That time Dana White and Ronda Rousey tried to bail out Jeremy Stephens …
“Ronda told me that story herself. She said, ‘Yes, it was Dana and I and $150 grand.’ And guess what?”
Jeremy Stephens guarantees action. And Lil’ Heathen is no journeyman; he holds wins over Rafael dos Anjos, Renan Barao, and Gilbert Melendez. However, he’s not immune to the These Things Happen in MMA phenomenon.
When he enthusiastically tried to talk his way into a fight with Conor McGregor, Stephens was subject to one of Notorious’s best quips – “Who the fook is he?” And he once missed a fight with Yves Edwards at UFC on FX 5 on October 5, 2012, after the day before the event he was arrested at the fighter hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for an outstanding warrant stemming from a 2011 parking lot incident in Des Moines, Iowa.
Bail was reportedly set at $21,000, but when UFC president Dana White tried to bail him out, the number kept going up, and up.
During a recent episode of Ariel and the Bad Guy, Chael Sonnen explained how absurd it got.
Jeremy Stephens was supposed to do a fight on FOX, said Sonnen, as transcribed by Zane Simon for BE. The day of that fight, Ariel, he ends up in Jail! I can’t remember what happened; he’s handcuffed, he’s in jail. FOX is like, ‘Look, we’re pulling it.’ Dana says, ‘Oh no you’re not.’ Dana gets in a public fight through social media, says, ‘Jeremy Stephens will be on the card.’ FOX steps in and says, ‘We’re not putting the guy on the card that used to be in jail.’
Dana happened to be doing business with Ronda Rousey. He takes Ronda Rousey, $150,000 in cash, goes down to the jail to get Jeremy Stephens out. Ronda told me that story herself. She said, ‘Yes, it was Dana and I and $150 grand.’ And guess what? They didn’t let him out.
But Ariel, picture that for a second. First off, where did he get $150 Gs on the spot? And secondly, Dana and Ronda come walking through the door!? It’s probably going to turn some heads, right? I mean, just picture that image though. ‘Hey, that’s my guy back there, I need him out.’
Never knew the end of this story. Storytime with Chael P! pic.twitter.com/ic2idvQppu
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 18, 2019
Stephens fights Yair Rodriguez in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 17, on Saturday in Mexico City, Mexico.