UFC 232: Jon Jones tries to block out critics as he returns from suspension

At the UFC 232 press conference Friday, former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was asked what he learned in his recent absence from MMA.

Before Jones could answer, a fan in the crowd at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden answered for him with a succinct and believable answer — “Nothing!”

Jones fell into a fit of laughter at the spectator’s response, as well as a few others from the crowd, taking a while to regather himself before finally answering the question.

“I’ve learned that what’s most important first, and that’s my family. That’s it,” Jones said. “Keep my family first, keep God and family first.”

Jones will return to action on Dec. 29 in Las Vegas, his first fight since failing a drug test and having his win over Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 in July 2017 overturned to a no contest. He’ll face Alexander Gustafsson in a rematch of their epic title fight in 2013 in his return from a 15-month suspension issued in September and retroactive to last July.

Whether Jones has truly learned anything from his USADA-imposed hiatus, and whether he can keep the attention on his work in the cage instead of his issues outside it, is yet to be seen. After multiple failed drug tests, a hit-and-run and other out-of-competition incidents throughout his professional career, Jones has been stripped of the UFC belt on three occasions.

The 31-year-old said he tries to ignore criticism as he gets closer to his fight.

“As far as all the controversy and all the [expletive] that I just got out of, I just try to block it out,” Jones said. “At the end of the day, I’m here, I’m in the present and I’m back on the mission I’ve always been on, and that’s to solidify my spot as one of the greatest fighters ever.”

Despite his various past troubles, Jones was well received by the New York crowd.

“I don’t feel like they can be erased, but I feel like the society that we live in, people are able to forgive and forget as long as you show signs of trying to do better and trying to move forward,” Jones said. “At the end of the day, we’ve all done things that we’re not proud of and we’ve made mistakes, the difference with who I am is that you can Google me and figure out what’s going on in my life. I don’t beat myself up over anything that’s happened throughout my life. I forgive myself, I think that’s very important to be able to do. And like I said, we all make mistakes, it’s about what we do moving forward. I have a lot more chapters left in my book to write.”

While Jones was the crowd-favorite, Gustafsson received a pleasant round of applause after being asked if he believed Jones was a “clean fighter” when they previously met.

“I don’t care about that, it’s in the past, I don’t care about that at all,” Gustafsson said. I’m happy to be here, I’m happy to face Jon and we’re going to have a greater fight than the first one.”