UFC
Disappointed Dana White meeting with UFC Champ Jon Jones on Tuesday following DUI arrest
May 22, 2012 - 10:10:45 PM Disappointed Dana White meeting with UFC Champ Jon Jones on Tuesday following DUI arrest

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones is scheduled to appear in a Binghamton, New York courthouse on May 29 for arraignment stemming from his arrest for suspicion of DUI on Saturday morning, according to a report from Ariel Helwani on Tuesday's episode of UFC Tonight on Fuel TV.

A pre-trial will then follow in August or September, and a plea bargain will be offered by the district attorney at that time. Jones is facing a maximum of one year in prison and a $1,000 fine should the case go to trial, but he'll likely plead down and avoid any jail time.

Additionally, UFC President Dana White will be meeting with the 24-year-old Champ Tuesday night to discuss the incident, according to a report from the Boston Herald.

White said he was "super bummed and disappointed" in the incident, and his discussion with Jones will be an attempt to figure out whether this will be a pattern or a one-time thing.

"It's really sitting down and figuring out what is it you want to do," White said. "You're 24 years old, you could be a force in this sport for the next 10 years and go down as the greatest ever – beat everybody, do all this stuff, be the first guy to break through and get a Nike deal, the first guy to get Gatorade and all these other things. Do you want to be that guy or do you want to go the other way?"

"You can go the other way, too, and you can be the total bad guy, make a few million here or there and then go tell everybody to go, '[Expletive] off.' It's no different whether it’s the UFC, boxing, the NBA, the NFL – it's the guys who really focus and get their (stuff) together no matter how old you are, whether you're 21 or 31. That's what we've got to figure out where Jones is at and what he wants to do."

"The road is littered with talented guys who didn't live up to their potential."

Penick's Analysis: That's a major statement from White there at the end. This is an opportunity for Jones to grow from a mistake, and make sure it's a pattern of behavior that doesn't happen again. Or, as White says, he can tell everyone to "f*** off" and do what he feels like doing. Such is the plight of the young-millionaire-celebrity-athlete. Jones absolutely has the potential to go down as the greatest fighter the young sport has ever seen, and the only person who can really take that away from him is himself. The pattern seen with his November traffic incident and now this DUI arrest is disappointing, and White's going to try to find out whether Jones is going to make it a habit.