The MMA league UFC suddenly lost its biggest star over the weekend. Shortly after the unexpected retirement of heavyweight champ Jon “Bones” Jones, new and once again disturbing allegations have come to light.
It came out of nowhere: the world’s biggest MMA promotion suddenly found itself without its biggest star and perhaps the best fighter in its history.
“Jon Jones contacted us last night and resigned,” league boss Dana White announced at a press conference ahead of the weekend event in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Saturday – and in the same breath announced that the heavyweight title previously held by Jones would go to Tom Aspinall.
The 37-year-old Jones – famous for his skills in the Octagon, notorious for his scandals outside it – confirmed the end of his career shortly afterwards in an emotional social media post.
The momentous break initially seemed completely baffling. Shortly afterwards, it became public knowledge that Jones was – once again – the focus of a police investigation for disturbing reasons. It seems no coincidence that he is withdrawing (or being withdrawn?) from the public spotlight at the same time.
Scandal revelation shortly after retirement
As first reported by the Albuquerque Journal, the brother of former NFL football players Arthur and Chandler Jones was summoned to court last Tuesday. The case involves alleged hit-and-run and bizarre behavior surrounding the scene.
The incident in question took place on February 21 in the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico: On that day, a police officer found a “significantly intoxicated” woman in a crashed car who was “naked from the waist down.” During questioning, the woman stated that Jones had been driving the vehicle—at least until the point in time that she could remember before the accident. She said she had consumed alcohol and magic mushrooms at Jones’ house.
The police officer contacted Jones and reported that he appeared to be heavily intoxicated and had threatened to use “means to cause lethal force by third parties.” The woman found in the crashed car reported similar threats—she received 13 phone calls from Jones after the accident, as well as text messages.
During questioning, Jones stated that the woman would have left the house without him and that his threats against the police officer were based on a misunderstanding: he claimed that the officer had used “unprofessional language” and that he had assumed he was not a real police officer.
A long history of scandal
To make matters worse for Jones, he has a long history of conflicts with the law and erratic, threatening behavior.
In 2019, he was given a suspended sentence for allegedly slapping a waitress in a strip club and putting her in a chokehold, and the following year he was placed under house arrest for drunk driving. In 2021, he was arrested for domestic violence against his partner in a hotel room after the Hall of Fame ceremony in Las Vegas – again accompanied by threats against the police officers who were called to the scene. The domestic violence case was dropped, and Jones’ fiancée and mother of his three children is still with him.
His 2015 conviction for injuring a pregnant woman in a car accident and then fleeing the scene is also a painful memory.
The UFC repeatedly pardoned Jon Jones
In other sports, a man with Jones’ scandalous record – which also includes various doping incidents – would have seen his career ended long ago.
In the UFC, moral concerns and fears of damage to the organization’s image carry less weight: because Jones has remained a box-office draw with the public despite everything, he has been pardoned time and again. In his last comeback in 2023, he moved up to heavyweight and won the then vacant title against Ciryl Gane.
Since Jones’ first title defense against Stipe Miocic in November – in front of US President Donald Trump, whom Jones admires – a sprawling dispute over a title unification with England’s Aspinall has dominated the headlines: Aspinall held the interim title, which the UFC had created in 2023 when Jones was sidelined due to injury, while Jones was out of action.
Whether the career of scandal-hit star Jones is really over remains to be seen: experience has shown that retirements in combat sports are not necessarily permanent – regardless of the circumstances.
