MONDAY NEWS DIGEST: As if Jon Jones didn’t have enough to deal with, he’s being taken to court by a fan

A FAN WANTS HIS TICKET MONEY BACK… FROM JON JONES

As if Jon Jones didn’t have enough to deal with these days, now one of his fans is trying to take him to court.

A report from Bloody Elbow says Sean Slattery has filed a lawsuit in the San Diego Superior Court, suing Jones and First Round Management for concealment, negligent misrepresentation, and negligence after Jones was removed from the UFC 200 card for failing an out of competition drug test. The complaint is available from the court website.

According to Paul Gift at Bloody Elbow, Slattery purchased four tickets to UFC 200 specifically to see Jones fight. When Jones was pulled from his main event fight with Daniel Cormier, Slattery claims he was “defrauded of the value of the tickets,” and that he suffered economic and non-economic harm. The complaint claims that Jones knew he was using prohibited substances and thus was negligent and “deprived the Plaintiff of the value of his tickets.”

Slattery claims that his tickets were non-refundable, a claim that is in contrast to stated Nevada Athletic Commission rules. NAC rules for Unarmed Combat paragraph 255 regarding “Change or substitution involving main event” states “If such a change or substitution occurs and any patron desires to have the price of his or her ticket refunded, the promoter must refund the patron’s money if the patron presents the ticket or the ticket stub at the box office before the opening contest or exhibition of the program is scheduled to begin.” UFC also stated in their official release three days before the fight was to take place that refunds would be offered at point of purchase.

A case management conference is currently scheduled for Feb. 3, 2017. Jones is still awaiting official punishment from the UFC and the NAC.

The complaint also requests for a jury trial and lists damages as exceeding $25,000 and is requesting payment for special damages, general damages, punitive damages against Jones as well as Slattery’s legal costs.

Hiscoe’s Analysis: I’m no legal expert, but I can’t see this going anywhere. Slattery should have been able to get a refund, so he shouldn’t be able to claim damages for that. It’s too bad Jones was pulled from the card but I can’t understand what kind of non-economic harm this man suffered to the point he feels the need to sue Jones and his management. I reached out to a Sean Slattery from San Diego on Facebook but haven’t received a reply. This is likely a small bump in Jones’ path back to fighting, and will not likely amount to much. He could, as a goodwill gesture, settle with Slattery and pay him back for the tickets or get him seats for his next fight. This could be an opportunity for Jones to regain some favor with fight fans and get some positive publicity.

MONDAY NOTEBOOK ITEMS…

-Donald Cerrone has volunteered to fight Robbie Lawler at UFC 205 in New York City after UFC.com writer Damon Martin tweeted that Dana White is looking to book Lawler for the card.

-Stephen Thompson stated he is training in expectation of fighting Tyron Woodley at UFC 205.

-Rashad Evans told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that he is moving to middleweight. No opponent or date has been announced.

-Patricio Freire was given a 180 day medical suspension after breaking his leg at Bellator 160 last Friday. He can be cleared by a doctor earlier.

-Bellator fighter “Cyborg” Santos told MMA Fighting that he is targeting a December return after having his skull fractured in a July fight.