Things might not be as bad as they first seemed for Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar when the two were first flagged for potential USADA Anti-Doping Policy violations stemming from tests taken for their scheduled fights at UFC 200.
In the case of Jones, who was pulled from his title unification bout against Daniel Cormier in the rematch scheduled to headline UFC 200 when Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz 2 was pulled due to the Irishman’s issues with the promotion, he has since announced that he expects to be back sooner than initially believed.
According to reports, Jones tested positive for estrogen blockers, which may or may not have been a result of “Bones” taking a generic version of Cialis, and as a result will be cleared and able to return soon.
In the case of Lesnar, who the NAC extended their temporary suspension of earlier this week, the news hasn’t been as positive, but his MMA dark cloud finally seems to have somewhat of a silver lining.
Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com is reporting that because there is more room for “credible non-doping explanations” due to the particular substances they tested positive for. As a result, the policy allows for “more flexibility when making a sanctioning decision.”
The report claims that the maximum penalty either man will be facing as a result of their positive tests is a one year suspension, as opposed to the mandatory two-year minimum suspension associated with most positive tests, per the UFC’s new Anti-Doping Policy.