Everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief after it was announced that Jon Jones had passed all of his post-fight drug tests following his win over Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232 last month in Inglewood, California (see it here).
That’s because one week prior, it was revealed that “Bones” had some discrepancies in a few of his pre-fight drug tests, which prompted the promotion to move UFC 232 from Las Vegas to the outskirts of L.A. on just one week’s notice.
Hoping to make a quick turnaround against Anthony Smith at UFC 235 on March 2, 2019, in “Sin City,” Jones is prepared to make up for lost time. As for “Lionheart,” he isn’t too sure if he’ll be fighting a clean fighter come fight night, insisting the definition of a “clean fighter” is no longer what it once was.
“I don’t know, I think that the definition of a clean fighter has become mighty grey in the last six months. And it didn’t used to be like that, it was pretty black and white,” said Smith during a recent interview on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show.
“If you had a banned substance in your body you were dirty and you were cheating. But for whatever reason, that’s not the narrative everyone is going by anymore,” he added, proceeding to say that at the end of the day he doesn’t care if “Bones” is clean or not.
“Honestly, I don’t care. At this point I got what I have been working for my entire career and it’s going to take more than Jon Jones’ pee to change my mind. I’m in there, I’m going. It wouldn’t matter what you told me,” said Smith. “Right now there is nothing that would stop me from fighting Jon Jones. If you told me he was fighting with a shiv in his jock strap, I’m still going in.”
Of course, Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) still has to license Jones to fight, as he is set to come face-to-face with NSAC officials on Tues., Jan. 29, 2019, to explain the trace amounts of Turinabol that turned up in his urine over a year after failing an initial drug test at UFC 214.
If not, well then it’s good to know California is willing to play host should the promotion find itself in a pickle once again.