The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) has penalized UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones with a $50,000 fine and 40 hours of community service for his part in a brawl with number one contender Daniel Cormier at a press conference in Las Vegas last month. Jones’ community service must be performed in Las Vegas, according to the commission.
Cormier received a $9,000 fine and two days of community service to be performed in his hometown of San Jose, Calif.
Jones took to Twitter after Tuesday’s hearing to voice his concerns over having to complete the community service before his fight with Cormier at UFC 182 on Jan. 3:
40 hours of community service in Vegas with a fight coming up is the only thing that really concerns me.
— BONY (@JonnyBones) September 23, 2014
The fact that this needs to be completed before the fight is definitely going to have effect on my camp. I respect the commission though
— BONY (@JonnyBones) September 23, 2014
Jones apologized during the hearing:
“I want to sincerely apologize to the MGM, to my bosses at the UFC – Dana [White] and Lorenzo [Fertitta] – to my fans, Daniel’s fans, to you guys, the commission. To all the [athletes] I represent in the Muay Thai community. I made us all look bad and as the champion – it was a terrible thing.”
He also explained how the tension between he and Cormier had reached a boiling point:
“When we walked into each other we came together like magnets. Leading up to a fight there’s a lot of mental warfare that goes into it. When you have two elite fighters who have never lost – when you get your throat touched like that, for me to not respond may give him an advantage. My retaliation was more about not allowing him to get any type of mental edge over me.”
Cormier claimed he felt he had to stand up for himself:
“When Jon put his head on me – I feel like I have to defend myself. When I feel like somebody was trying to intimidate or bully me I have to defend myself.”
In addition to the penalty handed down by the NSAC, Jones revealed that because of the incident he lost his endorsement deal with Nike, as well as another potential endorsement deal.
That seems a pretty hefty price Jones has had to pay for the brawl. Do you feel for the champ or do you think it’s justified?
HT: UFC.com
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