UFC President Dana White has provided his first public comments in regards to Jon Jones’ latest run-in with the law.
Early Friday morning, Jones was arrested in Las Vegas and he faces charges of battery domestic violence and injuring and tampering with a vehicle. The former light heavyweight champion is scheduled to make an initial court appearance on Saturday morning.
Following the UFC 266 ceremonial weigh-ins, White addressed Jones’ arrest, which took place hours after he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame for his UFC 165 battle with Alexander Gustafsson.
“Obviously, we’ll see how this plays out legally for him and where this ends up going,” White told reporters on Friday. “It’s hard to bring this guy to Las Vegas for any reason. This city is not good for Jon Jones, and here we are again.”
Jones was arrested in March 2020 on charges of aggravated DWI, negligent use of a firearm, possession of an open container and driving with no proof of insurance. He later pleaded guilty to the DWI charge and he served four days house arrest in addition to agreeing to one year of supervised probation, a minimum of 90 days of outpatient therapy, and 48 hours of community service after having the other charges dropped.
In addition, Jones was infamously involved in a 2015 hit-and-run where he was subsequently stripped of the UFC light heavyweight championship.
So when White was made aware of the latest situation, he wasn’t all that surprised.
“It’s like… it’s not even shocking anymore,” White explained. “When we bring him here it’s almost expected. You can’t even get him in Las Vegas for less than 12 hours to induct him into the Hall of Fame. It’s a problem. This guy’s got a lot of demons, man. A lot of demons.
“Is it really shocking anymore? It’s really not. It’s become not shocking. It’s almost like, ‘Uh oh, this guy is in Vegas, what’s gonna happen today?’ You want to hope that the guy is better and that won’t be the case, but he proves that every time he comes to this town that he can’t handle this place.”
