Jon Jones didn’t even have time to bask in the glow of his retirement before trouble came knocking again. Just days after he told the world he was done with fighting, the Albuquerque Police Department dropped bodycam footage from a February crash that throws the UFC legend right back into the discussion, and not in the way he’d want.
The video, first reported by the Albuquerque Journal, captures the aftermath of a bizarre and messy car accident. Officers arrived at the scene on February 21 and found a woman in the passenger seat of a wrecked car, clearly intoxicated and without any clothing from the waist down.
She told police that Jones had been driving and then handed over her phone so they could speak to him directly.
Jones Accused Of Making Threats Over The Phone
Once on the phone, things escalated quickly. The officer said Jones started making threats and used language that implied he could have someone else use “lethal force” on his behalf. The officer’s bodycam caught him telling a colleague, “He’s making threats.”
Jones later told police in a follow-up interview that he hadn’t been behind the wheel. He claimed the woman had left his house earlier that day already drunk and had called him after the crash.
According to Jones, whoever picked up the phone on the other end spoke to him so disrespectfully that he questioned whether the person was actually law enforcement.
Still, the police didn’t buy his version. They hit him with a misdemeanor charge for fleeing the scene of an accident. His arraignment is set for July 24 in Bernalillo County. Jones’ lawyer stood firm, saying his client wasn’t driving.
All of this exploded just as Jones made headlines for something else entirely, calling it a career. UFC president Dana White confirmed the 37-year-old’s retirement last weekend but didn’t mention the legal drama brewing in the background. White announced Tom Aspinall as the new heavyweight champ, shifting the focus, at least temporarily, away from the chaos.
But for Jones, chaos never seems to stay in the rearview. Even as he steps away from the Octagon, the fallout from this incident could follow him far beyond his fighting days.
