UFC 197 headliner Jon Jones still in custody, slated for Thursday court appearance

On Thursday, former UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones will finally go before a judge.

“Bones” is due in Bernalilo County (N.M.) District Court for a hearing on an alleged probation violation, spokesperson Tim Korte today told MMAjunkie.

Jones is set to appear before judge Michael Martinez at 8 a.m. MT (local time) and is likely to remain incarcerated until then unless there’s a modification of his bond, Korte said.

Jones, 28, has been held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center since he was taken into custody on Tuesday morning at the behest of the New Mexico Corrections Department, which oversees the 18-month supervised probation he received in a plea deal after a hit-and-run accident this past April.

Jones will have spent almost two days in jail.

Jones was pulled over this past Thursday in downtown Albuquerque and received five traffic citations for drag racing, exhibition driving, weaving, failing to properly display his license plate, and modifying his exhaust pipe. In a lapel video of the traffic stop, he is seen arguing with the officer and calling him a “pig” and “liar” while denying he was drag racing.

It was Jones’ second brush with the law since copping a plea deal with the district attorney’s office for the hit-and-run. He was given a trio of citations this past month for driving without proper documentation and was given three days’ community service by the NMCD. The tickets were settled earlier this month.

Jones’ (21-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) reps have expressed confidence the recent arrest will not impede his ability to rematch champ Daniel Cormier (17-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) in UFC 197’s pay-per-view headliner, which takes place April 23 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Check back with MMAjunkie for updates on this story as they become available.

And for more on UFC 197, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.