Jones was quick to thank the support of his partner for not letting his dream end.
“She’s been through a lot to be fair,” said Jones.
“We’ve been living off her salary for two years.
“My sponsors dried up. When I wasn’t doing so well people couldn’t validate giving me money and helping support me so my income dropped 70 per cent.
“It’s been hard but she’s solid as a rock and it’s just more encouragement to go out there and earn a bonus check for her.”
The question of when and how Jones would make his return to the promotion was a lot for the Welshman to deal with.
“If someone tells you you’re not good enough you can always prove them wrong.
“If someone tells you ‘you’re good enough but we don’t have space for you’, or ‘we can’t quite agree on how we move forwards’, you don’t really know how you’re going to advance.”
The lightweight division is arguably the deepest in UFC, with a very large pool of fighters aiming to take the belt held by Islam Makhachev.
“The average numbers in a weight division are 40 or 50. Lightweight, with me currently signed, is 93 people.
“There are too many people in that division, it’s too flush and it’s overflowing.”
The size of talent pool made negotiations difficult for Jones and his management team, following his defeat to Ludovit Klein in London in July 2022.
Ultimately, they stepped away from the negotiating table, having failed to agree terms.
“We decided to take a step back for financial and performance reasons,” said Jones.
“I spent my time, worked on everything and got four good wins under the Cage Warriors roster and I’m back.”
