Jon Anik on Jon Jones retiring: 'A lot of public figures feel perpetually misunderstood'
Jon Anik is grateful for Jon Jones' time in the UFC.
Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) has officially retired, relinquishing his UFC heavyweight title. The former two-division UFC champion has never lost a fight outside of a disqualification blemish in 2010.
Advertisement
Anik, who has witnessed all of Jones' championship reign in the UFC, heaped praise on him as both a fighter and a person.
"Congratulations to the 🐐, @jonnybones on accomplishing more as a mixed martial arts fighter than any man had prior! I met Jon in his hotel room in 2011, a few hours before he beat Shogun to become the youngest champion in UFC history. A lot of public figures feel perpetually misunderstood. Jones' infectious smile and presence cloaked the absolute killer that resided within. Over 15 years, I have witnessed this man's graciousness, kindness, and generosity with the UFC fan base. His success has helped push the UFC and MMA forward and, indirectly, he helped guys like me to make a living in the sport we all hold so dear. Look forward to seeing that grin and presence at @dirtyboxing soon, champ. Appreciate all the time, energy, and love over the years. You will be missed. -30-"
Jones defended his UFC light heavyweight title a total of 11 times before opting to make the move up to heavyweight years later. He claimed the vacant belt with a quick finish of Ciryl Gane at UFC 285, then successfully defended it against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309, which would mark his final fight.
"Bones" finds himself in legal trouble once again, with reports in Albuquerque accusing Jones of leaving the scene of an accident with a half-naked and intoxicated woman in the car. Jones' attorney says his client has been falsely accused and is being targeted by police.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC commentator Jon Anik reflects on Jon Jones' retirement
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
9 minutes ago
- CBS News
Oglala Sioux Tribe asked to approve search for civil rights activist at Wounded Knee
The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council will be asked to approve a search for the remains of a Black civil rights activist who disappeared during the 1973 Wounded Knee standoff. He is likely buried on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Perry Ray Robinson Jr. was 35 years old when he left his home in Bogue Chitto, Alabama, in April 1973 to answer a call for help from the American Indian Movement. For 71 days, AIM members and supporters occupied the village and exchanged gunfire with federal agents gathered around its perimeter. Robinson never returned, was later declared dead without his body being found, and no one was ever charged. His name came to light after two men were indicted in 2003 on charges they killed Canadian Annie Mae Aquash in December 1975 in South Dakota's badlands. Arlo Looking Cloud was arrested in Denver. A federal jury in Rapid City convicted him in 2004 of murder. He was sentenced to life in federal prison, but that was later reduced to 20 years because of his cooperation and acceptance of responsibility. He was released in 2019. The other man, John Graham, fought extradition from his native Canada. A state jury in Rapid City convicted him of murder in 2010 and he is serving a life prison sentence at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. Hulu documentary about Aquash Justin Baker, 40, who lives in Mission on South Dakota's Rosebud Indian Reservation, started the latest effort to search for Robinson's body. He has been following the Aquash and Robinson cases since Looking Cloud and Graham were indicted. That included reading media accounts and documents released as part of a Freedom of Information Act request. Baker said he also spent considerable time with Leonard Crow Dog, a Sicangu Lakota medicine man and AIM's spiritual leader who died in 2021. Baker said he was prompted to action after watching a recent documentary about Aquash on the streaming service Hulu entitled " Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae." Witnesses testified that Aquash, who also responded to AIM's request for help and rose to prominence in the organization, was killed because she was suspected of being an informant. "I started thinking, 'Why can't they do something for this man, Ray Robinson?'" Baker said. He called Paul DeMain of Hayward, Wisconsin, the former editor of the News From Indian Country newspaper who extensively investigated the Aquash and Robinson cases. Among the people DeMain put Baker in touch with was Robinson's widow, Cheryl Buswell-Robinson, and their son, Deeter Robinson. "I asked Deeter, I said, 'What would you like me to tell people?' And he said what it was like growing up without a dad, not having