Jon Jones ticketed for 5 violations, including drag racing
Jon Jones' latest run-in with the Albuquerque PD involves drag racing in addition to four other citations, according to ESPN's Brett Okamoto.
The 28-year-old UFC fighter was pulled over March 24 and cited for a number of charges including drag racing, equipment modifications, an obscured license plate, inability to stay in his lane, and exhibition driving.
This is the latest road-related incident for Jones, who was stripped of the UFC light heavyweight championship and suspended from competition for a year after his involvement in a hit-and-run last April. He was also cited for driving without a license and speeding in February.
The news came to light during an interview with Ariel Helwani on "The MMA Hour" on Monday. Jones revealed the latest situation to Helwani, seemingly determined to get ahead of the story.
"I actually just came across some more tickets since this incident I had recently," Jones said. "I just got pulled over the other night for drag racing, supposedly. So this is probably going to hit the media really soon, I guess I'll talk about it right now before it comes out anywhere else. So definitely get ready to see this whirlwind play out."
According to Jones, he was at a red light when some fans pulled up next to him. He revved his engine to acknowledge them and then drove off when the light changed. Shortly after, he was pulled over.
Jones admitted to Helwani that he "totally freaked out," leading to Jones slinging several insults at the attending officer. He then restated that there is no truth to any of the allegations and that he will fight the citations.
It's unclear how this will affect the 18-month probation sentence he received after pleading guilty to the previous hit-and-run incident. The traffic stop in February was resolved with a fine and had no effect on the probation.
Jones' manager Malki Kawa took to Twitter to defend his client:
My client @JonnyBones was ticketed for drag racing on a technicality because he revved his engines. Speed was never a factor.
— malki kawa (@malkikawa) March 28, 2016
He was driving within the legal limits in a 35mph zone. He did not receive a ticket for speeding 🤔
— malki kawa (@malkikawa) March 28, 2016
Jones is scheduled to face Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 197 on April 23 in Las Vegas.