Joe Rogan May Have Steered Jon Jones to Greatness Back in 2009
Not too many people who have worn gloves for the UFC can say they’ve been able to accomplish what Jon Jones has. “Bones” has undoubtedly been the greatest light heavyweight in the promotion for well over a decade. Furthermore, he’s taken out two separate generations of the top competitors of the 205lb division. Without a doubt, Jon is one of the greatest UFC fighters to ever live. But, during the early stages of his career, he may have gotten advice from Joe Rogan that changed the landscape of his entire career. Plus, there may ever have been a little bit of marijuana involved.
Jones is known as one of the standout members of the world-famous Jackson-Wink Academy located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. But, he didn’t always practice his talents within those walls. At first, Jon spent his time training at a local gym in New York called ‘Team Bombsquad.’
Rogan Speaks on Jon Jones
Rogan told the story of Jon’s humble beginnings on his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. On the show, he revealed how Jon and Rogan’s longtime friend Ari Shaffir wanted to smoke weed with Rogan. After that, they had a deep conversation that very well could have possibly steered Jon Jone’s career on the training path that it ended upon.
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“We (Rogan and Jones) also had a conversation with him about I was wanting him to go to a different camp,” said Rogan. I was like, ‘You’re too good. You should be in a real camp’.
“He was like, ‘You really think so?’ I was like, ‘I know so’.
“I go, ‘You only have a certain amount of time in this thing. Your time should be invested with a real coach who’s going to hone your skills. You could be an all-time great, man’.
“I remember telling him that. He was like, ‘You really think so?’ I was like, ‘I know so. You’ve really got to move on.’”
“i hope [the conversation] helped. i mean, he might have done it anyway. Who knows?
“But I think it was a good conversation to have with a young guy. ‘Listen man, you have real talent. You could really be something, but you’ve got to be coached by guys who are going to find out your tendencies’.”
In Retrospect
Basically, Rogan guided Jones back in 2009 and implored him to move onto bigger things. It’s no surprise that Joe Rogan would be able to spot an emerging star in Jones. Furthermore, it’s also not shocking that the two would bond over some weed.
In retrospect, it all worked out for Jon Jones back then. And now, the rest is history. Well, a history that is still being written.
