Ray Sefo says if WSOF athlete failed drug test he ‘wouldn’t have fought’ in upcoming fight

Ray Sefo does not agree with the UFC’s actions in the Jon Jones mess.

The World Series of Fighting president said Thursday during a press conference that if one of his athletes tested positive for drugs before a fight, that competitor would have been pulled from the bout. Jones popped for cocaine metabolites in a Dec. 4 test, less than a month before beating Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 on Jan. 3.

“If one of my fighters had tested positive, and I was aware of it, you bet your bottom dollar he wouldn’t have fought that fight,” Sefo said.

Sefo, who was promoting WSOF 17 on Saturday night in Las Vegas, admitted the Jones situation was “a touchy subject.” The UFC knew about the positive test a few weeks before Jones’ bout against Cormier. Neither the UFC nor the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) took any punitive action against Jones.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) does not prohibit cocaine out of competition, which means anything outside of a 12-hour window before and after the fight. The NAC said testing Jones for a subtance that was not banned in the timeframe was a mistake.

UFC president Dana White said that he could not yank Jones from the bout, because of contractual reasons. He said Jones would be able to sue if he had.

Jones announced he would be going into rehab when the news was broken by Yahoo! Sports last week. His mother told a Binghamton TV station Tuesday that Jones spent just one night there, which White has disputed.

WSOF 17 is headlined by a welterweight title eliminator between former UFC star Jake Shields and Brian Foster, another veteran of the UFC.

Ray Sefo does not agree with the UFC’s actions in the Jon Jones mess.

The World Series of Fighting president said Thursday during a press conference that if one of his athletes tested positive for drugs before a fight, that competitor would have been pulled from the bout. Jones popped for cocaine metabolites in a Dec. 4 test, less than a month before beating Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 on Jan. 3.

“If one of my fighters had tested positive, and I was aware of it, you bet your bottom dollar he wouldn’t have fought that fight,” Sefo said.

Sefo, who was promoting WSOF 17 on Saturday night in Las Vegas, admitted the Jones situation was “a touchy subject.” The UFC knew about the positive test a few weeks before Jones’ bout against Cormier. Neither the UFC nor the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) took any punitive action against Jones.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) does not prohibit cocaine out of competition, which means anything outside of a 12-hour window before and after the fight. The NAC said testing Jones for a subtance that was not banned in the timeframe was a mistake.

UFC president Dana White said that he could not yank Jones from the bout, because of contractual reasons. He said Jones would be able to sue if he had.

Jones announced he would be going into rehab when the news was broken by Yahoo! Sports last week. His mother told a Binghamton TV station Tuesday that Jones spent just one night there, which White has disputed.

WSOF 17 is headlined by a welterweight title eliminator between former UFC star Jake Shields and Brian Foster, another veteran of the UFC.