Jon Jones accused of battery at a New Mexico strip club
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is once again in the spotlight because of allegations outside of the Octagon. Jones is accused of battery stemming from an incident that allegedly occurred at an Albuquerque, N.M., strip club in April of this year.
The alleged incident happened while Jones visited TD’s Eubank Showclub, where a waitress claimed he made inappropriate contact with her, even after she told him to stop, according to an initial report by KRQE News 13 in Albuquerque.
In addition to touching her inappropriately, the waitress said that Jones also placed her in a rear-naked choke hold and lifted her off the ground roughhousing with her, according to a criminal summons filed in May. After Jones put her down, the waitress claims that he slapped her “p—y” and didn’t stop touching her until he left the establishment.
Though the complaint against Jones was filed in May, a spokesperson at his Jackson Wink team told KRQE that he was unaware of any complaint against him until KRQE contacted him for its news story about the incident.
In between the filing of the complain in May and the news report on Sunday, court records in Albuquerque show that Jones failed to appear at a bond arraignment for the battery charge in June. As such, the court issued a bench warrant.
Jones fought at UFC 239 on July 6 in Las Vegas, but Albuquerque police did not attempt to make an arrest because as the APD told KRQUE, they are not normally made aware of petty misdemeanor warrants like the one issued against Jones.
After he found out about the warrant, Jones went to Metro Court in Albuquerque and paid a $300 cash bond.
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James Hallinan, a spokesperson for Jones, provided KRQE with the following statement: “Today, the media told Mr. Jones about a false accusation launched against him and that paperwork had been sent to an incorrect address. However, after receiving the documents from the press, Mr. Jones immediately went to pay the small fee, and he, and multiple witnesses, stand ready to factually refute the malicious lies being told about him to the public.”
Jones has, of course, been involved in several personal incidents outside of the Octagon that have tainted his career, though he has been very active since returning to the UFC in late 2018.
Jones regained the UFC light heavyweight title that he has been stripped of on several occasions by defeating Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232 on Dec. 29, 2018. He returned slightly more than two months later to defend the belt against Anthony Smith and then did so again by defeating Thiago Santos at UFC 239.
Jones isn’t yet scheduled for his next UFC bout.
