Its been a very rough week for UFC Light Heavyweight Jon Jones who following an alleged involvement in a hit-and-run accident on Sunday in New Mexico, has been stripped of his UFC Title.
UFC President Dana White made the announcement on “Fox Sports Live” after a meeting with Jones and his Attorney in Albuquerque.
On Monday, Jones handed himself in and was arrested on felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving death or personal injury. He paid the bail of $2,500 and left the Bernalillo County Metro Detention Centre on Monday night.
Following the incident and the striping of the title, Dana White has confirmed that Jones will be “suspended indefinitely” from the UFC and has been pulled from his headline fight at UFC 187 against Anthony Johnson.
The UFC has brung in one of Jones’s recent opponents, Daniel Cormier to take his place and fight Anthony Johnson for the title. Cormier was originally scheduled to face Ryan Bader at UFC Fight Night 68 in New Orleans. The UFC are looking for a replacement to face Bader, with an announcement due in the next few days.
During the announcement Dana was unable to comment on the future of Jon Jones. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. We have suspended him indefinitely. Obviously he needs to focus on his legal matters right now and, I don’t know, we’ll see what happens.”
You can check out the announcement from Fox Sports Live in the video below;
Tony’s Thought’s:
Dam this news has just spiralled out of control and I think the UFC are right in taking the steps they have taken. It’s very disappointing and without being able to have the full story I kind of feel for Jones who ultimately is still a young man with a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. But don’t get me wrong if you are involved in a hit and run then you have to own up and face the consequences. From the UFC’s perspective they cant afford to have a guy up on these charges represent them as a champion which would not only impact their brand but also the sport.
I hope and pray that Jones is able to sort things out and come back stronger from this as from a fans point of view he is one of, if not the most entertaining and dominant fighters in the whole of mixed martial arts. He has been through some adversity already in his career and bounced back so hopefully he is able to get this behind him and make a return to the Octagon later this year/early next year.
Im sure more will come to the surface on this story and again without anyone knowing the full truth its wrong to cast assumptions but I just hope that for all involved they are able to get past this and no serious damage has been done to the victim.