Nevada Athletic Commission head: Jon Jones’ testosterone clean prior to UFC 182; carbon isotope ratio test conducted

In the wake of Jon Jones testing positive for benzoylecgonine, the main metabolite in cocaine, on Dec. 4, some have pointed to Jones’ testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio in the three tests made public this week as a cause for concern.
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In the wake of Jon Jones testing positive for benzoylecgonine, the main metabolite in cocaine, on Dec. 4, some have pointed to Jones’ testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio in the three tests made public this week as a cause for concern.

First, a primer on what T/E ratio means, courtesy of WedMD.com:

“Testosterone is the “male” hormone, accounting for strength and endurance. It occurs naturally in men and in smaller amounts in women. For every molecule of testosterone produced by the body, another molecule of a substance called epitestosterone, which does not enhance performance, is made.

In a normal male body, the ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone, the T/E ratio, is about 1:1. But variation can occur in individuals, and the World Anti-Doping Code has deemed 4:1 as the threshold for a positive test.”

Note: Nevada’s threshold is 6:1.

So on Dec. 4, Jones’ T/E ratios came up as .29 and .35. Jones actually took two drug tests that day because, according to Nevada Athletic Commission executive director Bob Bennett, his first urine sample was “watery.” On Dec. 18, his T/E ratio came up as .19. Clearly, all three ratios were below that of the average male.

Some online medical experts have called for Nevada to perform the carbon isotope ratio test on Jones’ samples to determine whether there was any synthetic testosterone, an anabolic steroid, in his system.
And according to Bennett, they did. He told MMAFighting.com on Thursday that the CIR test was conducted on all three Jones urine samples, and there was no presence of synthetic testosterone.
“His urine samples were tested, and according to our doctor he doesn’t have a concern with the results of the urinalysis test at this time,” Bennett said.
In fact, Bennett said the CIR test will also be conducted on the urine samples Jones provided on UFC 182 fight day, last Saturday night. Bennett expects the in-competition drug test results to arrive within the coming days.
By contrast, Daniel Cormier, Jones’ opponent at UFC 182, had a T/E ratio of .4 on Dec. 2 and .48 on Dec. 17. Cormier passed both those tests.
“There’s no problem with Daniel,” Bennett said. “Trust me.”
MMAFighting.com has requested from the NAC the paperwork for Jones’ CIR tests.