UFC heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones was charged with assault and interference with communications after an incident with a drug-testing agent.
The charges, which are both misdemeanors, came after Crystal Martinez, a drug-testing agent from Drug Free Sport, claims she was assaulted by Jones while collecting a sample for her company, the UFC’s anti-doping program partner, on March 30.
Martinez alleges that, along with her partner, Jones said he couldn’t provide a urine sample after attempting to do so. However, when she suggested a blood test instead, Jones started to get irritated and took her cell phone and started recording her.
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Jon Jones stands in his corner prior to his light heavyweight championship bout during the UFC 247 event at Toyota Center on February 08, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Martinez alleges that Jones appeared to be intoxicated during the incident, when he said people that come to his house “end up dead.”
If convicted of both counts, Jones could face less than one year in prison and fines.
Jones, 36, addressed the incident after it happened earlier this year.
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“I want to clarify that there is a video showing both drug testers leaving my home after the testing session, where we exchanged a high five and a hug,” Jones wrote on social media. “Although I was frustrated with the unprofessionalism and used profanity out of frustration, it ended friendly and amicably, nothing threatening at all. I was actually celebrating a friend’s birthday party at my home, and believe it’s perfectly normal to celebrate in the comfort of my own home.
“I must say, this particular tester behaved quite unprofessionally and even breached standard protocol along with HIPAA laws. Throughout my 20 years of being subjected to drug tests, I have never encountered such an incident with a DCO officer before.”
While Jones has been arguably the best heavyweight mixed martial arts fighter to ever grace a UFC octagon, he has had many issues outside his sport.
In September 2021, he was charged with domestic battery after allegedly hitting his fiancée. Jones also headbutted a patrol car after police detained him in that incident. Charges were later dropped, though he pleaded no contest to tampering with a police vehicle.
Jon Jones reacts to his win in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 285 event at T-Mobile Arena on March 04, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
One year earlier, Jones was arrested for DWI after a policeman responded to hearing a gunshot and found him in his car with an open bottle of alcohol and a handgun.
Jones would later accept a plea deal to reduce the charges of aggravated DWI, negligent use of a firearm, possession of an open container and driving with no proof of insurance to just a DWI. He was placed under supervised probation.
Jones has also failed a drug test in the past, as he was found to have used two banned substances in July 2016. UFC was forced to pull him from the UFC 200 card.
However, the USADA later found that Jones had taken a contaminated package of the erectile dysfunction drug, Cialis, and didn’t know banned substances were in it. Still, UFC suspended him one year and stripped him of his interim light heavyweight title.
Jones remains active in the sport today, though he has been dealing with a torn pectoral muscle that he sustained last year while training.
Jon Jones (red gloves) before his fight against Thiago Santos (not pictured) at T-Mobile Arena. (Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports)
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While he has been trying to get back in the octagon, Tom Aspinall from Great Britain owns the interim heavyweight championship title and is set to defend it on July 27 against Curtis Blaydes.
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