Adesanya: ‘I felt bad’ for Jon Jones after watching footage of DWI arrest

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

“Like, I felt bad for him when I watched the body cam footage as well. At the end, when he was just sobbing, I felt bad for him.”

Israel Adesanya initially threw Jon Jones under the bus after his latest arrest for drunk driving but, after seeing video footage of the incident, ‘The Last Stylebender’ now feels sorry for the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion.

Jones, who was charged with aggravated DWI and negligent use of a firearm, appeared to be sobbing in the police car and was clearly in a state of emotional distress. And although Adesanya isn’t on particularly good terms with ‘Bones’, the UFC middleweight champ isn’t one want to kick a man while he’s down.

“I did put some memes up because you have to give the people what they want, but at the end of the day, there’s some stuff that I said privately to my people that’s not gonna go out,” Adesanya told ESPN recently (h/t MMA Fighting). “Some stuff that meme-worthy wasn’t really kosher, even for my code.”

“He’s a young black man at the top of his game and he’s throwing it all away,” he added. A lot of what DC said, same thing. Like, I felt bad for him when I watched the body cam footage as well. At the end, when he was just sobbing, I felt bad for him. Because I can imagine myself in that position. And I even bet you in the back of the squad car, he’s thinking, ‘F*ck, Israel’s gonna have a lot of material with this one.’ I bet you. I swear to God. But, like I said, a lot of it’s never going to see the light of day because it’s funny for me but at the same time I feel sad to see a young, black, skinny [expletive] who wishes he had the career at the beginning like I am right now, and he’s just throwing it all away. So I’ve taken lessons from watching a guy like him pave the way, if you will, and I won’t repeat the same mistakes. I’ll make my own. Sex tape dropping 2020! Get ready.”

Although some fighters feel Jones has been let off the hook by the Albuquerque police department, Adesanya says being quarantined at home during the coronavirus pandemic is all the punishment he needs.

“Nah, he’s gonna suffer,” Adesanya said. “I feel bad. Put it this way, I wouldn’t want to be in a house with him right now. That’s just all I’ll say. . . I said it in one of my posts about quarantine, like staying strong because a lot of people spend time with their families and realize they don’t like them, and a lot of people fix their relationship with their spouses, with their fathers, with their mothers, whatever, and I just feel like something like that happen in my household would just dampen the whole atmosphere. It just sucks. It sucks to be him.”

Jones last fought at UFC 247, where he beat Dominick Reyes via unanimous decision to retain his light heavyweight title. The pound-for-pound No. 1 is currently under house arrest and received one year of probation.