Jon Jones arrested for aggravated DWI, negligent use of firearm in Albuquerque

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been arrested again.

According to Jones’ arrest record, he was arrested early Thursday morning and booked at 4:43 a.m. local time in his home city of Albuquerque, N.M., on charges of driving under the influence, negligent use of a firearm, possession of an open container and no proof of insurance.

According to a report from KOAT Action News 7, local police officers responded to 3rd and Central avenues in Albuquerque after gunshots were fired shortly after 1 a.m. Officers reportedly found Jones inside a running vehicle. Jones reportedly denied knowing anything about the gunshots.

Jones allegedly told responding officers he had been driving and planned on doing so in the near future, according to the report. A breathalyzer test was performed, and Jones reportedly “performed poorly.” Police then reportedly found a black handgun and a 750ml bottle of Recuerdo mezcal in the vehicle. Jones was taken into custody.

According to New Mexico state law, aggravated DWI occurs when a subject tests for a blood alcohol content of 0.16 percent or higher on a breathalyzer exam, which is twice above the legal limit.

According to Albuquerque’s Metropolitan Detention Center current inmate list, Jones no longer is in custody.

Jones is no stranger to run-ins with the law. In 2012, he avoided jail time on a misdemeanor DWI charge caused by running his Bentley into a utility pole in upstate New York. Jones’ next major incident came in April 2015, when he was involved in a hit-and-run that left a pregnant woman with a broken arm and resulted in him being stripped of his UFC title.

Although Jones avoided a jail sentence, he got 18 months of supervised probation and had to make 72 charity or youth outreach appearances. He completed the work, but in March 2016 had a highly publicized traffic stop in which he engaged in a verbal back-and-forth with an Albuquerque police officer after being accused of drag racing.

This past September, Jones pleaded no contest to a battery charge for allegedly slapping a waitress at a strip club, choking her, kissing her and touching her after she asked him to stop. The 90-day deferred sentence included an order to avoid arrest and stay away from alcohol. That deferred sentence ended in late December.

In February, Jones defended his light heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 in Houston. In 2019, he had title fight wins over Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith.

The recent past in his UFC career has been dotted with failed drug tests and two instances of titles stripped from him.