UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been accused of assault and interfering with communications after allegedly uttering a death threat towards two drug testing agents, according to an incident report from the Albuquerque Police Department.
The report states that police responded to a call on the morning of April 5 from Crystal Martinez, who conducts drug tests on behalf of Drug Free Sport International, the entity tasked with collecting samples from athletes as part of the UFC’s anti-doping program.
Martinez told police that she and a co-worker, identified as Jerome Romero in the report, arrived at Jones’s residence in the late afternoon of March 30 to collect a urine sample from the UFC champion.
According to Martinez’s statement, Jones was initially cooperative but then appeared agitated when he was unable to urinate and was offered the opportunity to submit a blood test instead. Martinez said a “tense and puffed up” Jones then allegedly asked the agents whether they had money because he planned on suing them and then proceeded to grab Martinez’s phone off the table to record a video of them while repeating that he was going to sue.
According to the incident report, Martinez said Jones then asked her and Romero why anti-doping control officers come to his house so early and said that people who come to his house “end up dead.”
Martinez told officers that she was afraid at that moment and wanted to terminate the test, but feared Jones “might hit her” because the UFC penalizes athletes who do not cooperate with drug testing protocols.
Martinez said Jones did eventually agree to try a urine test again and placed Martinez’s phone down before doing so. Martinez then used her phone to text her boss to let him know that Jones was threatening her and that she could not call him for fear that Jones may “attack her” if he saw her on a phone call.
Martinez also told police that she believed Jones may have been intoxicated because she “smelled the odour of an alcoholic beverage coming from him.”
Upon procuring the urine sample, Martinez and Romero left and Martinez submitted an internal report for her boss and informed him that she planned on also filing a police report.
Martinez told police that she wanted to file charges and, according to the report, the police department is issuing a summons to Jones.
On Saturday afternoon, Jones released a statement on his Instagram account, saying that he was frustrated with the “unprofessionalism” of the officers, but that the situation “ended friendly and amicably.” He accompanied the statement with security video from his home that shows him exchanging a high-five and fist-bump with Martinez and Romero as they left.
“I want to address reports about me allegedly threatening a drug tester’s life and taking a phone, I want to clarify that there is a video showing both drug testers leaving my home after the testing session, where we exchanged a high five and a hug,” Jones wrote. “Although I was frustrated with the unprofessionalism and used profanity out of frustration it ended friendly and amicably, nothing threatening at all. I was actually celebrating a friend’s birthday party at my home, and I believe it’s perfectly normal to celebrate in the comfort of my own home.
“I must say, this particular tester behaved quite unprofessionally and even breached standard protocol along with HIPAA laws. Throughout my 20 years of being subjected to drug tests, I have never encountered such an incident with a DCO officer before.”
UFC and Drug Free Sport International have not responded to a request for comment at this time, while a representative for Jones referred Sportsnet to the statement that he made on his Instagram page.
Jones has had a variety of legal issues in the past. Jones pleaded guilty to charges of driving while intoxicated on two separate occasions in 2012 and 2020.
Jones also pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident following a hit-and-run incident in 2015. In 2019, Jones pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct charges stemming from an incident at a strip club in Albuquerque.
