UFC great Jon Jones rocked with another criminal charge after sudden retirement

National Post

24-06-2025

Jon Jones may have been one of the best fighters to ever step inside the octagon, but it's outside of it where the real trouble starts.
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The controversial UFC heavyweight champion announced his abrupt retirement this past weekend before a report surfaced that he was facing a criminal charge relating to a traffic stop in Albuquerque, N.M., earlier this year.
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The Albuquerque Journal reported on Saturday that Jones has a criminal summons accusing the 37-year-old of a misdemeanour charge of leaving the scene of an accident in February.
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Jones has been called to appear for a bond arraignment on July 24.
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On Monday, Jones' lawyer, Christopher Dodd, fired back at the local police, calling the charge 'strange and unwarranted.'
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'As Jon's lawyer,' Dodd told TMZ, 'I am stunned by the Albuquerque Police Department's decision to charge him in this new case. In the thousands of cases I have handled in my career, I have never seen a case as strange and unwarranted as this one.'
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In the court document, police allege that while investigating a traffic incident they discovered a woman in the passenger seat of a car who had been 'exhibiting signs of significant intoxication and lacking clothing from the waist down.'
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When questioned, the woman allegedly told officers that Jones was the driver of the vehicle, but had left on foot following the crash.
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'Jon was not driving that night, he wasn't in the car,' Dodd told the outlet. 'It appears that an intoxicated woman used a false allegation against Jon to avoid being arrested for DWI and the police fell for it.
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'Based on the criminal complaint, it looks like they went so far as to seek a warrant for Jon's cellphone records while conducting a misdemeanour traffic investigation. I have never heard of such a thing.'
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This is far from Jones' first brush with the law.
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In 2015, Jones pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident after an incident in which he was alleged to have run a red light, crashing his rental car in a collision involving two other vehicles. Jones allegedly fled the scene on foot, leaving behind an injured pregnant woman in another vehicle.
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In 2021, Jones was charged with domestic battery – which was later dropped — and tampering with a police vehicle after an alleged incident with his fiancee in Las Vegas.