LAS VEGAS – When it comes Jon Jones and his recent run of trouble, Donald Cerrone can sympathize. And “Cowboy” thinks his teammate and now-ex champ will learn to mature like he did.

MMAjunkie recently caught up Cerrone (27-6 MMA, 14-3 UFC) ahead of his UFC 187 bout with fellow lightweight John Makdessi (13-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC). The matchup is part of Saturday’s pay-per-view main card, which follows prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Jones, of course, was originally slated to headline the event, but following his alleged involvement in a hit-and-run this past month, he was pulled from the card and stripped of the title he had held since 2011.

Cerrone, who trains with Jones at Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA, said MMA’s pound-for-pound kingpin has been at the gym and offering support. And Cerrone, who’s dealt with his own legal issues following a boating incident, believes Jones will follow his path toward levelheadedness and maturity.

Want an example?

“I got punched in the mouth at a Whole Foods, (and it) knocked the glasses off my head,” Cerrone said earlier this week. “I was texting on my phone and walking across the crosswalk, me and (fiancee Lindsay Sheffield). The guy’s honking. She’s like, ‘You know that guy?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know who that guy is.’ I just didn’t pay any attention and went to my car.

“They come rolling over, running their mouths. And dude just smoked me and blew my glasses off my face. I was f-cking livid, man. Seeing fire in my eyes.”

So what did Cerrone, who’s ranked No. 4 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings and generally considered a world-class giver of ass-kickings, do? Admittedly, a few years ago, he likely would have got his revenge right then and there.

But now?

“Now, where I’m at having to deal with the boat incident and going through all this, I just bit the bullet,” he said. “I told the dude, ‘Today – today is your lucky day.'”

And Cerrone drove away.

“Just the maturity of where I’m at now and being in the public eye, I can’t just – when I’m driving my truck and road rage, I want to get over and beat people up all the time, but I just can’t do it,” he said. “Jon is just young. He’s got a lot of money and making the mistakes. … He’s just in the public eye.”

Cerrone hopes Jones will eventually come to the same realization he did and realize he can’t put himself in such situations.

Check out the full conversation, which includes his thoughts on the Makdessi matchup, above.

For more on UFC 187, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.