by UFC heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones has agreed to take four hours of anger management classes to resolve two misdemeanor charges stemming from a drug test at his New Mexico home in which he was accused of hostility.
The trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday before a judge in New Mexico, but a prosecutor and Jones’ defense attorney said a deal had been reached. The charges of assault, a petty misdemeanor, and interfering with communications, a misdemeanor, will be dismissed once Jones completes anger management courses and complies with all laws for the next 90 days.
Jones pleaded not guilty in July and when the allegations first became public earlier this year, he called them baseless. He posted on social media that he was surprised by what he called unprofessionalism from one of the testers and admitted to cursing after becoming frustrated with the situation.
Considered one of the greatest MMA fighters in history, Jones won the heavyweight title in March 2023 with a first-round submission over Ciryl Gane. It was Jones’ first fight in three years and his first at heavyweight. He was already the best light heavyweight, having won a record 14 title fights.
Jones will face Stipe Miocic in UFC 309 on November 16th at New York’s Madison Square Garden. He and Miocic were scheduled to fight last year, but a chest injury forced Jones to postpone the bout.
In 2016, Jones was suspended for a year for a failed drug test and his victory over Daniel Cormier in 2017 became a no-contest after another drug test came back positive. Jones later argued that he had met standards revised by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in 2019, which changed the criteria for a positive test.
A woman who worked for Drug Free Sport International, which provides testing for professional athletes, initially filed a report with Albuquerque police in April. She accused Jones of threatening her while she and a co-worker were at Jones’ home for a drug test.
A criminal complaint said the woman initially described Jones as cooperative, but he then became agitated.
Jones told police he apologized for berating the woman and her colleague at the end of the test. He provided video from what appears to be a home camera system that shows the woman giving him a high-five before leaving. He said neither of them appeared scared during the interaction.
