In a revelation during a recent episode of “WEIGHING IN,” veteran MMA referee John McCarthy shared a disturbing account involving UFC champion Jon Jones and a commission official before one of Jones’ events.
According to McCarthy, the incident occurred when he went to Jones’ locker room before a bout. McCarthy recounted that Jones asked for someone to get on the ground, and a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who worked for the commission volunteered, expecting to participate in some grappling.
“There… there… there was an indivi—
There was an individual. I’ll tell you right now, I’m not going to say exactly what happened, but I’ll give you an idea.”
“As the referee, knowing that I’ve got the fights that I have, I go in the back and I talk to each and every fighter on their own. And I had worked with Jon before, and I’m pretty good friends with Greg Jackson. So we always would, you know, stand there or sit there and shoot the [**].”
“But when I went into Jon’s locker room, he’s, you know, bouncing around, having—you know, he’s having a good time. And he said:”
“I got a question for you. I got a question for you.”
I said, “Yeah, what’s your question?”
“I need somebody.”
And there’s—there’s an individual there. That individual was a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and was working for the commission. And he says:
“Someone get on the ground for me,” right?
And so this guy, being a ground guy and being someone that was, “Man, I’m in Jon Jones‘s locker room. This is great.” So he says:
“Oh, I’ll do it for you.”
“I know how to roll.”
And so he goes down, he says, you know:
“Just, you know, put me in guard,” right?
And then Jon decides to do a s*xual act with him, saying:
“What if I do this, right? You know, is this—is this isn’t illegal, right?”
And the guy who was on the ground—his eyes went, you know, as big as they could get. Like, what are you doing?
And I said:
“Jon, knock it off,”
and, you know, helped the person up. And he goes:
“I’m just jo—I’m just joking.”
“But really, what could you do?”
I said:
“I could disqualify you for being unsportsmanlike. Go ahead and do it. Let’s see what happens.”
This is why Jon and I never really got along—I didn’t put up with the [**]. You know, and that’s just the way it is.
When Jones claimed he was “just joking,” McCarthy warned him that such behavior could result in disqualification for unsportsmanlike conduct. McCarthy noted that Greg Jackson, Jones’ coach, later apologized for his behavior.
The conversation also touched on Jones‘ abilities, with McCarthy acknowledging Jones’ exceptional MMA IQ while discussing the controversies that have followed the champion throughout his career, including PED violations and behavior outside the cage.
McCarthy concluded that many of the judgments people make about Jones are based on
“things that he’s done outside of the cage.”
