“On This Day in MMA History” pays tribute to some of the more bizarre and infamous news stories of MMA’s past. The following article was originally published on May 19th, 2012, one year ago today. Note: We’ve placed a few more notable anniversaries at the end of this post.

BREAKING: Jon Jones Arrested for DUI in Binghamton, NY

This doesn’t look good, folks. Initially reported by TMZ.com and confirmed by Josh Gross, UFC Light-Heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been arrested in Binghamton, New York on DUI charges after totaling his Bentley. From TMZ:

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … Jones was involved in an accident at around 5:00 AM in Binghamton, NY. We’re told the car — which Jones crashed into a pole — was totaled and cops arrested Jones on the scene for DUI.

According to our sources, Jones was taken into custody by Broome County Sheriff and bailed out a few hours later … by his mom. Jones is from nearby Ithaca.

Fortunately for Jones, it appears that he only suffered minor injuries, and it does not appear that anyone else was injured from this accident. It is unclear whether or not there were any passengers in the car at the time of the accident.

As of this writing, Dana White’s only response to the incident has been a text to TMZ, saying “Wow, i guess its not my week is it?”. Given the week he’s had, that may be putting it mildly. Neither Jones nor his teammates will be commenting on the arrest at this time.

(Step 1: Find a lawyer. Step 2: Explain that your ear didn’t look like that before the accident. Step 3: Collect large settlement. Step 4: Celebrate.)

If one more Brazilian UFC champion becomes involved in a car accident this month, we can officially start calling this a trend. Just a day after we reported that Jose Aldo was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle in Rio de Janeiro, MMA Convert passed along word that heavyweight champ Junior Dos Santos was the victim of a hit-and-run while driving in Salvador, Brazil, last week. As JDS explained on his twitter (which was helpfully translated into Broken English by MMAConvert):

“The transit of Salvador giving this fear. They just hit my car and did not stop, continued to follow the path as if it were normal. Please let us be more aware and respect others. You win nothing with violence and disrespect. Crossing and follow in peace.”

Dos Santos escaped the incident without injury, and is still scheduled to defend his title against Cain Velasquez at UFC 155 on December 29th.

Speaking of dangerous drivers…

(Ten minutes later, Jones was responsible for the first pace car-led pileup in Nascar history.) 

A congratulations is in order for the nominees of last week’s Comment of the Week contest, who really brought the funny when ripping on everything from debilitating diseases to spousal abuse. You sick sons a bitches truly make us proud.

That being said, there can only be one winner, and this week’s was decided by a margin of just 25 votes, so join us after the jump for the big reveal…

(Sorry bro, that title doesn’t give you diplomatic immunity. / Photo via Cagewriter)

In a follow-up report about Jon Jones’s DUI arrest, WBNG Action News confirms that the UFC light-heavyweight champ had two women in his 2012 Bentley Continental GT when he had a run-in with a telephone pole in Binghamton, NY, on May 19th. Both were injured, and neither of them was his fiancée:

Cara Johnson, 25, was in the front passenger seat and Michele Vojtisek, 25, was sitting in the back passenger seat. When Jones crashed, air bags deployed. Vojtisek suffered bruising and cuts on the right side of her face, one above her eye and one below. Johnson got a nosebleed and complained of shoulder pain. She also had bruising from a seat belt. Both women were treated at Wilson Hospital.

Officers say Jones speech was slurred, he was unsteady on his feet, and it was evident he was intoxicated. Jones refused a field sobriety test and a breathalyzer. He pled guilty to DWI Tuesday in Binghamton City Court as part of a plea deal and will be back in court for sentencing on June 19.

MMA Mania gives us the head up that Cara Johnson was a former college basketball player who went to high-school with Jones; we’re not sure who this Vojsitek broad is. And in a related story on SI, Loretta Hunt lays out the complete history of Jones’s spotty relationship with driving:

UFC light-heavyweight champ Jon Jones took the first step towards getting this unfortunate drunk-driving business behind him by pleading guilty to his DWI charge in a Binghamton, NY, court this morning. WBNG Action News has the details:

Jones entered into a plea deal with the District Attorney’s office Tuesday in Binghamton City Court. Under the terms of the deal he pled guilty to Driving While Intoxicated. Two traffic violations, one for an improper turn and another for deviating from a direct course were dismissed. Jones’ Attorney told the judge the agreement for punishment is a fine and a conditional discharge.

(The Bonesmobile, 2011-2012. Never forget.)

