Ex-champion Jones cited, faces date in court
UFC monitoring Jan. 31 incident
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones faces a Wednesday appearance in Metro Court after being cited on Jan. 31 for driving without a license, registration and proof of insurance.
Monday night, Ashley Espinoza, public affairs coordinator for the New Mexico Department of Corrections, confirmed to the Journal that Jones will be required to perform three days of community service for not reporting traffic infractions to Probation & Parole.
Jones trains at Jackson-Wink Mixed Martial Arts in Albuquerque. He is on probation, stemming from an April 2015 incident in which he ran a red light, crashed into another vehicle and fled the scene.
The UFC, the world’s dominant MMA organization, suspended Jones and stripped him of his title after that 2015 incident. He was reinstated in October. Last week, the UFC announced that Jones would face current champion Daniel Cormier for the title on April 23 in Las Vegas, Nev.
Regarding the Jan. 31 inci- dent, the UFC issued the following statement:
“We just learned of the situation (Monday) morning and are in the process of gathering more information.”
Jackson-Wink has had no comment.
Jones posted a video on his Instagram account, saying: “Guys, I’ve got my sobriety back, almost five months
sober now. Living happier and healthier, gotten rid of a lot of people that didn’t need to be in my life.
“Completed 65 appearances talking to the youth in the community. I’m going to win world title in a few weeks. And they’re talking about tickets.”
He also tweeted the following: “Lol either I’m really just that important or journalists are starving these day(s).”
And later: “I’m interested to see how mamy “journalists” show up in the court room on Wednesday to report this career changing masterpiece.”
Since the April 2015 car crash, Jones has acknowl- edged past use of cocaine and marijuana.
As a condition of his probation, he is required to make 72 separate appearances for charity or youth outreach.
According to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Dept., Jones was pulled over while driving a white Corvette near the intersection of Louisiana and Alameda NE at about 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 31. There was no information as to why he was pulled over, only that once detained he failed to produce a driver’s license, registration or proof of insurance.
Kayla Anderson, a spokesperson for the Bernalillo Country District Attorney’s office, told the website MMA Junkie that the D.A.’s office would not file a probation violation as a result.
Jones (21-1) is widely considered the pound-for-pound best in the sport.
In September 2014, the UFC fined Jones $50,000 and ordered him to complete 40 hours of community service stemming from a brawl with Cormier at a news conference in Las Vegas.
In January 2015, he was fined $25,000 for violating the UFC’s Fighter Code of Conduct after having tested positive for the primarily metabolite of cocaine as the result of an out-of-competition drug test.