Sports UFC... Jon Jones avoids jail time with plea deal

Former UFC champ Jon Jones avoids jail time with plea deal

By Ryan McKinnell September 29, 2015 4:54 PM


Jon Jones rests during a timeout in his fight with Daniel Cormier at UFC 182. (Getty)

• Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is one step closer to becoming a professional athlete again.
  
  On Tuesday, Jones appeared in Bernalillo County Court to answer for his part in an April hit-and-run that left a local pregnant woman with a broken arm. Jones pleaded guilty to a felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident and was granted a conditional discharge by Judge Charles Brown.
  
  
  Under the requirements of the plea deal, Jones will serve 18 months of supervised probation and be required to make 72 appearances for various charities and speaking engagements with children.
  
  After the ruling was handed down, Jones released a statement to the media.
  
  “With regards to today’s decision made by the court, I am very happy to now be able to put this incident behind me. My actions have caused pain and inconvenience in the lives of others and for that I am truly sorry and I accept full responsibility. I have been working hard during this time away from my sport to grow and mature as a man and to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I have learned a great deal from this situation and I am determined to emerge a better person because of it. I apologize to those who were affected by my actions in this incident and I am hopeful that I will be given the opportunity to redeem myself in the eyes of the public, my family and friends as well as my supporters. I am not sure what the future holds for me but I plan to continue to do the work needed to be productive and successful in every aspect of my life.”
  
  
  Jones was stripped of his UFC title on April 28, two days after he ran a red light and stuck a car driven by Albuquerque, New Mexico native Vanessa Sonnenberg.
  
  According to witnesses at the scene, Jones quickly fled the accident, only to return a short while later and recover a handful of cash, then promptly flee again. Jones, however, left behind his rental car agreement with identifying documents, along with marijuana.
  
  After turning himself in to authorities a day later, Jones was subsequently stripped of his UFC light heavyweight title by the promotion, as they promised to gather all the facts before making a final judgement on when, or if, Jones would ever be allowed to return.
  
  UFC owners Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta were in court on Tuesday to show support for Jones. The UFC released a statement shortly after the plea deal was reached.
  
  “The UFC organization is aware that Jon Jones reached a plea agreement with authorities in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this morning stemming from charges associated with a motor vehicle accident earlier this year,” the release states. “As a result, UFC, through Las Vegas-based law firm Campbell & Williams, will thoroughly review the agreement before discussing Jones’ possible reinstatement to return to competition.
  
  “More information will be made available following completion of this review.”
  
  Prior to this very public fall from grace, Jones was widely regarded as the greatest fighter to ever compete in mixed martial arts. Becoming the UFC’s youngest-ever champion at just 23, Jones is essentially undefeated (sans a loss to Matt Hamill in 2009, due to a technicality over rule interpretation) over the entirety of his 22-fight, seven-year career.
  
  Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Jones has been in trouble with the law. In 2012, Jones was arrested on DWI after he crashed his Bentley in upstate New York. And just like Tuesday’s ruling: Jones avoided jail time.
  
  More recently, Jones tested positive for cocaine metabolites before his fight with Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 in January. Jones was fined by the UFC for the positive test and spent one day in rehab.
  
  Let’s hope the third time is a charm with Jon Jones, and he is able to get his life back on track with this latest chapter coming to a close.

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Apparently the attendance was bad for last nights fight, looks like the UFC is on the down swing. I personally am burned out on it with the shitty champs, bullshit fixed looking fights and the lame girl fights.

 

Hit and run on a pregnant woman while most likely intoxicated after already having a dwi.....this piece of garbage gets no jail time? What a fucking joke

 

watch what you say or he will eye poke you

 

GoodLawyer

 

Gus vs DC was an awesome fight that I expected to be garbage. The Rashad/Bader fight lived up to my boring expectations tho.

 

It's amazing what you can get away with when you have a little celebrity & some $$.

 

So obviously not @LawyerLarry

 

"and be required to make 72 appearances for various charities and speaking engagements with children."

Jayzuz ... is the judge insane?

 

I'm in your head.

 

Didn't black people go on and on about how the white man will do everything to bring the black man down, especially during the O.J. trial. That the racist LAPD detectives planned the whole thing because they didn't like seeing the O.J. drive around town in his Bentley. Now here we have a bratha that crashes into someone and causes great bodily harm, then flees. Someone obviously isn't doing their job if hes allowed to walk!

 

After previous DUIs and positive drug tests, I'm amazed that one whole entire day in rehab wasn't able to cure him.

Maybe they should have gone with 36 hours instead. That's like almost 50% more. Derp.

 

This means Cormier's title reign will be short.

 

This piece of garbage is a high earning Star, and that slut shouldn't have been pregnant.

He's the biggest PPV draw for UFC, plain and simple, so this was a dollars and sense thing. It's just been completely awful with Rhonda Rousey as the only thing UFC had to talk about during Jones' absence.

 

.....

 

.....

 

He's actually not their biggest draw. Just ask Dana. It's Ronda's world now.

 

They oversaturated the market a while ago. Each card has one or 2 recognizable names to a casual fan. For quite a while I only tuned in to root for GSP to lose and to watch Spider Silva and Nick Diaz fights. Now, I wait for the gifs the next day. I rarely even illagally stream a PPV. maybe once or twice a year.

 

I hope Aldo leg kicks that fuck for 24 minutes and knocks him the fuck out with a second left. And that McGregor cant walk for weeks and when he does he walks away with tail between his legs. He's a piece of shit. Calling his guys pussies, yelling that they suck. And this is right after tge fight while the dude was still out of breath. Fuck Connor. Has two quality wins....one against Minnie Mendez with a two week camp.

 

Me too.... Gus beat him once. After Bones takes back his belt, I'd love to see Gus maul him....again.

 

Aldo going to destroy the mick and blow his gimmick. Then Connor will be c-show semi main event where he belongs.