Michael Bisping remains unconvinced by Jon Jones’ drug testing saga, even after ‘Bones’’ UFC 232 samples came back clean.
Jon Jones’ clean UFC 232 drug test isn’t exactly getting the kind of response he may have expected. After months of undisclosed testing that returned positives for “picograms” of Turinabol, Jones came back clear for all USADA and California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) samples collected ‘in competition’ for his latest return to the Octagon, on December 29th.
But, all that only came after the UFC was forced to move their planned Las Vegas event to Los Angeles, because the Nevada Commission (NAC) was unwilling to accommodate what the UFC and USADA described as a “residual effect” from Jones’ past Turinabol ingestion. Potentially one left over from more than a year ago.
“Yes, let’s make this clear,” UFC ‘drug czar’ Jeff Novitzky explained in a Sports Center interview announcing the UFC 232 move. “This is not another violation. This is a residual effect from the July 2017 positive test. Not only USADA – who independently administers our program – but other experts throughout the world verified this was the case. And that [Jones] retains no performance enhancing benefits from this small amount.”
At the time it was an explanation that left many fans and fighters with even more questions. Where was this suddenly new science when other fighters were testing for minute amounts of Turinabol? Why weren’t the other positive tests reported earlier?
Now that Jones is champion again, and his drug tests are coming back clean, it’s left people wondering: what’s changed?
That’s the thought process that has left former middleweight champion Michael Bisping as a continued strong critic of the handling of Jones throughout this saga. On his Believe You Me podcast, the recently retired ‘Count’ – who faced a number of notable drug test failing and TRT using opponents in his UFC tenure – once again took Jones, the UFC, and USADA to task (transcript via MMAFighting).
“So Jon Jones passed his post-fight drug test, which was the question that I asked him, which pissed him off, which led to him being kind of annoyed with me on the post-fight show,” Bisping said. “I don’t want to turn this into Michael Bisping sh-tting on Jon Jones because he’s a legendary fighter; he was the youngest ever champion in the UFC. But to me – and I don’t know the science, I’m speaking purely from the standpoint that this is a fair question to ask – the narrative as to why he failed the drug test and failed multiple drug tests in August, September, and December, is that these metabolites from the Turinabol were in his system from years ago, and they could still be there for years.
“And then all of a sudden he tests positive and then it’s brought to the forefront – devil’s advocate, you would have to be f-cking stupid to continue microdosing – then all of a sudden, voila! The next time he gets tested it is out of his system. I don’t know. I’m not saying that is the reality, I’m just saying that is the first thing that I thought and I’d be lying if I didn’t say so. . .
“That was the narrative going into this fight,” Bisping continued, “‘Listen, this is remnants, it was leftover from whenever it was.’ But the point of the matter is that Jeff Novitzky was saying – everyone was saying – this could be in his system for a long, long time. And then, lo and behold, he tests clean.”
Bisping add that he hopes Jones “stays clean” and continues his career competing on a level playing field. But if – or when – Jones starts testing for Turinabol metabolites again, it will likely once again fall to Novitzky and the UFC to try and explain why Jones is getting the benefit of the doubt.
Currently Jones is scheduled to face light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith at UFC 235, back in Las Vegas. However, that’s pending a January 29th NAC hearing, where the commission will decide if the explanations given for Jones’ inconsistent tests hold water.