After a weekend of near-silence in the wake of his DUI arrest, UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones emerged on Facebook this morning to apologize to his fans, while expressing some frustration and anger at the “hateful people” who “try to kick me while I’m down.” Here’s the full message, via MiddleEasy:

“Man I haven’t added anyone new to my Facebook page in like three years and right now I’m so glad that I haven’t. It has literally been sickening to have so many people try to kick me while I’m down. At the same time, I totally understand, I gave them the leeway to. I screwed up, big time. Just needed to say thank you to all you guys for being amazing friends/supporters.

Always having to deal with so many critics, haters and fickle mma fans, I almost forgot how strong of a home base I had (607 and people that knew me before I was a champion fighter). Although the hell that will come with this hasn’t even started yet, I want you guys to know how much better you’ve all made me feel, not only about this situation but about life, everything. It’s good to feel that people are there and care. With that being said, I felt I should apologize to you first.

I’m not touching this one. *Innocently whistles* *Walks Away* Props to reader Johnnyozone22 for the tip.

This doesn’t look good, folks. Initially reported by TMZ.com and confirmed by Josh Gross, UFC Light-Heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been arrested in Binghamton, New York on DUI charges after totaling his Bentley. From TMZ:

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … Jones was involved in an accident at around 5:00 AM in Binghamton, NY. We’re told the car — which Jones crashed into a pole — was totaled and cops arrested Jones on the scene for DUI.

According to our sources, Jones was taken into custody by Broome County Sheriff and bailed out a few hours later … by his mom. Jones is from nearby Ithaca.

Fortunately for Jones, it appears that he only suffered minor injuries, and it does not appear that anyone else was injured from this accident. It is unclear whether or not there were any passengers in the car at the time of the accident.

("My fellow Americans …" Props: MMA Badass.com)

Try not to look too shocked, y’all: Chris Leben went on Ariel Helwani’s "The MMA Hour" radio show yesterday and made a number of incredible statements about his October arrest on suspicion of drunk driving in Hawaii. And when we say “incredible,” we mean it in the most literal sense, as in, not credible. Among other things, Leben said he doesn’t believe his latest DUI arrest is “going to be a big deal,” that “nothing is going to happen with it” and – if you want to know the truth – he’s not 100 percent sure he’ll even be formally charged with DUI after the truth comes out at his upcoming February court date. Oh, and he also compared himself to the former president of the United States.

"George (W.) Bush got a DUI and he ended up being the president," Leben said. "I really feel as though nothing’s really going to happen with it, honestly. I don’t want to talk about it too much, and it’s still in the works. But I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal."

Obviously, Leben comparing himself to the leader of the free world – even a really, really bad one – is a bit of a stretch. Also, forgive us here at CagePotato Legal Services if we can’t take such an optimistic view of his upcoming court appearance. Let’s review some facts.

(Well, this mug shot represents a vast improvement over the old one. At least Leben’s learning *something* from all this. PicProps: HawaiiNewsNow.com)

We were half joking earlier this year when we compared Chris Leben to that screw-up brother of yours who borrows your car, gets high and then crashes it. Right now however, that assessment seems sadly apt after Leben wrecked his truck on a Hawaii freeway earlier this week and was arrested on suspicion of DUI. Again.

Here’s the word straight from the document of record, by which we mean a story from a local television station in HI:  “Officers arrested Christian Leben, 30, a middleweight fighter known as the Crippler, on suspicion of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant Tuesday. He was released from custody after posting $1,000 bail. Police say Leben was driving on the west-bound side of the H1 Freeway just before 2 AM, when he lost control of his pickup and crashed into a wall near the Kapiolani Boulevard off ramp. He was allegedly driving without a license and without insurance.”

At this point, there seems to be no appropriate response to this news aside from a resigned sigh and a disappointed shake of the head. Let’s just hope this latest brush with the law doesn’t upset Leben’s scheduled meeting with Brian Stann at UFC 125. We’d hate for this to go down like it did last time.

The L.A. Times provides some new information about the car accident that left TapouT’s Charles “Mask” Lewis dead, his fiancée in the hospital, and the other driver in police custody, and at the moment all signs point to street racing as the cause of the accident:

Police said the two cars appeared to have been traveling side by side at a high rate of speed at 12:57 a.m. on Jamboree Road near the Upper Newport Bay when they collided. Officers said they are investigating whether the drivers were racing.

The Porsche driver, identified as Jeffrey David Kirby, 51, of Costa Mesa, was arrested after allegedly abandoning his car on a side street near the collision and taking off on foot with his female passenger. Kirby is being held on suspicion of felony drunk driving and driving under the influence. Bail is set at $2 million.

It’s still too early to say if it was really an ill-advised street race that killed the TapouT co-founder, but when two high-performing sports cars traveling side-by-side on a long, straight road at 1 a.m. ends with a high-speed fatal accident, that’s often the cause.  That, or maybe some type of road rage incident, which isn’t any better.  From the sounds of things the driver of the Porsche, Jeffrey David Kirby, has had his share of vehicular problems:

(Mug shot courtesy of MMA Junkie.)

