UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones is facing two misdemeanor charges stemming from a confrontation with drug testers at his Albuquerque, New Mexico, home earlier this year.
According to online records from the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, Jones was charged with assault and interference with communications. He is scheduled to have a virtual bail hearing at 9:15 a.m. local time on Wednesday where he will be arraigned and given conditions of release. The case will then be set for trial before a judge within 30 to 45 days. Jones could face up to a year in jail and a $500 fine on the assault charge and a $1,000 fine on the interference with communications charge. MMAFighting.com was first to report the news.
The case stems from an incident between Jones and an agent from UFC’s new anti-doping partner, Drug Free Sport International (DFSI). According to a police report, a drug testing agent calling herself Crystal Martinez visited Jones’ home on March 30 to take a sample as part of UFC’s anti-doping program. Martinez claimed Jones was initially cooperative but became upset after initially failing to provide a urine sample. When Martinez offered to take a blood sample instead, Jones threatened to sue, took her cell phone, and began recording Martinez and a colleague. Jones then put the phone in her pocket and got in Martinez’s face, according to the report.
Martinez told police she was “scared” but chose to go ahead with the drug test because she didn’t want to further upset Jones due to the possibility of being penalized by the UFC. Jones was eventually able to provide a urine sample, and Martinez obtained her cell phone during that time. Martinez texted her concerns to her supervisor, who she named as Pearson Laughlin, but was reluctant to speak to Laughlin, fearing Jones would “attack me if he saw I was on the phone.”
Jones, on the other hand, denied threatening the investigators and said the interaction ended “amicably and peacefully.” In his statement to police, Jones acknowledged that he felt “annoyed” by the investigators’ arrival and that he used foul language during the sample collection process. However, he reiterated that he never threatened anyone during the incident.
Jones, who is recovering from a torn pectoral muscle suffered last year, is scheduled to defend his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic later this year, likely at the UFC pay-per-view in New York in November. UFC ended its affiliation with previous anti-doping partner USADA last year but will continue its program with new anti-doping partner DFSI beginning in early 2024.
