Jon Jones Needs to Learn That Probation Is Not a Joke

As of writing this column, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is still sitting in a jail cell citing several citations from an incident in Albuquerque, New Mexico where a police officer charged him with drag racing. While Jon Jones denies any wrongdoing, he turned himself into his probation officer as the citation was seen as a probation violation stemming from his hit-and-run charge from 2015. The Albuquerque Police Department already released the officer’s body cam footage, showing footage of the officer citing Jones, who was quite upset and called the officer a “pig” and a “liar.”

Jones spoke to The MMA Hour and Ariel Helwani earlier this week to discuss the story. Per MMAFighting.com, Jones said the officer fabricated the idea that he was drag racing. He stated: “I actually have a lot of friends in the department. I doubt that’s the case. I just think this officer in particular was looking for a DWI or something. He was trying to stick with me one of those and once he realized I was sober, I don’t know if he was in a bad mood or whatever, but he was definitely confrontational. He needed something to justify pulling me over. He fabricated the whole thing that I was drag racing.”

Last September, Jon Jones entered a guilty plea regarding his hit-and-run charge in Albuquerque. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation and also 72 appearances doing charity and public speaking work with children. No matter what Jon Jones says, I’m not sure how easy he got off with his last brush with the law. He was given probation instead of jail time, but it’s still probation. Now granted, I realize that Jones wasn’t found or cited for speeding, but we’ve still only heard his side of the story. Jones told Ariel Helwani he was driving his Corvette, and he was revving up his motor to respond some fans who were trying to get his attention. Maybe Jon Jones shouldn’t be driving around at night in a Corvette when he has one of the biggest fights of his career coming up.

Jon Jones is a grown man, but he’s been getting into trouble due to a history of unprofessional behavior. His DUI charge where he crashed his Bentley wasn’t a wake-up call. Testing positive for cocaine didn’t really change anything for him either as he proudly declared he wasn’t an addict. Then he later admitted he was still going out at night to house parties. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on at night while he parties. This culminated in his hit-and-run incident last year.

Here is what Jon Jones doesn’t understand. He got a gift by receiving a probation sentence instead of going to jail. However, my concern was the punishment might not have been enough to really set him straight. In the eyes of the law, conditions for being on legal probation include: “performing community service, meeting with your probation officer, refraining from using illegal drugs or excessive alcohol, avoiding certain people and places, and appearing in court during requested times.”

Probation is still a punishment, and Jones is not treating it as such. Maybe he shouldn’t be driving around town in his fancy cars and revving up his motor. I find it hard to believe he’s just going out to the gym or to the grocery in a Corvette. Maybe the officer was trumping up the charges, but Jones has to realize he can’t be out partying, going to clubs or strip clubs while he’s on probation.

Really, the only places he should be going right now are to the gym to train, to his community service appearances, and home to be with his family. Enough people have said it, but maybe he just shouldn’t be driving at all right now. He already got caught once driving without a driver’s license, insurance and registration, which I don’t know how that happens.

This will probably not suspend his upcoming scheduled title bout with Daniel Cormier at UFC 197 on April 23, which is supposed to be Jones’ attempt at redemption. However, if the fight is cancelled or postponed as the result of this incident, the fault will be with Jones, not with the police officer.