off yeah I uh they reached out to me I I did like a small uh grappling event like I was at an autograph sign in I saw that yeah some guy was like Hey you ever roll like competitively and I was like

no actually I haven't since 2009 or something like I did one ju-jitsu match my whole career and I won it with Force missions against these these guys or whatever he's like man you should come over and roll with me and I'm like what Bel are you and he's like uh I think the guy who challenged me was like a purple belt or something and I'm like uh you know I really don't do that type of stuff I you know I would have to go home I don't have any clothes or anything and he's like oh

we we're selling Gees over here and rash guards and I'm like I was like I don't think I'm going to Ru man like I you know and so he's like uh well at least come over and say hi there's a lot of kids over there a lot of people who just love to see you come show some support to JSU Community I'm like all right I I could do that and so when I went over there after my autograph signing um there was a bunch of people standing around and and I was greeting everybody and

the guy was like Hey like are you going to roll with me or what and I was just like and a lot of people heard him and and I was just like I I feel like when someone's trying to uh I feel like someone wins when they call you out and you don't oblige them right you know what I mean so I was just like in this guy's head it's it's a small victory knowing that I backed down and it's we're not punching it's it's Jiu-Jitsu right so no one's going to get hurt and I

like you know what let me let me live a little and just do this you know I'm sure the kids are going to love it and people are going to so I uh I was like all right give me a rash guard so they gave me a rash guard and I literally I didn't even warm up I just kind of do one of these and and then I ended up tapping the these two guys out fairly quick and um I think some these people uh from submission underground they saw those videos and they they're starting

this new um promotion um where they're actually paying Fighters pretty like they're taking care of the athletes you know really yeah and do people watch it on pay-per-view is that what it is so I think you can watch it online you can stream it online for a price okay um so here it is uh oh okay it's flograppling.com flograppling.com Sunday December 11th at 2:30 um and I think this is ebi rules if this is the cha sundon thing so see if that if you could see that in there Jamie scroll up and see what the

rules are I I still don't even know what the rules are I I think it's submission only yeah it's submission only but I think ebi rules is a ebibi rules is a very interesting educate me but ebi is Eddie Bravo Invitational rules what he did is he figured out a way to avoid draws and what he does is he he has guys they fight for uh or they they grapple for a determined time period then at the end of the time period minutes I heard yeah they exchange uh bad positions like one guy will start

off well you start off in what's called spiderweb so spider web is side control with not the arm bar locked up but the arm hooked you know the arm hooked so you're you have your legs across the arm is trapped and ready go so the guy on the bottom is trying to escape you're trying to hold him down um or you can start off with the over under from back control so you don't like have a choke locked in but you have over under you have both hooks in and you're on the back and they

say ready go so it's how fast the person can escape versus how fast you could submit them at the end of The Exchange back and forth say if you submit your guy and then he has an opportunity to try to submit you if you submit him faster than he submitted you you win if you submit him and he doesn't submit you you win what if you escape fast you both escape and you do it again and then if you both escape again you do it one more time and then they calculate all the time it

took for each one to escape and the person who has the least amount of time and escape the quickest winds up winning oh I'm winning this more this [ __ ] Dan Henderson Dan Henderson's quite a bit smaller than you too yeah I would imagine yeah I wonder how much he weighs right now well I mean he fought at 185 and I don't think he's cutting a whole lot of weight he's not a big guy yeah you know and um is interesting like him fighting Michael bisbing I think that's probably going to be his last

fight a lot of people thought he should have won that fight super close fight he retired didn't he I think he did yeah I think he did I think he decided that's it yeah so I'm sure this means a lot to him to be able to be able to beat me even in a grappling match that's quite the way to end your career yeah so I I don't know how hard he's training but I'm putting a little effort into it for sure yeah well you telling me before you just getting really in love with jiu-jitsu

now I do I do love Jiu-Jitsu yeah my my my professor has uh he's a great Coach man uh they call him Tusa um I think it's Portuguese for like bug tooth or something like that um but his real name is Roberto alakar he's several time world champion in J to I think he's beat Vinnie mes quite a few times and he's wow he's won all these huge yeah all these world champion I think he's five time world champion wow um and he he literally is right there with me uh every practice and you know

he knows I've never done G training but he um he uh he doesn't settle like I'm technically a white belt but he's he every position he's like you know you got to do this right you gotta do put your hand here you make this tighter super technical yeah super technical and I feel like I'm getting pretty good right now that's awesome man if you just dedicate yourself to that before you know you come back you you should guy like you have a big jump yeah people are going to hate me bro I'm going to I'm

my sty is going to be like Maya I'm just going to take people down and freaking ride your ass out and submit you like don't expect any more standup striking from me really I'm joking joke yeah you can't I'm telling who knows what you're going to do right who I don't know what I'm going to do at this point but I'm getting better and I'm preserving myself listen man it's good to see you smile it's good to see you laugh it's good to see you happy it's good to see you optimistic about your future and

I think you got a great perspective right now and I really hope you keep it together man I'm a big fan as a person as a fighter I'm glad we did this I am too I am too all right all right brother that's it folks we're done for today see you bye Jon Jones that was fun that was that was good [Laughter] [Music] uhhuh