Anthony Smith sympathizes with Jon Jones, who faces misdemeanor charges related to an incident with a drug-testing agent, suggesting that while Jones’s reaction might be understandable given the circumstances, his actions crossed a line.
Anthony Smith and Jon Jones may have history, but Smith still sympathizes with what his past opponent is going through.
MMA Fighting confirmed earlier this week that Jones has been charged with two misdemeanors from an alleged incident with a drug-testing agent in March. The current heavyweight champion is charged with assault, a petty misdemeanor, and interference with communications.
Jones appeared in a virtual hearing on Wednesday and plead not guilty to the charges.
On his podcast Believe You Me with Michael Bisping, Smith gave his thoughts on the situation and the potential of a settlement out of court. “I don’t know, maybe they’ll have him write a couple of checks to those two testers and let him go on about his business,” Smith said.
If convicted of both charges, Jones could face less than a year of jail time and up to $1,500 in fines.
Smith challenged Jones for the light heavyweight title in March 2019 at UFC 235, losing by unanimous decision. Being a UFC competitor for 23 fights, Smith understands how the drug-testing policy works, especially with UFC’s past partnership with USADA.
Smith feels he’s been fortunate for the most part when it comes to the agents he’s dealt with. However, he has experienced ones that have not carried themselves professionally. “I kind of stuck up for him at the beginning because it is a pain in the ass to do the whole drug-testing thing,” Smith said.
“I’ve always been lucky that my drug testers have always been pretty cool. They’re fairly respectful of your time; they’re fairly respectful of the inconvenience that they’re creating for you.” He added that they usually show up like, ‘Hey, I know it’s not the best time; sorry, let me get this sample and we’ll get out of here.’
“But I have had one… I’ve had them before — not here at home or in Denver — but just been out somewhere and they find this random person… somebody you’ve never had before… sometimes they can be assholes.” He explained that these agents can be on power trips or want to boss fighters around.
“If he got one of those bad ones… I understood him — because he’s a little bit hot-headed at times — I can understand him kind of flipping out and going off.” Apparently, Jones was having a party; drinking and friends over.
“They show up… started being assholes… kind of disrespectful at times — I could see him kind of going off.” But once you start touching people and taking their phones? That’s a problem. Still… if [they’re] being an asshole to him? It’s kind of in his right. That’s not illegal.”