An unfortunate side-note to last night’s WEC 36 card (which happened to be full of unfortunate side-notes): UFC lightweight Hermes Franca, who attended the event and was shown during the broadcast, was arrested in Jupiter, Florida, at 2:38 a.m. last night for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He was transferred to the Palm Beach County jail after the arrest, and released later this morning. This was Franca’s first DUI offense, though not his first brush with controlled substances; he was suspended from MMA competition for a year following his UFC 73 match against Sean Sherk in July ’07, after testing positive for the steroid Drostanolone. It should be mentioned that Franca’s manager Reed Wallace claims the fighter was simply very tired last night and was falling asleep behind the wheel.

Franca is a former WEC lightweight champion who holds career wins over the current lightweight champ Jamie Varner as well as the WEC’s new featherweight champ Mike Brown, and recently won a decision over Marcus Aurelio at UFC 90 last month. Paulo Filho, who is suspected of fighting under the influence of alcohol or drugs, is apparently still at large. If more important details emerge, we’ll let you know.

And even more not-awesome news from WEC’s aftermath: Mike Brown did indeed screw up his ribs during the Urijah Faber fight. FiveOuncesofPain reports that Brown suffered torn cartilage in his ribs and had to be taken to a local hospital via ambulance immediately after leaving the cage. The injury is expected to sideline Brown for four-to-six weeks.

Here’s a little taste of Brock Lesnar’s appearance on ESPN’s E:60 tonight at 7 pm EST (which is like, now). The interview seems to be taking place in a barn for some reason. I’m sure it will all make sense when we see the whole thing. In other news…

- Luke Cummo was arrested and charged with “driving while impaired with drugs” in Lynbrook, New York last week. He wasn’t drunk, but was reportedly tested for a drug that officials would not name. Fightlinker says Cummo claimed, at least briefly, that he got a contact high from being in a room full of people smoking pot, and this was exacerbated by eating a bunch of chicken wings. Seriously. He’s pleaded not guilty, and we really hope he decides to represent himself in this case because that would be awesome.

- Matt Hughes says on his website that he talked to UFC matchmaker Joe Silva this week and he may finally get his shot at Matt Serra in April. He also went bowhunting and bagged a deer.

- The UFC sent out a press release today officially announcing three fights for the stacked UFC 92 event on Dec. 27. As expected, Rashad Evans/Forrest Griffin, Wanderlei Silva/”Rampage” Jackson, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira/Frank Mir are on tap. Said Evans:

“Forrest fights from the heart just like me, and everyone underestimates Forrest until they get in there with him, like me. I think he and I are going to be like Ali vs. Frazier – this will be the first time we meet, but it won’t be the last, so I want to set the precedent.”

Chris Leben’s first shot at Michael Bisping didn’t exactly go as planned. Soon after signing to fight “The Count” at UFC 85 in London, Leben was forced to return to Oregon to deal with an outstanding warrant resulting from a DUI arrest before he could leave the country. Though Leben and the UFC were hoping to resolve the matter quickly, the judge had other plans. Leben was sentenced to thirty-five days in jail, prompting the UFC to scratch him from the card.

With his legal troubles now behind him, Leben is getting a second chance at Bisping, this time at UFC 89 in Birmingham, England. In this exclusive CagePotato interview Leben discusses his maturation process as a fighter, his gameplan against Bisping, dealing with hometown judges, and more.

CagePotato.com: Hey Chris. Thanks for talking with me. We’re a few weeks out from the fight. How is your preparation coming?

Really good, really well. It’s been long and intense and I’m kind of just getting to the point now where I’m ready to go fight and get this thing over with.

It seems like things really changed for you when you moved to Hawaii. What has that move done for you?

You know, it’s great. Moving to Hawaii is definitely the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. I had the opportunity to be the head coach at Icon and there are a whole bunch of guys out here training with me who are just great. But besides the gym and the wonderful people out here you have the weather and everything that is Hawaii. It’s been really conducive to my training.

I hear a lot of people say you’re much more mature these days, no longer such a wild guy in and out of the cage. What do you think prompted that transformation?

Losing (laughs). You know, I got away with being a brawler for a long time. And it’s hard to change things when they’re working. But when I fought Anderson I realized, I might be able to beat 95% of the guys out there, but I’ll never be a world champion fighting this way. So I had to go back and change a lot of things. That was one part of it.

And the other part was, you know, coaching. Now that I have a team of amateur guys fighting, it’s hard to tell them to do something if you’re not doing it yourself.