Dana White says Jeremy Stephens will fight at UFC on FX despite morning arrest

With the bizarre story that Jeremy Stephens was arrested this morning coming to light, all assumptions were that his bout this evening with Yves Edwards at UFC on FX 5: Browne vs. Bigfoot would be scrapped. After all, available information about his felony warrant arrest indicated that he was being held without bail.

Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting is saying that UFC president Dana White is planning for the bout to go ahead though:

. @danawhite just told me that Jeremy Stephens IS fighting tonight, despite his arrest this AM. More coming to @mmafighting shortly.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 5, 2012

I have questions about how they could be so sure right now, and certainly wonder if it's even a good idea if he has been released from jail. His fight is roughly five hours away and he has been in a cell all morning. While some would argue that maybe he'll be "pissed off" and "motivated" after the ordeal, I wonder about his mindset and basic mental preparation.

This isn't a fighter's standard routine after all.

Dana just added the following

RT @danawhite: Don't listen to the media! Nobody ever told them Jeremy isn't fighting. He is fighting!!

— Mauro Ranallo (@mauroranallo) October 5, 2012

Of course, no media that I've seen has reported that Stephens isn't fighting, rather that they didn't expect him to as it didn't seem to make a lot of sense.

Read the initial arrest story here.

SBN coverage of UFC on FX 5: Browne vs. Bigfoot