“I’m Not a Cocaine Addict”: Jon Jones Discusses Failed Drug Test on ‘FOX Sports Live’

For the first time since Jon Jones‘s failed drug test for a cocaine metabolite was made public earlier this month, the UFC light-heavyweight champion discussed the incident in detail last night, in a pre-taped interview with Charissa Thompson of FOX Sports Live. You can watch the entire segment above, which covers everything from Jones’s drug usage, to how he learned of the results, to his one-night stay in a rehab clinic. Some highlights…

On his December 4th drug test: “It was a nerve-racking day. I knew that I had done something wrong, and I knew that the test would show that…I knew it would be a positive test, I knew there was nothing I could do about it. I was stressed out about it, but I just thought I’d focus on what I could control, and that was just the fight.”

On poor decisions: “That’s the big question — ‘Why would you do that right before your fight?’ I definitely don’t have an excuse. I’m not here to make excuses for what happened. I did it, and basically, at a party. I think a coward would sit here and try to come up with this elaborate reason or try to blame something, and I’m not gonna do that. I’m not gonna blame my friends, I’m not gonna blame pressure or stress…but what I will say is, I messed up. It wasn’t a mistake, I can’t call it a mistake because I consciously did it.”

On his cocaine usage: “I had done it before, quite a few times in college I had experimented with it, but that’s really it. Mainly just college, it was something that I dipped and dabbed into a little bit, but it was never really an issue.”

Really? So you did cocaine in college and then did it this one time before a fight and got caught. No. Seriously? “Yeah, pretty much…I do not dab into cocaine, it’s not my thing at all. The night I did it, I was just…there’s no excuse, I really don’t know what came over me, what made me decide to make such a poor choice, but I did, and now I live with…I’m not a cocaine addict by any mean, or not even a frequent user. I just made a really dumb decision, just really got caught with my pants down in this whole situation, and you know, no excuse for it, I can just apologize and try to do things better.”

For the first time since Jon Jones‘s failed drug test for a cocaine metabolite was made public earlier this month, the UFC light-heavyweight champion discussed the incident in detail last night, in a pre-taped interview with Charissa Thompson of FOX Sports Live. You can watch the entire segment above, which covers everything from Jones’s drug usage, to how he learned of the results, to his one-night stay in a rehab clinic. Some highlights…

On his December 4th drug test: “It was a nerve-racking day. I knew that I had done something wrong, and I knew that the test would show that…I knew it would be a positive test, I knew there was nothing I could do about it. I was stressed out about it, but I just thought I’d focus on what I could control, and that was just the fight.”

On poor decisions: “That’s the big question — ‘Why would you do that right before your fight?’ I definitely don’t have an excuse. I’m not here to make excuses for what happened. I did it, and basically, at a party. I think a coward would sit here and try to come up with this elaborate reason or try to blame something, and I’m not gonna do that. I’m not gonna blame my friends, I’m not gonna blame pressure or stress…but what I will say is, I messed up. It wasn’t a mistake, I can’t call it a mistake because I consciously did it.”

On his cocaine usage: “I had done it before, quite a few times in college I had experimented with it, but that’s really it. Mainly just college, it was something that I dipped and dabbed into a little bit, but it was never really an issue.”

Really? So you did cocaine in college and then did it this one time before a fight and got caught. No. Seriously? “Yeah, pretty much…I do not dab into cocaine, it’s not my thing at all. The night I did it, I was just…there’s no excuse, I really don’t know what came over me, what made me decide to make such a poor choice, but I did, and now I live with…I’m not a cocaine addict by any mean, or not even a frequent user. I just made a really dumb decision, just really got caught with my pants down in this whole situation, and you know, no excuse for it, I can just apologize and try to do things better.”

On public shame: “Cocaine is such a dirty drug, and the whole situation has been really embarrassing…I apologized to Dana, Lorenzo, to my family, to my brothers…my brothers were both really disappointed, I think I embarrassed them in the locker room, with their respective teams.”

On rehab: “I would say it was a collective decision between myself and some of my business partners. They thought it would be good. I told them right away, I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t have a drug problem I just got caught.’ They said, ‘Jon we don’t know if you have a drug problem or not.’ They said, ‘How about you go to rehab and let them decide on how healthy you are or whatnot.’ And I said okay, of course. So I went to a rehab facility and I did a 24-hour evaluation where I spoke to doctors, about three doctors for almost seven hours, and we talked about drugs, and the role its played in my life, and my upbringing, and they came to the conclusion that I didn’t need inpatient treatment…so they put me in an outpatient house, I stayed there the next day, the whole day, with a bunch of different addicts, and the counselor came to me at the house, and he set me down and said, ‘Hey Jon, I really believe that you made a big mistake, and that you don’t need to live here with us full time, but what I will do is continue to drug test you, and to come by your house about twice a week.’…They continue to test me on a weekly basis, and our counseling sessions will go anywhere from once, twice, three times a week.”

