White won’t punish Jones, wants him to return to UFC ‘later this year’

Photo by Mike Stobe/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

“I hope he’ll fight later this year. For my part, there will be no penalty”.

Plenty of fighters have called for the UFC to take disciplinary action against Jon Jones following the UFC light heavyweight champion’s latest arrest for drunk driving.

‘Bones’ was caught driving under the influence outside a strip club in Albuquerque earlier this year and received one year’s probation and four days of house arrest after reaching a plea deal with the Albuquerque police department.

Some fighters have called for Jones to be stripped of the light heavyweight title, but UFC president Dana White will be taking no such action.

Speaking to Brazilian MMA outlet Combate in a recent interview, White said there will be ‘no penalty’ on the UFC’s behalf and that he expects Jones to return to the Octagon ‘later this year’, pending coronavirus.

“I hope he’ll fight later this year,” White said (h/t MMA Fighting). “For my part, there will be no penalty.”

Jones, who has a history of drunken offences, hasn’t fought since his controversial unanimous decision win over Dominick Reyes at UFC 247. Prior to that, the Jackson-Wink product defended his light heavyweight title after edging out a split decision win over Brazilian bomber Thiago Santos at UFC 239.

Jones, who is ranked #1 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings, would like to return to the UFC to defend his title against top-five UFC light heavyweight Jan Blachowicz next.