Jon Jones Had Tough Family Problems Leading into UFC 197

Jon Jones spoke at today’s UFC 200 press conference (via MMAjunkie) about his win over Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 197. Some highlights are below:

On his family issues heading into the fight: “In my last fight, you know, I had a lot of stuff stacked up against me. A lot of you guys don’t really realize what’s been going on in my personal life. My mom is in a real bad position. She’s really losing a fight to diabetes right now. She got her leg cut off the same week of my fight. So that really messed with me a lot. I was in jail the same month of my fight. Just going through a lot of stuff, man.”

(Jones clarified on Twitter after the event that his mother is “in a battle” with diabetes as opposed to “losing a battle.”)

On expecting to be improved when he fights Daniel Cormier at UFC 200: “I hadn’t fought in over 15 months. Everyone’s talking about my performance being so bad. I got punched twice. I won by unanimous decision. So it’s like, if that’s a bad performance, then look at the level people expect from me. It’s really not a bad problem to have. I went out there, I didn’t feel comfortable in the octagon, and I still absolutely dominated that fight. I believe everything happens for a reason. I got that ring rust off of me, and I got right back to the strategy and the game plan I already had. I believe I’m going to annihilate ‘DC.’”