On moving forward: “The important thing is to learn when we fall down, and to get back up, and to not beat yourself up too hard about it, and to try to do things better…the best ways I can come back from this, really, is to continue being a winner, and to not let things like this happen again, and to learn. It’s not a defeat if you learn something.”

On his fans: “My message to my fans is that I’m sorry, that I’m really sorry for maybe betraying their belief, or just letting them down. I definitely have let myself down, my family, my team, the UFC, my fans down, and really it’s just a sincere apology.”

Jon Jones Fined $25,000 By The UFC For Violating The Promotion’s Code of Conduct


(“I’m deeply saddened by this whole situation. I’ll be honest, though … that beard trimmer I bought yesterday was more expensive than this fine.”/Photo via Getty)

The UFC announced via its website today that current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been fined $25,000 for violating the promotion’s Athlete Code of Conduct policy.

Jones, who defeated Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 on Jan. 3, 2015, failed an out-of-competition drug test administered by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Dec. 4, 2014, testing positive for cocaine metabolites.

The UFC had this to say about the fine (via UFC.com):


(“I’m deeply saddened by this whole situation. I’ll be honest, though … that beard trimmer I bought yesterday was more expensive than this fine.”/Photo via Getty)

The UFC announced via its website today that current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been fined $25,000 for violating the promotion’s Athlete Code of Conduct policy.

Jones, who defeated Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 on Jan. 3, 2015, failed an out-of-competition drug test administered by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Dec. 4, 2014, testing positive for cocaine metabolites.

The UFC had this to say about the fine (via UFC.com):

The UFC announced today that it has fined light heavyweight champion Jon Jones $25,000 for violating the organization’s Athlete Code of Conduct policy. Jones tested positive for cocaine during an out-of-competition drug test conducted by the Nevada Athletic Commission on Dec. 4, 2014. The $25,000 will be donated to a substance abuse prevention program.

The UFC came to this decision after reviewing the facts surrounding the issue, and after receiving confirmation from the Nevada Athletic Commission that Jones passed all required drug tests following his bout at UFC 182 on Jan. 3.”

The news itself was downright shocking, yet the fact that both the UFC and the NSAC knew about this plenty of time before his eighth-consecutive title defense (Dec. 23, 2014) was disconcerting, and the positive test was only made public on Jan. 6, 2015. But as we know, the show must go on. Jones checked himself into rehab directly after the incident, only to last one night inside the joint before cashing himself out.

There were also rumors of Jones having abnormal T/E ratios and hormone levels, but those worries were taken care of when the NSAC confirmed the samples came back clean.

Also, as per a tweet from MMA Fighting’s Luke Thomas, it should be noted that “Bones” will be fined the 25 grand out of his disclosed $500,000 payout he made from his unanimous decision win over “D.C.” (which tallies at a whopping 5%).

Lastly, for what it’s worth, FOX Sports announced today Jones will be sitting down with Charissa Thompson  to “break his silence” on this whole ordeal in a segment airing at 11 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 this upcoming Monday night. Considering FOX is in bed with the UFC, serving as the promotion’s mouthpiece more often than not, it’s hard to believe this is going to be a tell-all interview, and that the reigning champ would be grilled in Bob Costas fashion.

Either way, we’ll keep you posted on it.

Alex G.

Wanderlei Silva Buries the Nevada Athletic Commission, Continues Descent Into Irrelevance

Jon Jones tested positive for cocaine earlier this week! You know what that means, right? If you guessed an overhaul of drug testing procedures and increased transparency from the Nevada Athletic Commission and the UFC, you’d be wrong. No, what this significant development in MMA means is another Wanderlei Silva pro wrestling-style shoot promo.

He set his sights on the NAC, bashing them for ruining Jones’ reputation and for being the bumbling, corrupt idiots we all sort of know they are (transcript via MMA Fighting). Read it after the jump.

Jon Jones tested positive for cocaine earlier this week! You know what that means, right? If you guessed an overhaul of drug testing procedures and increased transparency from the Nevada Athletic Commission and the UFC, you’d be wrong. No, what this significant development in MMA means is another Wanderlei Silva pro wrestling-style shoot promo.

He set his sights on the NAC, bashing them for ruining Jones’ reputation and for being the bumbling, corrupt idiots we all sort of know they are (transcript via MMA Fighting):

Let’s analyze what happened to Jon Jones. [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.

