UFC’s Jon Jones accused of assaulting & threatening to kill drug testing agent

UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ inability to stay out of the headlines for the wrong reasons continues.

A report that first came from an Albuquerque, New Mexico, news outlet and then was corroborated by the release of the official local police report stated that on March 30th, Jones allegedly assaulted and threatened to kill a Drug Free Sport tester when they attempted to get Jones to provide a sample at his home at 4 PM local time. 

Drug Free Sport took over as the UFC’s anti-doping partner of choice following last year’s messy divorce from USADA.

The tester, identified as Crystal Martinez, reported Jones was cooperative at first, but her co-worker appeared nervous after returning from following Jones to the bathroom where he was unable to provide a urine sample.

They offered to take a blood sample instead and that is when Jones “appeared agitated” according to the report and then said he was going to sue them. He then allegedly took Martinez’s phone and started recording part of the conversation, some of which the police have seen the footage of.

After allegedly using some threatening language, Martinez said Jones got in her face to question why they came to the house so early, adding “do you know what happens to people who come to my house … they end up dead.”

Martinez wanted to end the test but was fearful Jones might assault her as fighters can be penalized for refusing to take a test. She was unable to use her phone as Jones still allegedly had it at that point.

He eventually agreed to try the urine test again on his patio at which point Martinez took her phone back so she could alert her boss as to the situation. She also stated she thought Jones was intoxicated as she smelled alcohol. She noted her co-worker had issues sealing the sample properly as he was very nervous from the alleged incident.

Martinez later filed an internal report and intended to file a police report, but the aforementioned boss allegedly told her to “hold off until UFC representatives spoke with her.” Her unnamed co-worker was “afraid of the repercussions” of filing a police report as well.

Martinez stated her boss (Pierson Laughlin) then contacted her on Thursday, April 4th asking why she wanted to file a police report and that she felt he was trying to talk her out of it.

A summons was issued on Friday, April 5th for Jones on accusations of assault and interference with communications for allegedly taking the drug tester’s phone. No charges are currently showing for the fighter, however.

On Saturday, Jones posted the following statement and video to his Instagram account where he says the testers hugged and high-fived after the session while admitting he was frustrated with the “unprofessionalism” of the testers:

To this point, the UFC has not commented on the matter. He is currently recovering from a torn pectoral muscle that resulted in him being pulled from last November’s title defense against former champion Stipe Miocic.

The list of Jones’ offenses and run-ins with the law is extensive. The last saw him coming to a plea deal in December 2021 following domestic violence charges stemming from a Las Vegas hotel incident in September 2021. Part of that deal was to “stay out of trouble.”