Dana White explains Jones' 1-night stint in rehab: 'They said, you are not an addict'

Looks like the turnaround time for the champ won't be too long, as the UFC is looking to book Jon Jones for his next title defense, against Anthony Johnson, and the likely date is UFC 187. Dana White recently appeared on the Jim Rome Show, on CBS Radio. While there he said that the UFC would like to get Jones back in the Octagon in May. Obviously, that's not an official, set in stone date, but UFC 187 on May 23rd is the only PPV that month. So unless the UFC has a huge Fox show in the works, that seems like it would be the most likely date.

White also spoke to Jones' 24-hour rehab stint (after testing positive for cocaine) and the ongoing treatment the champion is receiving (transcription via MMAJunkie):

"He went for a 24-hour evaluation," White said. "When the 24 hours was up, they said, you are not an addict. But my thing was, if you're doing that four weeks before the biggest fight of your life, there's some type of problem there.

"He's doing outpatient counseling; he's talking to counselors. This kid has so much talent - it's always the guys with so much talent that you go, why are you doing this? I want to help the guy."

So there you have it, in the words of Jones' rehab counselors, he's "not an addict." Now the big question is, come May 24th, is Jones still champ?

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on Jan. 28th, highlighting the booking of Jon Jones vs. Anthony Johnson. The headline has been updated to reflect the interview about Jones' rehab that accompanied the original announcement.