Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has taken another blow, weeks after he was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As many fight fans know, “Bones” was accused of pulling his fiancée’s hair and headbutting a police car on Friday, September 24, 2021. He faces two charges, injuring or tampering with a vehicle, a felony, and misdemeanor battery domestic violence.
Jones recently took to Twitter and denied that he had hit his fiancée, Jesse Moses.
“I love how people are imagining the worst possible situation in their heads and making it somehow factual,” Jones wrote via MMA Fighting in a now-deleted tweet. “I never hit my fiancé [sic] and our daughters were woken up after our confrontation. My daughters didn’t see or hear us arguing.
“That’s really the only thing I care to clarify. Outside of that, looking forward to moving forward without alcohol. It’s the first time in my life where I’m actually ready to quit. Glad to have the support of my fiancé [sic], family friends and fans.”
Two weeks ago, Bones’ longtime coach Mike Winkeljohn spoke with Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour” and announced that the former 205-pound champion would no longer be allowed to train at Jackson Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, until Jones sorts his life out.
“You have to stop drinking and fix these things for a certain period of time until you come back to the gym,” Winkeljohn said. “So at the moment, he’s out of the gym.”
And on Tuesday, October 26, 2021, Jones took another hit.
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Jones Fell Further Down the UFC Pound-for-Pound Rankings
Fans know how important the pound-for-pound rankings are to Jones. When ex-UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov surpassed him as No. 1 on the list last year, Bones ranted about it, saying it “wasn’t fair.”
A few months later, after it became clear Nurmagomedov was fully retired, the Russian was removed from the rankings and Jones was reinstated as No. 1.
However, a few days after Bones’ arrest in Las Vegas, he was sent back down to No. 2 and reigning UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman was elevated to No. 1.
And as of Tuesday, Jones is No. 4.
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski moved up to No. 2 and UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is now No. 3. See a screenshot of the rankings below:
UFCThe UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings as of Tuesday, October 26, 2021.
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Jones Hasn’t Fought Since February 2020, Preparing for Heavyweight
Jones hasn’t fought in the Octagon since February 2020, when he defended his light heavyweight belt against Dominick Reyes in the main event of UFC 247. In the summer of 2020, Jones announced he was vacating his belt and heading north to heavyweight in pursuit of his second divisional title.
Fast forward over a year later and Bones hasn’t made his debut. Jones has said on several occasions he’s taking the time to get his body prepared to fight the bigger men of heavyweight. Bones has also confirmed he plans on fighting in 2022.
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Jon Jones Standing in UFC Just Took Another Hit