Wanderlei Silva rips Nevada’s handling of Jon Jones: ‘You are damaging the sport’

Wanderlei Silva released a video on Friday in which the exiled legend comes to the defense of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in light of Jones’ failed drug test for cocaine. Silva, a former champion who was handed a lifetime ban from MMA last year, also shreds the Nevada Athletic Commission for the clumsy way it has managed the situation following Jones’ successful title defense against Daniel Cormier this past Saturday at UFC 182.

“Let’s analyze what happened to Jon Jones,” Silva says in the video, which can be seen above. “[The NAC is] saying that test shouldn’t have been done out of competition and that it was an accident. So they went to test him and accidentally tested for cocaine. But now Jon Jones’ champion image is damaged. So what’s the commission going to do about this? They go, ‘ah, we don’t know, we’ll see what’s going to happen.’ Are there laws or are there no laws? Sometimes there are laws and sometimes there are none? There are no protocols to be followed? Where are the laws? Who voted for them? Who implements them? You are lost, you don’t know what you are doing.

“This sport has to be regulated. The way that it’s going can’t continue. This commission is a mess. They don’t know what they are [doing]. You can punish or not? There’s no set punishment, there’s no set testing system. You guys have to be professionals, you ask for fighters to be professionals when you are not. How can you want to put people on trial without laws? Without laws that apply equally to all? Everybody knows the UFC is a business. They put on fights to make money, and in those regards they’re not wrong. But the entity that implements the laws for the athletes, the entity that punishes athletes and controls their lives yet doesn’t know what they’re doing, just can’t be. It’s a commission that doesn’t follow protocols or laws. So you better clean up this mess.

“Instead of regulating it, you are damaging the sport.”

Wanderlei Silva released a video on Friday in which the exiled legend comes to the defense of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in light of Jones’ failed drug test for cocaine. Silva, a former champion who was handed a lifetime ban from MMA last year, also shreds the Nevada Athletic Commission for the clumsy way it has managed the situation following Jones’ successful title defense against Daniel Cormier this past Saturday at UFC 182.

“Let’s analyze what happened to Jon Jones,” Silva says in the video, which can be seen above. “[The NAC is] saying that test shouldn’t have been done out of competition and that it was an accident. So they went to test him and accidentally tested for cocaine. But now Jon Jones’ champion image is damaged. So what’s the commission going to do about this? They go, ‘ah, we don’t know, we’ll see what’s going to happen.’ Are there laws or are there no laws? Sometimes there are laws and sometimes there are none? There are no protocols to be followed? Where are the laws? Who voted for them? Who implements them? You are lost, you don’t know what you are doing.

“This sport has to be regulated. The way that it’s going can’t continue. This commission is a mess. They don’t know what they are [doing]. You can punish or not? There’s no set punishment, there’s no set testing system. You guys have to be professionals, you ask for fighters to be professionals when you are not. How can you want to put people on trial without laws? Without laws that apply equally to all? Everybody knows the UFC is a business. They put on fights to make money, and in those regards they’re not wrong. But the entity that implements the laws for the athletes, the entity that punishes athletes and controls their lives yet doesn’t know what they’re doing, just can’t be. It’s a commission that doesn’t follow protocols or laws. So you better clean up this mess.

“Instead of regulating it, you are damaging the sport.”