FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2019, file photo, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones attends a news conference for the UFC 235 mixed martial arts event in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — UFC heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones has agreed to attend four hours of anger management classes to resolve a pair of misdemeanor charges stemming from a drug test at his New Mexico home in which he was accused of being hostile.
A bench trial was set to begin Tuesday before a New Mexico judge, but a prosecutor and Jones’ defense attorney announced at the start of the virtual proceeding that an agreement had been reached.
The charges of assault, a petty misdemeanor, and interference with communication, a misdemeanor, will be dismissed as along as Jones completes the anger management classes and follows all laws over the next 90 days.
Jones had pleaded not guilty in July, and when the allegations first became public earlier this year, he called them baseless. He posted on social media that he had been taken off guard by what he called the unprofessionalism of one of the testers and acknowledged cursing after getting frustrated.
Considered one of the top MMA fighters, Jones took the heavyweight title with a first-round submission over Ciryl Gane in March 2023. It was Jones’ first fight in three years and his first in the heavyweight division. He already was the best light heavyweight by winning a record 14 title fights.
Jones will face Stipe Miocic in UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at New York’s Madison Square Garden. He and Miocic were scheduled to fight last year, but a pectoral injury forced Jones to postpone.
In 2016, Jones was suspended for a year for a failed drug test and had his 2017 victory over Daniel Cormier turned into a no-contest after another drug test came up positive. Jones argued later that he would have passed under standards that were revised in 2019 by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which changed the criteria for what constituted a positive test.
A woman who worked for Drug Free Sport International, which conducts tests for professional athletes, initially filed a report with Albuquerque police in April. She accused Jones of threatening her while she and a colleague were at Jones’ home for a drug test.
A criminal complaint stated that the woman described Jones as cooperative at first but that he became agitated.
Jones told police that he apologized for swearing at the woman and her co-worker at the end of the test. He provided video from what appeared to be a home camera system showing the woman giving him a high-five before leaving. He said neither appeared scared during the interaction.
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press