Back in September, following the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson stories, Nike ended their endorsement deal with UFC Champion Jon "Bones" Jones. According to Jones at the time, Nike cut his deal after his infamous brawl with Daniel Cormier during a press event in August. Well now that's he's got a cushy new deal secured, Jones is changing his story and admitted his version of the story wasn't exactly the truth.
"When I was in front of the commission, I definitely worded it wrong," Jones said on UFC conference call. "Nike did not drop me because of that fight and I kind of owe an apology to Nike for saying they dropped me because of the fight. They actually didn't. Nike has been known to support its athletes through much worse things than a brawl in the middle of MGM [Grand]."
According to Jones, a representative for Nike had told him the Swoosh was moving away from MMA, but could still continue his contract, but some of the perks he was promised, including commercials, would not be happening anymore. Jones said he then called Nike and asked he can respectively leave to go pursue other options.
"The truth of the matter is, I did not get dropped by Nike," Jones said. "It was a mutual thing, something we had discussed months before the actual fight."
Jones recently signed on with Reebok, who's making a major push in MMA and the UFC, bolstering up their roster with top tier fighters, and even securing a deal to bring uniforms to the UFC for the first time ever. Although he didn't have to throw Nike under the bus, it looks like he made the right decision in leaving.
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