Up until there were already fighters in the cage Friday night, UFC president Dana White was adamant that Jeremy Stephens, arrested just hours earlier, would compete at UFC on FX 5.
He event tweeted, “YES Jeremy Stephens is fighting tonight” just before the preliminary bouts began at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
There was just one problem: Law enforcement officials would not cooperate.
White said he was willing to pay an “astronomical amount of money” to bail out Stephens on an out-of-state assault charge, according to MMAjunkie.com, but it didn’t work out.
“There were two charges,” White said after the event. “One was $1,000 bail. The other was $20,000. That’s where we started. Where we ended was [expletive] insane. I could have gotten (Charles) Manson out for what they wanted me to pay for him.
“It’s just crazy. I’ve seen crazier [expletive] than this before. Floyd Mayweather got to decide when he went to jail. You know what I mean? But this kid on an assault charge couldn’t come out and fight today when he would have gone back to jail. I would have bailed him out. I would have flown him to Des Moines, Iowa, to face the charges down there. I was willing to do anything, and they dragged me out and played games with me all day. That’s why I’m so [upset].”
Stephens, who is originally from Des Moines, was charged with assault there for an incident last year. White believes Stephens to be innocent, which is why he was so stubborn about trying to get him out to face Yves Edwards, a matchup that would have taken place on the prelims portion of the card and aired on Fuel TV.
“We heard about this thing a long time ago,” White said. “Jeremy Stephens’ side of the story is that he never hit the guy. It wasn’t him. It was one of his friends, and they were all together, and he hit the guy. The guys were accusing him of hitting the guy because they’re trying to get money out of him. Because he’s a UFC guy, they think they can make money off of him or whatever. That’s his side of the story, and I like Jeremy Stephens. He’s a good kid. I’ve known him for years, and if that’s what he tells me, I take grown men for their word.
“These guys, they’re in business with me, and if that’s what he tells me the story is, am I going to call him a liar?”
Stephens was arrested just hours before the fight at the Marriott in Minneapolis, the UFC’s host hotel. White questioned the timing, considering Stephens has been in the city all week and officials waited until the day of his fight to incarcerate him.
As of Friday night, Stephens was still in jail and expected to be extradited to Iowa. White said he expects the 26-year-old to have a tough time after the ordeal he had with Iowa officials himself.
“People that have gone on three-state killing sprees get freaking bailed out of jail,” White said. “This kid has an assault charge in Des Moines, Iowa, and he is not going to have fun when he gets there because they have got it out for this kid, big time.”
White said he was hoping Stephens could be brought to the arena to fight and then immediately brought back into custody by armed guards. The UFC boss said at least Stephens could get paid, because losing this purse would be a “huge blow” for him and his family.
“I hate seeing stuff like this happen to the guys,” White said. “And yeah, there’s no doubt he’s responsible for the situation, but again, he’s got a completely different story. We all have different stories when we’re in trouble, but I was trying to help him.
“I’m taking his word for it. Man to man, that’s what he says, and I’m going to take his word for it. I believe him.”