While newly retired UFC star Jon Jones has urged fans not to believe everything they read online, his recent legal hot water is not looking good.
Jones, 37, is facing a misdemeanor charge of fleeing the scene of an accident in his native New Mexico, linked to an automobile crash in February of this year. The charge, the latest in a string of legal troubles for the fighter, only came to light subsequent to his retirement announcement.
While Jones was not found at the scene of the crash, a half-naked woman identified him as the driver of the vehicle she was discovered in, after it collided with another car. Now, Albuquerque PD have released bodycam footage of the crash scene, including a partial interview with the witness, and snippets of a phone conversation with a man alleged to be Jones.
The footage was obtained by the Albuquerque Journal, who initially reported the incident.
In the footage released, an individual later confirmed by police to be Jones can be heard speaking about unnamed individuals, claiming they “split girls. They’re the most evil people you’ll ever meet.”
The speaker then goes on to make statements the officers on scene believe to be threatening. “They don’t waste their cases with just killing you or petty crimes. But they definitely listen to conversations like this, and some of them are bored enough to kill you. To kill you. And they teach me when I wake up.”
The voice believed to be Jones — though he never confirms his identity on the record — then tells the officer that he wouldn’t be the first person he’d threatened, but the second. When asked to confirm his name, the voice on the phone instead talks about being untraceable, adding “My brother, they kill people for way less. She’s gladly dead.”
The officer also notes that the half-naked woman found at the scene of the accident has a photo with Jones, in his home, on her phone.
Earlier this week, Jon Jones posted a brief comment to social media, saying that “Keep in mind, even the media can get it wrong sometimes if they don’t have all the facts. Don’t believe everything you read online.” His lawyer, meanwhile, expressed shock that the fighter was charged in the incident.
Considered by some the greatest mixed martial artist of all time, Jones has a lengthy list of controversies and legal troubles, including a domestic violence incident following his UFC Hall of Fame induction, a previous hit and run incident in 2015 involving a pregnant woman, and failed drug tests for cocaine and performance enhancing drugs.
In 2024, he accepted a plea deal after being accused of assault and interference with communications in an incident involving a drug test sample collector. Charges were dismissed after Jones agreed to anger management classes, and to stay out of trouble for 90 days.
