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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
UFC Champ Jon Jones appeared before the Nevada Athletic Commission on the disciplinary complaint for his brawl with Daniel Cormier at the UFC 178 media day last month in Las Vegas.
After a lengthy discussion from the commission, Jones was handed a $50,000 fine, and he'll also need to do 40 hours of community service in some charitable capacity in Las Vegas.
Jones didn't dispute any of the facts in the complaint against him, as there was video evidence of the brawl, which was played before the commission and entered as evidence. Jones and his attorney did, however, ask for leniency on the financial front, arguing that he lost one of his biggest sponsors and missed out on some others because of the brawl.
When pressed, Jones said that he lost his deal with Nike over the brawl, which his attorney said was an "over six figures" deal.
In the end, they opted for a relatively minor fine given they could have given him an even bigger fine based on the complaint, and chose community service in lieu of any suspension.
Daniel Cormier will appear before the commission after a short break in their meeting.
Penick's Analysis: The commission continues to handle these meetings in laughable fashion, and this almost became another farce as a number of the commissioner's opined on getting "burned" by their last "unconventional" punishment, which went to Chael Sonnen. That Jones received a significant fine when they decided not to fine Sonnen at all is in itself kind of a joke, as is the idea that they were ever not going to get burned with the Sonnen issue. Regardless, he's got a $50,000 fine to pay, and some community service to do. We'll see what happens with Cormier here shortly.
[Jon Jones art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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