LOS ANGELES -- John Dodson might have come up with the best analogy yet for Jon Jones and his situation. Or at least the funniest.

Dodson, Jones' teammate at Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA in Albuquerque, N.M., said there was a bit of a misconception about Jones early in his career, which was fostered by Jones himself.

"He just wasn't the perfect angel that everyone thought he was to be," Dodson said at a UFC 191 media lunch Wednesday in Downtown LA. "You guys keep on thinking that he's supposed to be like Hannah Montana, but really he was Miley Cyrus."

Dodson, who challenges flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in the UFC 191 main event Sept. 5 in Las Vegas, said he sees a different Jones nowadays following his arrest on a felony hit-and-run charge. Jones has been at the new Jackson-Wink training facility regularly, but not necessarily for himself. Dodson said the former UFC light heavyweight champion is focusing on helping his teammates.

"Now he's starting to realize like, 'Hey maybe I need to start investing in my teammates' lives, because if I do then they'll start investing in mine,'" Dodson said.

Jones didn't always do that. Before recent months, Jones lived most of the time in upstate New York, where he grew up, and only came to Jackson-Wink for his training camps. He has since moved his family to Albuquerque with the intention to train year-round and be a better teammate.

"It's one of those things if you're willing to give up something in your life to help out someone else, they will do the same to you," Dodson said. "Jon is starting to get to that point where he's starting to understand that. No longer is he gonna continuously wrap his life around people that he's gonna have to constantly please all the time."

On April 26, Jones allegedly ran a red light in a rented SUV and struck a car driven by a pregnant woman. The woman suffered a broken arm in the crash. Jones then allegedly left the scene before police arrived. Law enforcement officials could not find him for 24 hours until he turned himself in.

Currently, Jones is waiting to find out whether or not the Bernalillo County (N.M.) district attorney will bring the case to a grand jury, though it is expected. The grand jury will determine an indictment. Jones will only put in a plea if he's indicted.

After the arrest, Jones was suspended by the UFC and stripped of his light heavyweight title. There has been no word on a potential return -- or even if he will ever return.

"He just needs to go ahead and focus on him," Dodson said. "I believe him and his family are well off. I always see them as a perfect family."

When Jones comes back, Dodson would not be surprised if he was even more popular.

"Everyone likes Batman, because he's so dark and edgy and willing to get the type of information [by any means]," Dodson said. "Everyone likes Superman, but no one really likes Superman, because he's that golden boy and he's always gotta do the right thing. He ain't gonna break the rules."

Dodson, 30, said Jones built a certain perception of himself and failed to meet it. That, he said, was his undoing. But, like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, Dodson expects Jones, the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, to one day be a revered figure in MMA.

"He had this safe zone and every one of them made sure he was this perfect angel," Dodson said. "There's no such thing as a perfect angel. I don't think even think Mother Theresa was a saint her whole entire life. Oscar Wilde said that every sinner has a future and every saint has a past."