Jon Jones has had his struggles with drugs, but apparently, they may also be in some way responsible for him becoming one of the greatest fighters ever.

On a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Joe Rogan and his longtime friend Ari Shaffir reminisced about their experiences hanging out with fighters outside of the cage. Shaffir eventually told a story about the two of them smoking marijuana with Jon Jones in Rogan’s hotel room - back before Jones had become a household name - and then Rogan revealed that that weed-fueled conversation may have directly influenced Jones’ decision to move out to Albuquerque and start training with Greg Jackson.

“Early on Jon Jones, he wasn’t anything then – 4-0, maybe, something like that – meeting him, talking about s**t - and I can talk about this now because it’s no longer a banned substance in the UFC - talking about weed. And he was like, ‘Yeah, let’s smoke, bro.’ He wasn’t anything. He wasn’t anything, and just going like, ‘Who’s got weed?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, Rogan’s got it, but he’s in his hotel room,’ and texting you . . . ‘Hey, man, are you up?’ And you’re like, ‘Yeah, I’m kind of tired. I’m going to sleep.’

“It was like, ‘F**k, Jon, I think he doesn’t want us up there,’ and then be like, ‘No, no, let’s go. He’s got the weed. Let’s go.’ Because some fan gave it to us, right? You had this f**king tinfoil of weed, and just knocking on your door, and you’re like, ‘What?’ You were tired. And it was like, ‘Do you have that weed?’ . . . So you opened the door fully, looked at me and this young fighter and were like, ‘Come on in.’ And we all smoked pot in this hotel room in wherever it was. think Montreal, actually, and it was just a fun time, and then seeing this guy move on to become the baddest motherf**ker on the planet.”

“We also had a conversation with him about I was wanting him to go to a different camp,” Rogan interjected. “I was like, ‘You’re too good. You should be in a real camp.’ He was like, ‘You really think so?’ I was like, ‘I know so.’

“I go, ‘You only have a certain amount of time in this thing. Your time should be invested with a real coach who’s going to hone your skills. You could be an all-time great, man.’ I remember telling him that. He was like, ‘You really think so?’ I go, ‘I know so. You’ve really got to move on.’”

Jones came up on the New York regional circuit, making a name for himself while training out of Team Bombsquad. He was signed to the UFC and picked up a few wins, then spent a brief amount of time at TriStar in Montreal before settling on JacksonWink as his permanent fight camp. Shortly after the move, Jones began the signature run of his career, dominating his way to the UFC light heavyweight championship and eight consecutive title defenses before his outside-the-cage issues got in the way. Rogan says he hopes his words were helpful to Jones as the young fighter was figuring out the best path for his career to take.

“I hope it helped,” Rogan said. “I mean, he might have done it anyway. Who knows? But I think it was a good conversation to have with a young guy. Like, ‘Listen man, you have real talent. You could really be something, but you’ve got to be coached by guys who are going to find out your tendencies.’

“He was so good, who knows how far – he might have been a world champion even with the camp that he was in. He was so good, and his wrestling is so powerful and he’s so physically talented, but it made a big difference, him to go to Jackson’s and be able to train on a regular basis with world-class fighters.”

Jones will finally return to the cage later this year after a 15-month suspension for failing a USADA drug test. He takes on Alexander Gustafsson for the vacant UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 232 on Dec. 29 in a rematch of their 2013 Fight of the Year.

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Conor. Conor McGregor releases lengthy statement on loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Tiny. Jon Jones: Amount of PEDs found in system was like ‘pinch of salt’ in swimming pool.

205. Daniel Cormier says he could keep light heavyweight title if he loses to Derrick Lewis.

Natural. Randy Couture breaks down Chuck Liddell-Tito Ortiz 3 and his concerns with bout.

Loud noises. Sijara Eubanks ‘screamed’ at Dana White over losing title shot at UFC 230.

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VIDEO STEW

The MMA Hour.

TTTHS.

Dana interview.

Bellator 208 Recap.

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LISTEN UP

Anik & Florian. Previewing UFC Fight Night Moncton and discussing Khabib’s future.

Believe You Me. Bisping discussing Khabib-Tony, DC-Lewis, Askren, and more.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Conor has definitely given up on getting the immediate rematch.

Also, good guy Conor.

Also, here’s Khabib doing a good thing.

Congrats, Jon.

It would appear Vitor wants winners.

Rumors abound Askren actually will make it to the UFC.

Update.

Violent Bob Ross.

A fight no one is asking for.

Pretty damn cool.

The latest generic fight poster.

Apparently Kyoji and Tenshin have a fishing show? I need this in my life, stat.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Jared Cannonier (10-4) vs. David Branch (22-4); UFC 230, Nov. 3.

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TODAY IN MMA HISTORY

2005: Mirko Cro Cop bounced back from his loss to Fedor Emelianenko with a unanimous decision win over Josh Barnett at Pride 30. Also that evening, Kazushi Sakuraba knocked out Ken Shamrock with punches.

2010: Cain Velasquez won the UFC heavyweight title when he stopped Brock Lesnar in the first round at UFC 121.

2015: Rafael Carvalho won the vacant Bellator middleweight title with a body kick TKO of Brandon Halsey at Bellator 144.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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