Fight week is a stressful time for professional fighters.
They have to ensure that they’ll peak at the right time, continue to stay sharp by training but not overdoing it to the point that they suffer an injury, all the while keeping one eye on the scales.
Most fighters are staring at a weight cut seven days out from a bout and are preparing for the waterloading phase of the process.
One thing that’s definitely not on the vast majority of those athletes’ minds is alcohol.
But Jon Jones (22-1) is not your average fighter and he has made a pretty unfathomable claim about how he used to prepare for fights.
While speaking with UFC colour commentator Joe Rogan on his podcast this week, the currently suspended former UFC light heavyweight champion revealed that he would drink excessively the week before each of his fights, blacking out just days ahead of showing off feats of unimaginable athletic excellence.
“I had this crazy thing that I would do where I would party one week before every fight,” Jones said, as transcribed by MMA Fighting. “And I did it throughout my whole career. And it was stupid, but it was this mental crutch that I had.”
The rationale behind the decision to drink so close to a fight, Jones explained, was so that he would have an excuse at the ready if he just so happened to lose.
“I literally would, one week before every fight,” Jones said. “I would go out and I would get blacked out wasted. And my logic was, if this guy were to beat me somehow, I can look myself in the mirror and say, the reason I lost is because I got hammered the week before the fight.”
After admitting that he often felt unbeatable and untouchable in the UFC, Jones provided clarity on the famous story that he did no training ahead of his UFC 165 clash with Alexander Gustafsson, an instant classic that saw ‘Bones’ come close to losing his title as he sustained quite a bit of damage at the hands of his Swedish opponent.
“I trained for the fight, but I definitely had this thing where I felt invincible,” Jones said. “And I did a lot of wild stuff leading up to the fight. I definitely didn’t give it my all. Really partying, drinking, staying up all night.”
Jones will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest fighters of all time but the youngest UFC champion in history continues to do himself no favours with his proclivities outside the Octagon.
For the second time in two years, Jones was stripped of a UFC belt when the organisation took away his interim 205lbs title following his suspension for testing positive for two oestregen blockers in the summer.
WATCH: Daniel Cormier's raw reaction to Jon Jones news was captured by UFC Embedded crew https://t.co/r2LWsd1Yup
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 8, 2016
The past two years have done significant damage to the 29-year-old’s legacy. Cocaine metabolites were find in Jones’ system in an an out-of-competition drug test in December 2014 and, four months later, he was involved in a hit-and-run accident which injured a pregnant woman.
But Jones insists that his partying days are behind him and that he now lives a sober life with his full focus dedicated to improving as a mixed martial artist
“My relationship with alcohol was never healthy, and I never went through a period in which I had a mature, healthy, responsible relationship with it.”
Michael Lundy joins Wooly for a wide-ranging discussion that starts with a chat about Ger Loughnane, dodgy transfers and Davy Fitzgerald’s training methods. Subscribe here on iTunes.
