Jon Jones no longer trains at the Jackson Wink gym in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jon departed the gym after spending 12 years training there. He first started in 2009, making his MMA debut out of Jackson-Winks. But what caused the light heavyweight legend to part ways with the gym that made him the star he is today?
It turns out, like most of the controversies in Jones’ career, he was the reason behind this split as well. Jones was arrested after one of his children called the police when things got physical between him and his fiancee. This arrest happened only hours after Jon’s UFC 165 fight against Alexander Gustafsson was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
.@mmacoachwink tells @arielhelwani that Jon Jones, at least for the moment, is not allowed in the JacksonWink gym:
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) October 13, 2021
"I feel I had to do that. … He might hate me for it, but I had to tell him the truth."
▶️ WATCH #TheMMAHour: https://t.co/ZnfU9so6A1 pic.twitter.com/1lqMWG6QgM
This arrest was one of the worst things Jones has been involved in. This is why, Mike Winkeljohn, one of Jon’s coaches banned him from the famous gym until he quit drinking. However, he clarified that Jones was still allowed to work with individual coaches from the famed gym. Winkeljohn revealed his reasoning behind banning “Bones” on the MMA Hour.
He said, “I just had a conversation with him. I said, ‘Jon, here’s the deal. You’re like my little brother. You have to stop drinking and fix these things for a certain period of time until you come back to the gym.’ So at the moment, he’s out of the gym. He’s not allowed to come in the gym.” The Jackson Wink co-founder also explained that as a father and husband, he could not condone Jones’ actions and wanted him to be accountable for them.
Jon Jones started training with Greg Jackson in an affiliate gym after his ban
Jon Jones said that the conversation he had with Winkeljohn was, “heartbreaking.” And despite Winkeljohn saying that Jones would be welcomed back if he made some amends, “Bones” decided to not return. Instead, he temporarily set up a personal training facility in his garage. Jon also brought in Jackson Wink trainers, Brandon Gibson, and Greg Jackson.
I know I won’t be able to train in my garage forever, eventually I’m going to need more training partners. Mainly wrestling partners and kickboxers. I’m on the lookout for teams that I’ll be able to visit and come train with, maybe get some sparring sessions in.
— BONY (@JonnyBones) November 7, 2021
But Jones eventually admitted that training in his gym with only his coaches was not ideal. He then sent out a tweet that said that he was on the lookout for teams to train with. Less than a week later, Jon announced his move to Jackson’s MMA Acoma. This Greg Jackson affiliate gym is headed up by seasoned veteran, Nick Urso.
In an Instagram post, Jon wrote, “I want to sincerely thank Gym owner/ coach Nick Urso and everyone at the original Jackson’s MMA program for allowing me to call their dojo my new home base.” Bones has been training at this facility ever since but he is yet to compete in an MMA bout since then. And recently, fans saw the LHW legend training with former UFC double champion, Henry Cejudo.
