Hours after UFC president Dana White announced heavyweight champion Jon Jones retired from mixed martial arts, the Albuquerque Journal reported Jones faces another legal issue. A criminal summons accuses Jones of leaving the scene of a traffic accident in New Mexico in February, and he faces a misdemeanor charge for the incident. He is scheduled to appear in court July 24 for a bond arraignment.
Albuquerque police responded to reports of a crash in February when they approached a woman in the passenger seat of one of the involved cars. The woman said Jones was the driver of the vehicle and that he fled the scene on foot. She called Jones, and police noted that the man on the line — who did not answer direct questions regarding his identity — “appeared to be heavily intoxicated and made statements implying his capacity to employ lethal force through third parties.”
Jones was reportedly interviewed in person days after the crash and said the woman in the car left his house intoxicated prior to the crash. She later corroborated that account and said Jones was the last person she remembered driving her car.
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Legal issues and controversies littered Jones’ career, which was a legendary one inside the octagon. He faced suspensions, removal from the UFC rankings and vacated multiple titles for his failed drug tests, a hit-and-run conviction, a domestic violence arrest and other troubles.
There is no immediate indication that Jones’ retirement is related to the latest charge. Jones’ lawyer, Christopher Dodd, released a statement on Monday firing back at the charges and accusing the Albuquerque Police Department of “improper” targeting of his client.
“As Jon’s lawyer, I am stunned by the Albuquerque Police Department’s decision to charge him in this new case,” the statement read. “In the thousands of cases I have handled in my career, I have never seen a case as strange and unwarranted as this one. Jon was not driving that night; he wasn’t in the car. It appears that an intoxicated woman used a false allegation against Jon to avoid being arrested for DWI, and the police fell for it.
“Based on the criminal complaint, it looks like they went so far as to seek a warrant for Jon’s cell phone records while conducting a misdemeanor traffic investigation.
“I have never heard of such a thing. It is truly unbelievable that the police would waste this amount of resources on such a case. The only thing I can think of is that the police were targeting Jon for improper purposes. We will get to the bottom of it and make sure that this baseless case is dismissed.”
Jones holds numerous UFC records across multiple divisions and was widely considered the greatest mixed martial artist in the world throughout his storied career. He accumulated 28 wins to just one loss with one no-contest across a career that began in 2008. Jones twice held the UFC light heavyweight championship and defended his title 11 times across the two reigns, and he won and defended the heavyweight championship before the end of his time in the cage.
Frustration among fans abounded prior to Jones’ retirement, as the uncertainty around the direction of his career led more than 130,000 people to sign an online petition to strip him of his heavyweight title. White had been insistent that Jones would fight interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall this year, but the fight long remained unbooked.
White announced as part of Jones’ retirement that Aspinall is now the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion.
“Listen, if you look at what [Jones] accomplished in the sport, no. It is what it is,” White said. “I obviously feel bad for Tom that he lost all that time and money but we will make it up to him. Tom Aspinall is a good guy, he has been incredible in this process. He will be a great heavyweight champion for us and I’m excited to work with him.”
