Losing is an unfamiliar feeling for Jon Jones, but he has no doubt Ilia Topuria will bounce back.
Topuria (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) was upset by Justin Gaethje (28-5 MMA, 11-5 UFC) in a lightweight title loss at UFC Freedom 250 in June. Topuria suffered significant damage to both eyes and was battered in a Round 4 doctor’s stoppage TKO loss.
While the likes of Paddy Pimblett think Topuria will never be the same after taking such damage, Jones disagrees.
“Ilia’s going to be in a good position,” Jones told Red Corner MMA. “He has faith, he has a strong team, and that’s a lot of what it takes. He has a work ethic. I think he’s honest with himself. Ilia and I, we share the same agent, and we were talking about him earlier today. What I heard is that he is humble, that he is honest, he realizes that he just didn’t perform well.
“I think that’s the No. 1 step of getting back into the ring in a healthy way. It’s the guys that make excuses, that’s when it’s hard to come back and win that rematch. Guys who just say, ‘You know what, I could have did better. I could have did more.’ Honesty with yourself is the key to MMA. Knowing exactly who you are, what you’ve done, what you haven’t done. You can’t lie once you get in that cage. What’s real will come to the light.”
Jones has one blemish on his professional MMA career, a disqualification against Matt Hamill in a fight he was dominating. He found himself in plenty of legal trouble throughout his career, but somehow his performances never wavered.
“It’s a really hard thing to do,” Jones said of staying undefeated. “When you become a UFC champion, you become more famous right away. You get invited to dinners, there’s the girls, there’s the money, there’s all these new friends. There’s just so much that gets thrown at you, and if you’re not grounded enough, if you don’t have a strong enough circle and team, it’s just easy to get distracted. I have fallen victim to all things that a young athlete can; the partying, the getting in trouble, all of it.
“But in my situation, I had a team that always held me to a high standard, and they never let me get discouraged by my downfalls. They always just encouraged me to just keep moving forward. One of my head coaches, Greg Jackson, would always tell me, ‘Jon, potential is the worst thing to waste. When you know you have a talent and you can do something, you owe it to the sport and to greatness to give it your all.’ I always say, making it to the UFC is fairly easy. Staying in the UFC is very hard. Staying UFC champion is almost impossible. So I’m really honored and blessed for being able to do what I did in the sport.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Why Jones is confident Topuria will be in ‘good position’ after first UFC loss