somebody at my sporting events, not having a man's guidance, not having a father to lean on, and it caused a lot of hardships in my life," Baker said of the conversation. "This is somebody's family that was destroyed and is still hurting 52 years later, and there are still people remaining silent." Concerns about 1890 massacre site DeMain had already done extensive work trying to identify Robinson's likely resting place. Baker took up the cause using tribal channels. "I wanted to create a grassroots effort because I think everything else has been tried already," he said. Baker presented a resolution to and received unanimous support for it in May from the Sicangu Lakota Treaty Council. That group in the Great Sioux Nation advocates for Native treaty rights and inherent sovereignty. The document's purpose was to start building support for a culturally sensitive search for Robinson's remains on the Pine Ridge reservation. Baker then went to the Oglala Sioux Tribe's land committee on Pine Ridge, which rejected the request for a search, saying it could unearth remains or artifacts from the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre. Baker said the search would only involve a cadaver dog or ground-penetrating radar that would not disrupt the land. And the area already has been disturbed, he said. "Wherever Ray is laying was already disturbed through the form of buildings, construction within the downtown Wounded Knee area, or it was disturbed in 1973 from digging bunkers," Baker said. Baker has drawn up a resolution he plans to present to the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council, which includes the Sicangu Lakota Treaty Council resolution and letters of support from elders, descendants of the 1890 massacre and others. The document, viewed by South Dakota News Watch, calls for all Lakota tribes, in collaboration with Buswell-Robinson and cultural experts, to create a working group to oversee a non-invasive search for the remains of Robinson. The effort would include historic preservation officers, spiritual leaders and elders, the Robinson family, Indigenous archaeologists and forensic scientists and independent advisers. "This resolution does not seek the removal or exhumation of any remains but seeks only to locate, document and honor the possible resting place of Perry Ray Robinson Jr.," it states. The document also calls for transparency and respect of those who died in 1890 and might have been killed on the site in 1973. "We're asking to search the ground that already has been disturbed and is a long way from the burial of the 1890 massacre victims," Buswell-Robinson said. Tribal leaders did not respond to a request for comment. Widow hopes for Robinson's return Besides a son, who has children, the Robinsons have two adult daughters in Detroit, Desiree Marks and Tamara Fant, who have their own children and grandchildren. "I'm 80 and doing fine. I'd like to get Ray back here before I'm dead," Buswell-Robinson said. "I'm excited about it because Justin (Baker) is so excited. "He's been wonderful to follow and has a strategy." Buswell-Robinson said that because she's in Detroit, she doesn't have the connections or know the local structures or politics like Baker does. Based on her recollections and letters she wrote in the years after her husband's disappearance, she believes he probably was killed because he naively thought he could turn an unorganized situation into a focused demonstration. His nonviolent approach probably was not well received at what was a violent situation, Buswell-Robinson said. And it's possible AIM members suspected he was a federal informant, which he was not, she said. FBI documents include references to fresh graves Two American Indians were confirmed to have died during the 1973 siege, and rumors of other deaths persist. FBI documents that are now public suggest the possibility of other people buried at Wounded Knee during the occupation. A May 1973 memo says the FBI talked to a man who reported grave sites just outside of Wounded Knee. Another, a few days later, states that an Interior Department official "observed several fresh graves" at Wounded Knee. One of the graves belonged to one of the two Native Americans killed, the memo states. There's no mention of Ray Robinson in the FBI correspondence, but two documents reveal the presence of two Black people toward the end of the standoff. A May 5, 1973, transcript of an interview with a man who claimed to be at Wounded Knee the week prior stated "he heard that one black man and one black woman had recently arrived." A May 21, 1973, FBI memo reported that a Native woman who left the village a month earlier counted 200 Indians, 11 whites and two Blacks. Buswell-Robinson said those two were most likely Ray Robinson and a woman from Alabama who went with him. She returned after the standoff. He didn't.
