UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been named by police as a suspect in a hit and run incident which took place in Alberquerque, New Mexico on Sunday afternoon.
According to the Alberquerque police department a woman’s car was struck during the incident at which point the other car then fled the scene. The woman, who is believed to be pregnant, was hospitalized, but there were “no major injuries” resulting from the crash.
At this stage no warrant has been issued for the 27 year-old Jones’ arrest. They just want to question him, but have been unable to locate him so far.
“We are aware that the Albuquerque Police Department is interested in speaking to Jon Jones regarding his possible involvement in a motor vehicle accident,” a statement from the UFC reads. “We are in the process of gathering facts and will reserve further comment until more information is available.”
Rumors about the incident initally began to surface on twitter last night and appear to have quickly spiralled out of control with it being reported in more than one MMA site that Jones had already been pulled from his UFC 187 title fight against Anthony Johnson next month which proved not to be the case at this stage.
According to Johnson’s manager Glenn Robinson he’s heard nothing about the fight being cancelled.
It was also being alleged that Jones had already been arrested which police have officially confirmed is not the case, and it was even suggested that cocaine had been found in his car which police have also stated is “false”.
So it remains to be seen what, if any, role Jones had to play in this accident, but if he was involved it would be classified as a misdemeanor hit-and-run which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison.
It’s also fair to say that at this stage that Jones upcoming title fight with Johnson at UFC 187 should at least be classified as “at risk” until more information emerges.
With that in mind the UFC will no doubt be taking some small comfort that they already have a ready made replacement headliner waiting in the wings in the shape of a middleweight title fight between Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort which is at this stage scheduled to take place in the co-main event of the evening on May 23rd.
Jones has been in trouble with the police before, having being arrested on a DUI charge after crashed his car in the early hours of the morning in New York back in 2012, while this year it emerged that he had tested positive for cocaine during a pre-fight drugs test for his UFC 182 fight with Daniel Cormier.
