Jeremy Stephens was a no-show at Friday night’s UFC On FX 5 event after he was picked up by police officers earlier that day on an outstanding warrant for assault and his management have now released a statement shedding more light on the situation.
According to Evolution Agents, the assault stems from an altercation at a party which Stephens attended in Iowa last year. Rather than focus on the case itself, the main portion of the statement centers on why the police chose to arrest him on this particular day given that he’d been in the state for the best part of a week prior to the fight.
Speaking to the press after Friday night’s show, UFC President Dana White, who’d tried in vain to get Stephens released on bail, was in no doubt that the Iowa police “have it in” for Stephens and implied that they intended to make life difficult for him.
Read the full statement from Stephens management below.
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“In response to the recent arrest and allegations regarding Jeremy Stephens we would like to take this opportunity to reach out to his supporters and clarify some of the information that has been circulating in the media.
In 2011, Jeremy was attending a homecoming party in Des Moines, Iowa. A person in attendance became intoxicated and disorderly, and was asked to leave by the owner of the establishment. The intoxicated individual subsequently became involved in a physical altercation with another person at the event. We have learned that, as the featured guest at the party, Jeremy’s name came up during the police investigation of the assault.
Prior to being detained the morning of October 5, 2012, in Minneapolis, Jeremy had never been arrested in connection with the assault, contacted about any possible charge and or notified about any outstanding warrant by mail or any other means. Jeremy has lived at the same residence in San Diego and has maintained the same phone number for the past year or more. Jeremy also uses social media to provide updates on his training, and to thank fans, supporters, sponsors, and the UFC. In short, Jeremy is not a hard guy to find, which can be seen at www.LilHeathenMMA.com.
At this time, we do not know why Polk County (Iowa) authorities waited to have a warrant served on Jeremy until the morning of his fight. He arrived in Minnesota four days earlier, stayed at the hotel with other fighters for the event, and attended the public weigh-in on Thursday afternoon. Because he was arrested so close to the time of the fight, arrangements for his release could not be made in time for him to compete despite the diligent efforts of the UFC. Minnesota state officials were great to deal with, but Polk County kept changing the deal making it impossible to get Jeremy released.
It will take some time for this unfortunate situation to be resolved. We ask that everyone be patient and wait for the truth to come out. We also would like to thank Jeremy’s fans who are standing by him during this tough time and especially Dana White and the staff at UFC for their incredible display of support for Jeremy throughout the ordeal.
There is nothing to hide, so we will keep everyone updated as things progress.”
