USADA: Jon Jones’ backup sample also comes back positive
The B sample for former UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been declared positive, matching the result of the earlier test that prompted the UFC to pull him from Saturday’s UFC 200 main event.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced Friday that a lab in Salt Lake City had confirmed the presence of a performance-enhancing substance that was collected from Jones in an out-of-competition setting on June 16.
Neither USADA nor Jones has identified the substance.
UFC President Dana White on Wednesday night announced at a hurriedly called news conference that Jones (22-1), a former light-heavyweight champion presently ranked as the organization’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, was pulled off the UFC 200 main event, a rematch against rival Daniel Cormier.
Jones defeated Cormier by unanimous decision in January 2015, but his life began to unravel two days later when it was revealed he had cocaine in his system in a pre-fight drug test.
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Three months later, he was jailed briefly in New Mexico for a hit-and-run crash that left a pregnant female driver with a broken arm. Jones was spotted by an off-duty policeman fleeing the scene with a wad of cash, leaving drug paraphernalia behind in his vehicle.
The UFC then stripped his belt and he didn’t fight again until April, meeting a replacement foe when Cormier suffered a training-camp injury.
Cormier (17-1) will now fight UFC legend Anderson Silva, the middleweight champion from 2006 to 2013, in a non-title light-heavyweight bout that will precede the new UFC 200 main between women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate and Brazil’s Amanda Nunes Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
As for Jones, USADA released a statement explaining, “Going forward, the athlete will be given the opportunity to either accept a sanction, or enter in to the appeal process via arbitration.
“As always, the athlete will also be given the opportunity to provide any further information relevant to the case.”
USADA protocol calls for a two-year competition ban, but Bob Bennett of the Nevada State Athletic Commission said his office is empowered to determine the penalty for Jones.
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