New video shows former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones head-butting a police car and screaming obscenities at officers on the Las Vegas strip after being detained in the early hours of September 24, 2021.
The Las Vegas Review Journal first obtained the body-worn camera footage on Tuesday after the ex-UFC champion reached a plea deal with prosecutors; he initially was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery domestic violence and injuring or tampering with a vehicle. MMA Fighting subsequently obtained additional footage through a public records request with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. At several points in the footage, Jones calls white officers “crackers” and uses a racial slur against a Black officer.
The vehicle charge stemmed from “a medium size dent as well as chipping of some of the paint on the vehicle” that Jones head-butted after an emotional outburst, prompting several of the officers to intervene to calm the fighter. At least six officers could be seen in the video.
Jones erupted after being handcuffed against a police cruiser and grew more agitated as officers tried to question him. He repeatedly said he had just come from his UFC Hall of Fame induction and accused the officers of targeting him because of his race.
“Humiliating me [on] my Hall of Fame night,” Jones is heard saying on the video. “You f*cking nerd. I hate you. I hate you! I hate you! You f*cking nerd. I hate you so much.
“Say your name publicly. … You turned me in my Hall of Fame night, just because I’m big and Black. And what did I do? …. I came from my Hall of Fame ceremony, and I’m Black, and I did nothing to you.”
