MMA analyst disputes ties between Jon Jones' UFC retirement and reported criminal summons leveled against the fighter 

Jon Jones' latest criminal charge reports surfaced shortly after his retirement announcement. According to MMA analyst Jimmy Smith, the two events are unrelated.

Following news of Jones' alleged misdemeanor of fleeing a scene of an accident in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in February 2025, there was rampant speculation within the MMA community that his retirement might be connected to this incident.

In a recent discussion on Submission Radio, Smith explained his reasons for believing that 'Bones' announced his retirement independently of the recent criminal charges, saying:

"My perspective really is, [Jones] is less likely to retire because of that. Meaning, as I said, he's always been able to kind of refocus everybody on his fight coming up or fight he just had whenever he's in trouble. So, I think if he had gotten in trouble a week ago, he doesn't retire. Because he's like, 'A crap, now I got to turn things around and get people on my side or whatever.' Now, he doesn't have that option."

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He added:

"I don't believe it's, 'I got in trouble, so I'm retiring.' I think it's the other way around, where he's more likely to come back because he got in trouble... I do believe, honestly, that they're unrelated because getting in trouble just made him fight more."

Check out Jimmy Smith's comments below (0:24):

Jones is now reportedly scheduled to appear in court for a bond arraignment on July 24.

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Ex-UFC fighter reacts to Jon Jones' latest reported criminal charges

Jon Jones has a controversial past, marked by multiple DUI cases and other troubling incidents. Following reports of his most recent criminal charges, former UFC fighter Corey Anderson reflected on Jones' 2015 hit-and-run incident.

In a post on X, Anderson wrote:

"Everytime I see something like this, I reflect back to when I was in the UFC and he was just getting cleared from the hit and run of the pregnant lady, and I was calling him out for it. And everyone came at me about "people make mistakes".. now 7 years later.. still a mistake?"

Check out Corey Anderson's comments on Jon Jones below:

Jones pleaded guilty to the hit-and-run case from 2015, and as a result, he was sentenced to 18 months of supervised probation.

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Edited by Nilaav Gogoi