Last week, embattled UFC star Jon Jones found himself on the receiving end of more traffic citations after he was allegedly involved in a drag race in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
As a result, Jones engaged in a profanity-laced back-and-forth with a police officer (see it).
Plus, the traffic violations landed him in jail for 48 hours, as a judge deemed his transgressions a violation of his probation sentence; one he received for a previous traffic hiccup in the form of a hit-and-run which landed him in very hot water (in more ways than one).
Now that “Bones” is a free man, he can resume his training for his upcoming title fight at UFC 197 on April 23, 3016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. And to assure he avoids further traffic violations, Jones hired himself a full-time driver.
That’s according to his head coach Greg Jackson, who stopped by The MMA Hour to share the news.
“It was an unfortunate situation with everyone kind of being at fault a bit. But ultimately the responsibility is Jon’s. It’s a bad situation, but he came out of there really focused and really positive. That’s the thing with Jon, as long as he is laser-focused, he is a force to be reckoned with. He is really focused right now. It wasn’t a good thing, but he isn’t physically injured, he doesn’t have anything wrong — he made a mistake and maybe said some things he shouldn’t have. It was just a bad situation all the way around. He got in trouble, refocused when he came out, that’s the part I like. He’s focused and he’s got a driver now so everything should be fine. I just want him to focus on the fight, that’s what he needs to worry about. The rest of the circus he needs to not be distracted by. He’s a warrior and he needs to focus on that.”
Of course, Jon’s focus now has to be on Ovince Saint Preux, as his original foe and current light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier was forced out of the highly-anticipated rematch with an injury.
And though “OSP” is a big underdog to win in “Sin City,” Team Jones is not cutting any corners in their preparations for the 205-pound championship fight.
In more ways than one, it seems.