UFC’s Jon Jones reflects on time off as he awaits USADA ruling

There’s still no timetable for when former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will be eligible to return to competition.

If he comes back, he insists he will be in a better place mentally.

“Time has a way of putting things into perspective,” he posted Sunday on the one-year anniversary of his last fight, a knockout of Daniel Cormier that later was ruled a no-contest as a result of a positive drug test. “(The knockout) was the culmination of all the sacrifice and hard work put in on the road back to where I truly know I belong. That’s at the top…the only place I’ve ever dreamed of being. Turns out it wasn’t a forever moment but a fleeting one.

“To go from the spotlight to darkness, and have everything taken away from me again was a hardship the public will never truly understand. It bent me but did not break me and I had to learn to fight in a different way.”

Jones awaits a ruling from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency as to how long he will be suspended for the infraction, his second under the UFC’s anti-doping policy. The maximum length is four years.

A decision is expected in the next few weeks, but UFC president Dana White told the Review-Journal on Monday there is still no timetable.

Jones, 31, says he’s more focused on making sure his life outside the sport is in order.

“I’ve spent the last year living right and getting healthy, but much of that work was spent correcting and repairing my mental space,” he wrote. “Call it weakness if you will but even the toughest individuals need assistance getting back on track. I’ll be back, and when I am it will be a more complete version than the world has ever seen. You have to turn the lemons life gives you into lemonade, and you have to take time to sit back and enjoy it. The struggles don’t define you. It’s how you handle them that determines who you are.

“Be good, enjoy the day and God bless.”

It’s not the first time that Jones said he has changed his life. White, however, is optimistic this time.

“He actually called me the other day,” White said of the superstar fighter with whom he has had a contentious relationship. “He’s in a really good place right now. It seems like he’s in the best place I’ve ever seen him in. I’m obviously happy for him. His fighting career is one thing, but getting your personal life in order is way more important. He’s got a wife and kids. Obviously, a lot of people have stood by him, so I’m hoping everything works out for him.”

White obviously still wants to work with Jones, one of the UFC’s most marketable fighters.

“The only frustrating thing is ‘what could have been,’” White said. “He’s the most talented fighter I’ve ever seen in the octagon, and if he had stayed the straight and narrow, I think he’d be a global superstar right now. The amount of sponsorships he could have would be second to none. God knows what titles he’d hold and what records he would have broken.

“That’s what’s sad to see.”

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Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.