Jon Jones' coach Mike Winkeljohn has been forced to take drastic measures after the former light heavyweight king's latest run-in with the law. Jones was arrested last month in Las Vegas, Nevada, on charges of battery domestic violence, and injuring and tampering with a vehicle.
Mike Winkeljohn recently appeared on Ariel Helwani's The MMA Hour, where he talked about how he felt regarding Jon Jones' arrest. He also revealed the measures he has taken since the incident. Winkeljohn said:
"I was very disappointed, it's tough. The hardest part was when you hear that his [Jon Jones'] daughter said 'you gotta call the police officer'... it just makes it hard when he keeps getting in trouble. But I had a conversation with him and I said 'Jon, here's the deal man, you're like my little brother. You have to stop drinking and fix these things for a certain period of time so you can come back to the gym.'"
"So at the moment he's out of the gym, he's not allowed to come in the gym because I feel I had to do that because ignoring it and expecting different results is insanity. He's got a lot of yes people around him that won't tell him the truth, so he might hate me for it but I had to tell him the truth."
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Mike Winkeljohn went on to say that this was one of the toughest decisions he had ever made and that he did so to set a precedent for the rest of the fighters that he trains. He said he's optimistic and believes Jones will stop drinking and come back to win the heavyweight title.
Watch Mike Winkeljohn speak about Jon Jones below:
Dana White earlier weighed in on whether Jon Jones could be cut from the UFC
The UFC recently terminated Luis Pena's contract with the promotion. Pena was arrested in Deerfield Beach, Florida, on charges of battery causing bodily harm and battery domestic violence on October 9.
Dana White shed some light on the situation with Luis Pena at the DWCS press conference. When asked if the UFC could do something like that to Jon Jones, White replied saying, "Something like that could happen to anybody."
38-year-old Luis Pena allegedly struck his partner "multiple times with a closed fist." He subsequently struck another woman after she tried to intervene. Pena's partner displayed clear signs of injuries, including minor abrasions on her left arm and a bite mark near her left knee. The strike that his second victim suffered caused a purple contusion and laceration on her elbow.