UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones was once arrested Saturday according to allegations that he assaulted and threatened to kill a drug testing agent, police in New Mexico stated.
The case was once triggered via a criticism from a drug-test pattern assortment employee, Crystal Martinez, who stated she and a colleague had long gone to Jones’ Albuquerque house at 4 a.m. on March 30 to gather urine for a wonder drug examine on behalf of their employer, Drug Free Sport International, which is gotten smaller via UFC.
The UFC, Drug Free Sport International, and Jones’ supervisor didn’t in an instant reply to requests for remark Saturday night.
Speaking in a remark posted on his Instagram account, Jones stated one of the pattern creditors concerned within the incident remaining month behaved “unprofessionally.” He admitted being annoyed, however stated the come across “ended friendly and amicably.”
“Nothing threatening at all,” he stated.
Martinez stated Jones was once unsatisfied with the gathering procedure and was once to begin with not able to produce urine, prompting her to counsel a blood examine, in accordance to a police document.
The advice, she stated, made him much more offended, the document stated.
Jones allegedly threatened to sue the 2 pattern creditors, the document states, mentioning Martinez. She believed the fighter may had been inebriated, she stated, in accordance to the document.
Amid the chance that UFC fines may kick in if urine for a drug examine wasn’t produced at the spot, Jones walked away with pattern assortment colleague Jerome Romero and returned with a pattern, in accordance to the document.
At one level Jones picked Martinez’s telephone up off a floor and began recording the interplay, the lady instructed police. Officer Miguel Andres Stanley stated in his portion of the document that he reviewed the video on Martinez’s telephone purportedly recorded via Jones.
It captured the combined martial arts superstar pronouncing, “Here f—— Jerome and his girlfriend in my garage,” in accordance to the police document.
Martinez stated the fighter were given his face close to hers and stated, “Why you f—— other people come so early? Do you recognize what occurs to individuals who come to my space? They finally end up useless.”
She asked for her phone to be returned, to no avail, the report said. The woman said she feared for her safety and wanted to terminate the session but also feared that would set off Jones because it would lead to UFC fines.
When Jones walked off with Romero to produce a sample, Martinez said she took the opportunity to get her phone, which she said Jones had put down, according to the report. Martinez texted her boss about the situation, the report said.
Romero returned from collecting a sample from Jones looking frightened and pale, she said, per the report.
“Mr. Jones was not very happy to see them there and his behavior at times was hostile,” the document says Romero instructed officials.
Afterward, Martinez stated she instructed superiors she sought after to push for fees to be filed in opposition to the fighter, at the same time as she stated her manager discouraged it and stated she will have to look ahead to the UFC to reply.
Jones referred to as Martinez a liar, stated he by no means threatened her or her coworker, and stated he believed she was once unsatisfied as a result of of offensive language he utilized in his storage as they tried to gather urine, in accordance the police document.
Jones was once interviewed on Saturday via telephone, it stated.
He additionally expressed dismay with Romero, admitting that he threatened to sue him for bringing his spouse and having her wait out of doors in a automobile, pronouncing he believed this was once a contravention of a federal affected person privateness regulation, the document states.
Jones stated he by no means spoke of other people dealing with loss of life if they come at his house too early, however police quoted his recollection of what he instructed Martinez: “Tell everyone at headquarters not to send people to my home so early because it could be a dangerous environment.”
Jones instructed police he apologized for any profanity, and he famous to police that he gave Martinez a high-five, in accordance to the document. “We exchanged a high five and a hug,” Jones stated on Instagram, talking of each pattern assortment employees.
Jones was once issued a summons to seem in court docket according to allegations of attack and interfering with communications. The summons doubled as his arrest, and it does not seem Jones was once taken into custody or booked.
It’s now not the primary time Jones has been in bother with the regulation.
In 2015, he was once stripped of his gentle heavyweight championship following his arrest in connection to a hit-and-run crash that injured a pregnant girl. In 2021, he was once arrested in Las Vegas on a home battery fee for allegedly grabbing his fiancée via her hair. As section of a plea deal within the case, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor belongings injury fee for destructive a police automobile all through his arrest.
Jones has additionally been suspended for doping. In 2018, he was once handed a 15-month suspension for his 2nd violation of the UFC’s anti-doping coverage.
He turned into UFC heavyweight champion in March 2023, and has a report of 27 wins, one loss, 0 attracts and one no contest, which implies that neither competitor may also be declared the winner.
In overdue December, UFC introduced that Drug Free Sport International would habits “no-notice sample collections” for its athlete drug exams underneath a brand new anti-doping coverage that started Dec. 31.
In a remark on the time, the league described Drug Free Sport International as “a global leader in the anti-doping industry” that does equivalent pattern collections for Major League Baseball, the NFL, NASCAR, the PGA and the NCAA.