Chael Sonnen doesn’t think the UFC should release Jon Jones.
Jones finds himself facing legal issues yet again after he was arrested and booked into jail by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on charges of misdemeanor battery domestic violence.
It’s no secret Sonnen isn’t a fan of his former foe.
“If you want Jon Jones cut, my next question is: Why?” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “That answer would be obvious: to hurt him – to punish him, right? Are you sure you want him cut, then? If you want to hurt him and/or punish him, are you sure that you want him cut?”
“If you release a guy, you have no control over that guy and you can attempt to guess what the market will bear. But if you still have him under contract, you will control that answer. And if you release Jon Jones with the spirit of hurting him in mind, you see where it starts to become a problem.”
Jones is been prepping for his heavyweight debut ever since he relinquished his 205-pound belt, but hasn’t competed since edging out Dominick Reyes in February 2020.
“Since the night Jon fought Dominick Reyes, they haven’t handed Jon a paycheck,” Sonnen said. “Jon is unemployed. Jon is currently unlicensed. There’s steps and hoops to go through. He does not have sponsors. He’s not in the process of writing a book. He does not have an autograph signing coming up. He does not put on seminars. In all fairness, that’s a big punishment. You economically sanction somebody – for goodness sake, world powers do this to one another. It is that effective. It is that damaging. So if the idea of releasing Jon is coming from a standpoint of -I want to punish him – I want to stick it to him …”
Prior to his arrest, Jones said he’s targeting a return in the second quarter of 2022 and that White promised him an increase in pay that would likely be pay-per-view-based.
