UFC
UFC's Dana White says he takes Jeremy Stephens at his word regarding assault charge, tried to get him out of jail
Oct 6, 2012 - 1:30:49 PM UFC's Dana White says he takes Jeremy Stephens at his word regarding assault charge, tried to get him out of jail

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Jeremy Stephens is still in jail in Minneapolis Saturday morning following his arrest on Friday for an outstanding warrant on felony assault charges from Des Moines, Iowa. The UFC lightweight was scheduled to fight Yves Edwards at UFC on FX 5 on Friday night, but was picked up by Minneapolis Police at his hotel room before noon on Friday.

Despite Stephens' incarceration - on assault charges, no less - the UFC was still attempting to get him out in time to fight on Friday's card. UFC President Dana White was adamant on Twitter that Stephens would fight, and that's because he believed he'd be able to work out a deal with the Des Moines police regarding his bail.

White felt it was a calculated move on their part to pick Stephens up the morning of the fight, in order to keep him from earning his paycheck for the bout. And despite the charges levied against Stephens, White was willing to take his side, and wanted him to be able to earn his fight check.

"We heard about this thing a long time ago. Jeremy Stephens' side of the story is that he never hit the guy," White said to a group of reporters following the post-fight press conference. "It wasn't him. It was one of his friends, and they were all together, and he hit the guy. The guys were accusing him of doing it because they're trying to get money out of him. Because he's a UFC guy, they think they can make money off of him or whatever. That's his side of the story, and I like Jeremy Stephens."

"He's a good kid. I've known him for years, and if that's what he tells me, I take grown men for their word. These guys, they're in business with me, and if that's what he tells me the story is, am I going to call him a liar?"

The other issue at hand for White was that, as far as he knew, Stephens thought the situation had been taken care of by a lawyer in that city. That turned out not to be the case, but Stephens' side was that he didn't know there was a warrant out for him.

"As far as he tells me, he absolutely did not know that he [had a warrant out]," White told MMATorch. "And the stupid thing would be, if you did, why would you let it go for over a year when you are on TV? But who knows, man? He's a young kid, too, so you never know. I'm taking his word for it. Man to man, that's what he says, and I'm going to take his word for it. I believe him."

White expressed concern for Stephens in dealing with this situation, especially after the back and forth he went through with Des Moines. According to White, he had been negotiating all day with Des Moines police to bail Stephens out. He said they changed the deal multiple times, ending in an "insane" amount White said "could have gotten [Charles] Manson out." Because he felt like they were messing around with him throughout the day, he thinks Stephens could be in for a very rough experience.

"What's going to happen now, is they have to figure out whether he's going to be extradited or not, and then they're going to have to come get him," he said. "I've seen situations like this before; they really don't like this kid. This kid could be in jail here for three months, until they extradite him. Then he goes there, and he sits in jail until he has a hearing."

That's speculation on his point, but what's clear at this time is Stephens is still in custody, and this isn't a situation that's going to go away easily.