Back in July, news broke that Jon Jones was facing a battery charge for an alleged incident involving a strip club waitress.
The alleged incident supposedly took place at an Albuquerque gentlemen’s club call TD’s Eubanks Showclub. Records showed that Jones failed to attend his June bond arraignment for the battery case. Jones saw a bench warrant issued for his arrest. His legal team seemed to handle it immediately. UFC president Dana White revealed Jones would be just fine after viewing strip club video of the incident.
Jones’ Alleged Accuser Makes A Claim
However, a video recently surfaced of something that adds a new wrinkle to the case. In a video released by Albuquerque’s KRQE 13 News, police body-cam footage showed an exchange with the alleged victim. First, the woman detailed just what Jones did in the alleged battery via Bloody Elbow, claiming Jones put her in a chokehold and slapped her in a private area:
“Jon, like, put his arm around here or something, pretty tight, and I was like, oh you’re going to put me in a chokehold. I got out of the thing, and as soon as I did that, he just like picked me up and you know, flipped me over whatever, and just started roughhousing with me. The issue is that when he put me back down over by the bar, he like smacked my p****.
“The whole situation is so complicated. I’m not really sure what to say. This person gets away with f****** everything. At one point, he had me sit on his lap and stuff, and then he pulled me on his lap. When I was sitting on his lap, he started kissing on my neck and all this s***, and they’re not supposed to do that.”
She was asked by an officer if she thought Jones was being ‘protected’ from legal ramifications due to him being a celebrity. The woman responds (transcribed by MMA Mania) that Jones was indeed being sheltered because of his status:
Officer: ”Do you feel like they’re trying to protect him due to him being a celebrity type?”
Woman: ”I mean everyone’s protecting Jon Jones because he’s a celebrity.”
You can watch the video here:
Bench Trial Forthcoming
Jones has fought twice in 2019, defending his title by defeating Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos by decision at UFC 235 and UFC 239, respectively. Before that, he won back his UFC light heavyweight title by defeating Alexander Gustafsson in late 2018.
Looking to make up for lost time, Jones has expressed his desire to fight four times in a calendar year. With his latest legal issue still pending, that may or may not happen. A trilogy fight with Daniel Cormier most likely fell apart at UFC 241 last weekend.
The talented-but-troubled UFC legend is set to appear in a bench trial on September 26, 2019, according to a report from MMA Fighting today. For what it’s worth, Jones’ team has claimed that the woman has concocted a false accusation.
