MMA fighter and former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has hired his nutritionist, Lou Giordano, to also serve as his full-time driver after a recent incident that resulted in his being issued five tickets for allegedly drag racing.
"I have him here and he's driving me between every practice all day, even at night now," Jones said Monday on The MMA Hour (via Shaun Al-Shatti of MMAFighting.com). "I figured I'd take getting in trouble out of the police's hands by simply not driving."
Jones, 28, was pulled over on March 24 and cited with drag racing, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN, though he wasn't issued any tickets for speeding, according to Geoff Grammer of the Albuquerque Journal. Jones angrily argued with the officer who issued the tickets and called him a "liar" and a "pig," which TMZ Sports reported after obtaining video of the interaction.
Jones spoke in more depth about his decision to hire a full-time driver following his latest on-road incident (via Al-Shatti):
There's a pattern throughout my career. I've never gotten into a street fight, nothing crazy. It's always been something behind the wheel. So, by simply not driving, I'm pretty positive that there won't be any issues coming up in my life, especially (with my) sobriety as well. I've failed some drug tests in the past and I've gotten some traffic issues in the past. Now that I'm sober, now that I'm just not going to drive anyone for a while, I think we're going to be good.
Jones previously pleaded guilty to a hit-and-run offense in September 2015. The UFC indefinitely suspended him in April 2014 and stripped him of his title after he was charged in that case, though the organization reinstated him in October 2015.
He was also arrested in 2012 for a DUI, though he ultimately didn't serve any jail time.
Jones was one of the UFC's most dominant fighters before his suspension, defending the light heavyweight title eight times after earning it at UFC 128 by defeating Mauricio Rua. He is scheduled to face Daniel Cormier at UFC 197 on April 23 and is looking to return to the pinnacle of the sport after controlling the light heavyweight division for four years.
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