New York Times
17 minutes ago
- New York Times
Enzo Maresca says Chelsea training ‘impossible' in extreme heat ahead of Esperance match
Enzo Maresca admits it is 'impossible' for his Chelsea players to train properly in the extreme Philadelphia heat as they prepare for their final FIFA Club World Cup group match against Esperance de Tunis on Tuesday. Chelsea deployed huge industrial fans by the side of the pitch at their training base in Subaru Park on Monday and utilised cooling sprays to try to mitigate the effects of temperatures expected to peak at 37 degrees celsius (98.6 degrees fahrenheit) in Philadelphia ahead of the game, which is scheduled to kick off at 9pm local time. Advertisement An extreme heat warning has been issued with the public warned to avoid strenuous activities outside, but Chelsea have no choice but to push hard against Esperance after Friday's 3-1 defeat against Flamengo left their hopes of advancing from Group D in the balance. The Athletic reported this morning on the concerns of players, club executives and fans about conditions at the tournament with experts suggesting FIFA takes proactive moves to ensure safety. 'It's almost impossible to train, or to make a session because of the weather now,' Maresca said in his pre-match press conference. 'We are trying just to save energy for the game. This morning's session was very very very short, and it has just been about tomorrow's game plan and that's it, no more than that. Because as you can see it's not easy with these conditions, with this temperature, but we are going to try to do our best. 'I always try to avoid excuses, but I try to be honest: it's not about excuses, it's about reality. It is an excuse when it is not hot and we say that it is hot. That is an excuse. But if it's hot, it's hot. And it is difficult to work with this temperature. But we are here, we are trying to do our best and we are going to try to win again. This is the only thing that we can say and we can do.' Chelsea captain Reece James sat out Monday's open training session due to illness, and Maresca also explained why Nicolas Jackson was not involved as he prepares to serve a one-match suspension for being sent off against Flamengo. 'Nico was not in the session this morning because it's the day before the game,' Maresca said of Jackson. 'We just used the ones that we're going to prepare for the game (with) and because he's not in the game tomorrow, he was not with us. We used only the ones that are available for tomorrow.' (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Associated Press
18 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Nuggets revamp front office by promoting Ben Tenzer, bring in Jonathan Wallace from Timberwolves
DENVER (AP) — The Denver Nuggets revamped their front office Monday by promoting interim general manager Ben Tenzer to executive vice president of basketball operations and bringing in Minnesota's Jonathan Wallace to serve as the executive VP of basketball operations. The announcement was made by the team days before an NBA draft where the Nuggets don't have a first-round pick. Tenzer and Wallace will try to find creative ways to build depth around a nucleus that includes three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun. Tenzer was named interim GM in April when Josh Kroenke, the vice chairman Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, made a stunning move by firing the team's all-time winningest coach, Michael Malone, and general manager Calvin Booth with three games left in the regular season. Malone led the Nuggets to their lone NBA title in 2023. David Adelman stepped in as interim coach and landed the full-time gig last month after steering the team in the right direction. The Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games and then took the newly crowned NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder to a Game 7 in the second round before bowing out of the playoffs. 'Ben did a terrific job leading the organization as the interim general manager during a challenging stretch, and it was clear during that time that he had earned the respect of our players, coaches, staff and his peers,' Josh Kroenke said in a statement. 'In spending time with Jon, his leadership, quiet confidence and relationship-oriented mindset stood out and we are excited to bring such a fast-rising executive back home to Denver.' ESPN first reported the hiring of Tenzer and Wallace. Tenzer is entering his 17th season with the organization, the last four as the VP of basketball operations. He worked with Booth on all aspects of the game. He also was the GM of the Nuggets' G-League affiliate the Grand Rapids Gold for the last two seasons. Wallace rejoins the Nuggets after three seasons as the director of player personnel for the Timberwolves. In addition, he was the GM of Minnesota's G-League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves. Before his time in Minnesota, Wallace was a scouting coordinator for the Nuggets. He originally joined the organization as a basketball operations associate in 2019. 'We have the utmost confidence in both Ben and Jon,' owner E. Stanley Kroenke said in a statement. 'They have been integral parts of our team already, so we know their dedication and hard work first-hand and we're looking forward to their continued growth and the vision they have for this team.' ___ AP NBA:
