Following Jon Jones’ arrest for an alleged hit-and-run accident this past weekend, the UFC sent a strong message to the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in mixed martial arts, suspending him indefinitely and stripping him of the UFC light heavyweight title. But the UFC must be consistent with the message they are sending.
Too often are the UFC’s punishments inconsistent. Take Jones, for example. Back in May 2012, Jones was involved in a DWI where he crashed his Bentley into a utility pole. The UFC, which at the time did not have a written Code of Conduct policy, did not punish Jones for his actions outside the cage.
Following UFC 182 this past January, it was revealed that Jones failed an out-of-competition drug test by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for cocaine metabolites. Instead of punishing Jones and sending him a stern message, the UFC chose to hit him with a small slap on the wrist, fining him $25,000 for breaking the Code of Conduct. However, Jones was no suspended and his ability to compete was not diminished due to the failed drug test.
Yet after his third big incident, this time the hit-and-run, the UFC decided Jones’ three strikes were up and threw the book at him, suspending him indefinitely and taking away the gold he wears around his waist. Thus far, reaction to the UFC’s actions has generally been positive, with the majority of media and fans agreeing Jones deserved what he got.
My problem is not with Jones’ punishment, but the inconsistencies with how it came about. My biggest issue is why did it take three incidents before the UFC finally put its foot down? Where does it say in the organization’s Code of Conduct that an athlete will get a pass because of, presumably, his or her star power? It says that nowhere, and the fact the UFC gave Jones so many chances was a mistake on its part. Had Jones been punished for either the DWI or the cocaine bust, maybe the hit-and-run accident wouldn’t have even happened, because Jones would know the consequences for his actions outside the cage would be harsh. But after getting away from any serious ramifications the first couple times he screwed up, Jones probably didn’t think he had anything to worry about this time. He was wrong, of course, but had the UFC acted differently in the past, maybe Jones would have thought differently about running away from a crime scene and thinking he would get away scot free.
Ultimately, Jones is the one who screwed up, and he deserves to be punished. But again, why did he get so many chances when others haven’t?
Take Will Chope, for example. Once the UFC found out about a domestic violence incident in his past, he was cut immediately, without ever getting to explain his side of the story. Same with Michael Imperato, who was cut before even getting to fight in the UFC due to past racist comments. Tyler Manawaroa, who posted a racist image on his Instagram, was also cut without getting a second chance. So was Miguel Torres, who posted a joke about rape on his Twitter. (However, Matt Mitrione, who made disparaging comments about transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox, escaped being cut and was given a two-week slap on the wrist for his awful comments instead.)
On the other hand, fighters like Anthony Johnson and Michael Johnson both had domestic violence incidents and were never punished. Same with Abel Trujillo, whose occurred before he was in the UFC – he was never cut, even when information about his past came up. Forrest Griffin made a rape joke, but unlike Torres he wasn’t cut. Why did these fighters get off with no punishment but others were given the ultimate punishment, a release, for similar incidents?
Another issue I have with the inconsistency with Jones is the UFC’s decision to take him off the rankings. They removed him all right, but Anderson Silva, who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in a recent bout against Nick Diaz at UFC 183, for some reason remains ranked. Heck, the UFC even used his drug test failure as a way to draw viewers into the fourth season of TUF Brazil. Is Silva getting three strikes like Jones? The inconsistency is maddening, and for an organization that wants to consider itself one of the top pro sports organizations in the world, these inconsistencies just cannot happen.
Even with a written Code of Conduct, it seems like these inconsistencies in punishments are more alive than ever. Instead of having firm penalties for its athletes, the UFC instead plays every incident by ear, and I’m not a fan of it. I feel like all athletes, whether they be champion PPV draws or prelim Fight Pass fighters, should be treated equally. Giving preferential treatment for certain fighters when they screw up, like the way the UFC has treated Jones, will only lead to further issues in the future, and we saw with Jones what could happen if fighters aren’t punished correctly for their mistakes.
At the end of the day, the UFC has to be given credit for coming down harshly on Jones, but hopefully this isn’t just a one-time thing. Hopefully the promotion starts to hand out the correct punishments for all fighters in the future, and now that fighters have seen what happened to Jones,. hopefully we’ll see less of these incidents outside of the cage in the future. But fighters must be held to the same standards, and hopefully this ridiculous “three-strike rule” is abolished, because it makes no sense.
Since when is the world fair, has it ever been? I'm not condoning hit and runs, but I'm not naive enough to believe in uniform fairness.
Bottom line, if you do the crime, you better shine and all the while the peasants whine.