UFC fans have field day after Jon Jones urges people ‘not to screw up’ in coronavirus message… then gets arrested

A message from UFC pound-for-pound king Jon ‘Bones’ Jones imploring his millions of social media followers “not to screw this up” as the world grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic has come back to bite him after his latest arrest.

Jones was detained by police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Thursday morning on suspicion of aggravated DUI and negligent use of a firearm.

Officers responded after hearing a gunshot and reportedly found the UFC light heavyweight champ with an open bottle of Recuerdo mezcal in his car.

Jones “performed poorly” on all three sobriety tests conducted by officers, and according to details of the police report“had a green leafy substance on his shirt and pants, consistent with marijuana” and “an odor of alcohol coming from his facial area.”

The 32-year-old was subsequently released and is due to appear at an arraignment hearing on April 9, in what is merely the latest in a litany of run-ins with the law.

Previous misdemeanors include a DUI charge in 2012 for driving his Bentley into a pole in New York (for which he had his license suspended for 6 months and paid a $1,000 fine), a 2015 hit-and-run incident in Albuquerque in which a pregnant woman was in the other vehicle (for which Jones was slapped 18 months under supervised probation and stripped of his UFC title), and a battery charge for an alleged incident with a strip club waitress, also in Albuquerque, in April of last year (for which Jones eventually received a 90-day deferred sentence).

Jones has frequently talked of contrition in recent years and has claimed to be a changed man, yet Thursday’s incidents in New Mexico merely burnish the bad boy reputation of an MMA star who manages to makes the likes of ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor look like a saint in comparison.

But for Jones, the embarrassment this time around is exacerbated by his own messages in recent days imploring his millions of followers on social media “not to screw this up” as they are asked to stay at home amid the coronavirus outbreak around the world.

“First time in history we can save the human race by laying in front of the TV and doing nothing,” the tweet by Jones read.

“Let’s not screw this up.”

A day later on Instagram he posted a message to his followers telling them to “stay at home, stay happy, stay positive, keep a positive mindset, keep a positive outlook... I promise you we’ll get through this thing.”

The irony that Jones could not stick to his own advice was not lost on social media...

Many of Jones’s UFC rivals have also responded with barely-contained glee at his latest antics.

“See, there’s no need to panic. The world’s still perfectly normal,” gloated welterweight motormouth Colby Covington, sharing a report of the incident complete with a grinning mugshot of Jones.   

The response from the UFC – so used to putting out fires involving one of its biggest names – has thus far been non-committal, simply saying the organization was “aware of the situation” and “gathering all the evidence.”

The organization currently has far bigger troubles on its doorstep as the coronavirus pandemic rages on, not least finding a way to put on the UFC 249 spectacular set to be headlined by the lightweight title clash between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson.

But, yet again, it now has to decide how to deal with a man who is one of its blockbuster stars, but also one of its biggest headaches.