Felony Assault, Burglary Charges Dropped Against UFC Fighter Jeremy Stephens

The charges stemmed from an alleged 2011 assault outside a Des Moines, Iowa, bar that left a man hospitalized. Stephens was arrested last October in Minneapolis -- just hours before he was supposed to compete at UFC on FX 5 -- and taken into custody on an outstanding warrant. In the days following Stephens’ Oct. 5 arrest, his manager released the following statement to address the charges:

“In 2011, Jeremy was attending a homecoming party in Des Moines, Iowa. A person in attendance became intoxicated and disorderly and was asked to leave by the owner of the establishment,” the statement read. “The intoxicated individual subsequently became involved in a physical altercation with another person at the event. We have learned that, as the featured guest at the party, Jeremy’s name came up during the police investigation of the assault. Prior to being detained the morning of Oct. 5, 2012, in Minneapolis, Jeremy had never been arrested in connection with the assault, contacted about any possible charge and/or notified about any outstanding warrant by mail or any other means.”

Stephens, who has maintained his innocence in the matter since his arrest, on Monday verified on his website that the felony charges were dropped in favor of a plea bargain, resulting in Stephens receiving time served and a fine for misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

Though the fighter’s planned October clash with Yves Edwards was postponed due to Stephens’ arrest, the pairing nevertheless came to fruition two months later at UFC on Fox 5, with Edwards stopping Stephens via first-round knockout. Stephens rebounded from the defeat in his most recent outing, however, dropping to 145 pounds to take a unanimous decision from Estevan Payan this past May at UFC 160.