Tom GantertLas Vegas, NV – Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) star Jon Jones was arrested early on Friday morning after Caesars Palace called police about a domestic incident that occurred with the mother of his three children.
The incident began in the early morning hours of Sept. 24 at Caesars Palace after Jones returned from going out drinking with some friends, MMA Fighting reported.
The police report said that when Jessie Moses, Jones’ girlfriend of 17 years with whom he shares three children, went down to the front desk of the hotel to get another key to their room, a member of the security staff noticed that she had blood on her face and on her shirt.
The security guard asked her about the blood on her lip and Moses indicated she was afraid to go back to her hotel room, MMA Fighting reported.
Then one of the couple’s children as the security guard “can you call the cops?” according to the police report.
Moses told responding Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) officers that “she was sleeping and Jones came back, [he] was not very happy,” MMA Fighting reported.
She admitted the UFC Hall of Famer had gotten “a little bit” physical with her.
The police report said Moses told officers that Jones “touched the back of my head and pulled my hair a little bit but he did not hit me or anything.”
She told officers he grabbed her by the hair because she was “trying to leave the room,” according to MMA Fighting.
But officers saw blood on Moses’ clothing and a bump with “dried up blood on the lower part of her lip as if she was in a physical altercation,” according to the police report.
She blamed the bloody lip on having dry lips, but the police report said Moses had blood “around her lips, chin and all over her sweatshirt,” as well as a swollen lower lip, MMA Fighting reported.
Officers wrote in the police report that the domestic violence victim “seemed scared to even talk about” Jones.
Police said Moses seemed most concerned about when her alleged abuser would be released from jail and asked how long she had until he was out, MMA Fighting reported.
However, police said she declined to file for a protective order against the UFC fighter.
Police said Jones had left the hotel before police arrived, but he was quickly arrested by officers outside the hotel, MMA Fighting reported.
He resisted arrest, according to the police report.
“As Jones was being detained, he became irate and smashed his head into the front hood of the [Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department] patrol vehicle leaving a medium size dent as well as chipping of some of the paint on the vehicle,” the report read.
Police said that Jones became “extremely agitated” when he was read his Miranda right and threatened officers with a “huge lawsuit” for locking him up “on the biggest night of his life.”
Jones was Las Vegas to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame a few hours earlier, MMA fighting reported.
The police report said Jones alternated between being irate, speaking calmly, and crying.
He told the officers who arrested him that he and Moses had been going through personal issues and had been “arguing about the tension between them,” MMA Fighting reported.
When police told Jones he was being arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence against Moses and felony destruction of property for damaging the police vehicle, he told them “he would like to take us all on and see what we could do,” according to the police report.
Police said he joked he could escape the handcuffs but then he apologized and complied after officers warned they were going to Tase him if he continued to resist arrest, MMA Fighting reported.
He was booked into jail but later released on bond and is due back in Las Vegas for court on Oct. 26.
“It’s hard to bring this guy to Las Vegas, for any reason,” UFC president Dana White said, according to ESPN.
“This city is not good for Jon Jones, and here we are again,” White continued. “It’s not even shocking anymore. When we bring him here, it’s almost expected. We can’t even get him to Las Vegas for less than 12 hours and induct him into the Hall of Fame.”
“It’s a problem. This guy’s got a lot of demons, man, a lot of demons,” the UFC boss said.
Jones has previously been arrested at least four times.
He was arrested for DUI in 2012, for felony hit-and run in 2015, and after an incident involving a waitress and a strip club in 2019, according to Fox News.
Jones was also arrested for aggravated DWI, negligent use of a firearm, possession of an open container, and no proof of insurance in March of 2020.
Holly Matkin
