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Jon Jones' attorney issues statement on fighter's latest legal woes, claims 'police fell' for 'false allegation'

Former two-division UFC champion Jon Jones is pushing back against his latest run-in with the law.

In a statement issued Monday to Uncrowned, Jones’ attorney Christopher Dodd staunchly denied Jones' involvement in a Feb. 21 incident that landed the now-retired UFC Hall of Famer a misdemeanor charge from Albuquerque police for leaving the scene of a traffic accident. Dodd claimed the individual involved "used a false allegation against Jon to avoid being arrested for DWI, and the police fell for it."

Dodd's full statement can be read below.

As Jon’s lawyer, I am stunned by the Albuquerque Police Department’s decision to charge him in this new case. In the thousands of cases I have handled in my career, I have never seen a case as strange and unwarranted as this one. Jon was not driving that night; he wasn’t in the car. It appears that an intoxicated woman used a false allegation against Jon to avoid being arrested for DWI, and the police fell for it.

Based on the criminal complaint, it looks like they went so far as to seek a warrant for Jon’s cell phone records while conducting a misdemeanor traffic investigation.

I have never heard of such a thing. It is truly unbelievable that the police would waste this amount of resources on such a case. The only thing I can think of is that the police were targeting Jon for improper purposes. We will get to the bottom of it and make sure that this baseless case is dismissed.

In a police report obtained by Uncrowned, Jones' name arose when a woman was found in the passenger seat of a car following a traffic accident in Albuquerque on Feb. 21 while "exhibiting signs of significant intoxication and lacking clothing from the waste down." The woman told police that Jones was the driver of the car and fled the scene on foot. She then called Jones and a police service aide spoke to the man on the other line, believed to be Jones. That man allegedly "appeared to be heavily intoxicated and made statements implying his capacity to employ lethal force through third parties" against the aide.

In response to the perceived threat, the aide stated they called for backup and a police officer spoke to the man on the phone, who allegedly made similar "allusions to violence." The man never answered direct questions about whether he was actually Jones.

According to the police report, the woman told police that she arrived at Jones' residence at 11:30 p.m. and initially "expressed reservations about consuming alcohol with Mr. Jones, citing previous incidents where she alleged he forced her to drive home while intoxicated. She stated that she received assurances that this would not be the case this time, and subsequently consumed alcohol and ingested psilocybin mushrooms" at Jones' house. Per the police report, following "a restroom incident requiring a change of clothing," the woman then "removed her pants with the intention of having Mr. Jones drive her home to retrieve clothing." Her next recollection was being at the scene of the traffic accident and the last person she remembered driving the car was Jones. Jones also reportedly called the woman's phone 13 times and texted her "numerous times" from the time after the crash to the following morning.

Jones has been ordered to appear in court July 24 for a bond arraignment.

A longtime former UFC light heavyweight champion, Jones, 38, vacated his UFC heavyweight title on Saturday by announcing his retirement from MMA, finally ending a drawn-out saga that has kept British heavyweight Tom Aspinall stuck in an interim champion role for the past 19 months.

Infamously, Jones' first reign as UFC light heavyweight champion ended in 2015 due to another hit-and-run accident that injured a pregnant woman. In that situation, which is only one among a laundry list of legal issues Jones has found himself mired in over the years, the former champ fled the scene on foot following the crash, only to return, grab cash from inside the vehicle, then flee again.

Jones appeared to comment on his latest run-in with the law late Saturday night on social media, writing: "Keep in mind, even the media can get it wrong sometimes if they don’t have all the facts. Don’t believe everything you read online."

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