After defeat to Klein in July 2022, Jones and UFC mutually agreed to not sign a new deal.
Reflecting on what alternative path he could have chosen, Jones gave an honest appraisal.
“I remember sitting down in my coach’s office after the whole thing in London because I was in a mess,” he recalled.
“My one coach said to me, ‘Look I think you need to go somewhere else and work with someone else because I don’t think I can give you what you need’.
“I said to him in tears at the time, ‘Please just stick with me, as long as you boys are in my corner I’ll go through anything’.
“They’ve stuck by me since then, and I can’t thank the boys enough.
“As long as those boys are there for me I’ll give them as much as they give me and I couldn’t ask for anyone else to stand by me and help me reach the top.”
For Jones there really was no other possibility than to stick to chasing his UFC dreams.
“I had an acknowledgment on this camp when I was running through the mountains, and I chose this life.
“I know it’s a weird thing to say, but every day I wake up I choose this life.”
Jones admitted the easy thing would have been to go and get a job.
“I could literally at any time just think, no, I’m done, and get a different job that pays on a weekly basis,” he added.
“After I left London I didn’t get paid for two years, I racked up credit card debt, and family members and friends told me to quit.
“I had a family business I could have gone into, done more with school.
“But for me fighting is what’s in my blood and fighting is what I want to do.”