Jon Jones had made it clear that he isn’t going to fight again if he isn’t allowed to tape his toes.
As Jones was about to enter the Octagon at UFC 285, the commission stopped him and made him cut some tape off his foot, as he had his toe taped. It is something Jones has done ever since the Chael Sonnen fight so he was disappointed to have to cut part of the tape off.
“Yeah, so I broke my toe when I fought Chael Sonnen years ago and ever since then, every day I practice, I tape my toe just to ensure that it doesn’t pop out again,” Jon Jones said on the post-fight show (via Sportskeeda). “The toe is totally fine. But every once in a while, if I pivot on it too hard, it sends the most excruciating pain up my body, and I just never want to compete without my toe taped again. So, hopefully, the proper people hear me, and I don’t run into the issue again.”
Although Jones wanted to keep the tape on, he says he just wanted to get into the Octagon to fight Ciryl Gane and wasn’t letting anything stop him. But he also wants to let the commission know that he hopes it won’t happen again as ‘Bones’ says he just won’t fight if he can’t tape his toes.
“I knew, being a world champion, being in my position, nothing is supposed to be easy,” Jones explained. “Baltimore Ravens, my brother Arthur (Jones) taught me that you got to have skin like an armadillo. And so, I was having tape issues, said you know what, screw it, who cares. Nothing’s going to stop me. I want to be in there. It’s time for me to eat. So they cut the rest of the tape off my foot, they left my toe taped. It was awesome…
“I’m not going to compete if I can’t tape my toes,” Jones also said at the post-fight press conference. “I just won’t do it. I want everyone to know that in the future, so thank God we didn’t have a disaster out there tonight.”
As of right now, Jon Jones is targeted to return in the summer to defend his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic.
What do you make of Jon Jones saying he won’t fight if he can’t tape his toes?
