Jon Jones is now a king without a throne.
The 27-year-old MMA star was stripped of the light heavyweight title and suspended indefinitely by the UFC on Tuesday in the wake of a felony charge for an alleged hit-and-run, which occurred on Sunday.
Opening up for the first time since the incident, Jones apologized on Twitter and admitted he “had a lot of soul searching to do.”
Jones turned himself in to police on Monday, after an off-duty police officer identified him at the scene of a three-car accident in Albuquerque, New Mexico. MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi reported Jones allegedly ran a red light before causing a pileup.
Vanessa Sonnenberg, a 20-year-old pregnant woman, was one of the victims involved. Witnesses claimed Jones grabbed a handful of cash from his vehicle and fled from the scene of the accident on foot. MMA paperwork with the name “Jonathan Jones” was found inside the vehicle, along with a marijuana pipe with marijuana inside.
After posting bail on Monday, Jones had his travel restrictions lifted by a judge on Tuesday, opening the door for the UFC to still allow him to compete against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in Las Vegas on May 23. However, UFC President Dana White put down the hammer on his top fighter, stripping him of the title and suspending him indefinitely.
Johnson will now fight Daniel Cormier to crown a new UFC light heavyweight champion. When appearing on Fox Sports Live, White admitted it wasn’t an easy decision:
Obviously we have a guy like Jon Jones, who has defended his title as many times as he has, and for us to have to go in and strip him of his title and suspend him, it’s not fun. But you know what they say, the show goes on. Anthony Johnson is ready for this fight, and Daniel Cormier was beyond pumped to get this opportunity.
No timetable has been given for Jones’ return.
Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He also is the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.
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