Jon Jones hails Conor McGregor for his ‘words of encouragement’

Jon Jones has been speaking about the events that saw him stripped of his UFC light-heavyweight championship and his subsequent spell away from the sport, and has revealed that Conor McGregor was among those to offer their support.

The American fighter lost his title six months ago after being involved in a car accident that injured a pregnant woman, but is on the comeback trail having finally admitted he had a problem with drink and drugs. Asked if he was now sober, Jones told MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani that he has been clean for 'three or four months'. 'I'm excited to be set free from that. It took me a long time to acknowledge that I had a little bit of a problem, because I was able to take care of my family, I was able to win fights and I was able to pretty much hide from the world that I was smoking pot and drinking three or four days a week. 'I was handling my life just fine, so I didn't think I had a problem. But now that I'm completely sober, I totally had a problem. Key to his rehabiliation has been the backing of his team-mates and coaches, while he has also received messages of support from high-profile fighters such as Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor. 'Ronda Rousey definitely reached out to me, Conor McGregor reached out to me,' Jones said. 'Ronda has been very supportive of me, she texted me quite a few times. She even invited me to come and stay at her beach house in California. 'Conor McGregor wrote to me, he said: "Hey champ, you know that once a champ, always a champ and I believe you're going to come back from this strong." Just writing me words of encouragement.'