Good points. He’d go on to make a few more…

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.

While Silva’s words have truth to them (hell, we agree with pretty much all of them) they sound awfully strange coming from the guy who literally ran away from a piss-cup-carrying commission member.

And Silva has released scathing videos like this before, one on fighter sponsorships and the other on fighter pay. Being a disgraced fighter and habitually releasing scathing videos is putting Silva dangerously close to fringe MMA weirdo territory — think Luke Cummo and Dan Quinn. And once you become one of those guys, there’s no coming back. You’re condemned to signing autographs in third-rate pizza places for all eternity.

We still want to love you, Wandy, you’re just making it harder and harder. So instead of latching onto the popular cause of the minute every few weeks, please figure out how to escape your UFC contract so we can watch you murder professional wrestlers in Bellator.

The Plot Thickens: Jon Jones’ Test Results Also Reveal Abnormal T/E Ratios, Hormone Levels

While there’s been a lot of hubbub (rightfully) made about Jon Jones’ positive test for cocaine and the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s subsequent bumblefucking of his case, it’s taken (some of) us a couple days to see another, perhaps greater abnormality in Jones’ sample. Also, I just used hubbub and bumblefuck in the same sentence and probably deserve some kind of award for that.

As you already know, Jones’ two tests on December 4th both came back positive for traces of cocaine metabolites, with his follow-up test on the 18th coming back clean. All three tests, however, showed significantly lower than usual levels of testosterone, which for a young athlete of Jones’ level is unusual to say the very least.

Jones’ first test (the “watery” sample) is pictured above. As you can see, Jones’ testosterone levels measured at 59ng/dL, and his epitestosterone levels measured at 170ng/dL. This raises several red flags, as the range for epitestosterone is usually similar to that of testosterone (hence the 1:1 T/E ratio that is considered normal). Jones’ second and third tests are after the jump.

Now, there are a few possible explanations as to why Jones’ T/E ratio could come back so abnormal…

While there’s been a lot of hubbub (rightfully) made about Jon Jones’ positive test for cocaine and the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s subsequent bumblefucking of his case, it’s taken (some of) us a couple days to see another, perhaps greater abnormality in Jones’ sample. Also, I just used hubbub and bumblefuck in the same sentence and probably deserve some kind of award for that.

As you already know, Jones’ two tests on December 4th both came back positive for traces of cocaine metabolites, with his follow-up test on the 18th coming back clean. All three tests, however, showed significantly lower than usual levels of testosterone, which for a young athlete of Jones’ level is unusual to say the very least.

Jones’ first test (the “watery” sample) is pictured above. As you can see, Jones’ testosterone levels measured at 59ng/dL, and his epitestosterone levels measured at 170ng/dL. This raises several red flags, as the range for epitestosterone is usually similar to that of testosterone (hence the 1:1 T/E ratio that is considered normal). Jones’ second and third tests are after the jump.

Now, there are a few possible explanations as to why Jones’ T/E ratio could come back so abnormal…(as BloodyElbow’s Iain Kidd theorizes):

What possible explanations are there for such odd results? Well for the low testosterone there are plenty. The normal levels are those taken first thing in the morning. If Jon Jones was tested late in the day, his levels would be slightly lower than normal anyway. If the tests came after a strenuous training session, this would lower them even further. Certain drugs, especially opiate based painkillers, can also have a very significant, though temporary, effect on testosterone levels and production.

I am personally unaware of any natural reason for epitestosterone to be so much higher than testosterone. Readings such as this are typically seen as red flags for drug testing agencies, as exogenous epitestosterone (that is, epitestosterone administered from an external source, not produced naturally by the body) is banned due to its use as a masking agent. Athletes were using epitestosterone to ensure their T:E ratios would not be too high on standard urine tests, leading to the ban by WADA and other organisations.

As every website reporting on these levels have noted, none of these explanations should be considered fact until all the information is out there. Considering that NSAC executive director Bob Bennett told reporters yesterday that the lab responsible for testing Jones might *also* have screwed up in regards to what he was actually tested for, it’s too early to really start lobbing any potentially libelous claims Jones’ way.

Jones’ second test is below. Although his T levels had risen to a much more normal 180ng/dL, note his higher-than-average 610ng/dL E levels.

His December 18th test, on the other hand, still shows a lower-than normal 180ng/dL, but his epitestosterone levels are off the charts at 2000ng/dL.

So what does this mean? Well, at the risk of being forced to print another retraction, we’ll just say that the results possibly indicate that an external/synthetic form of epitestosterone could be behind Jones’ abnormal samples. But as Kidd continues:

It has to be noted that urine testing for testosterone levels is significantly less accurate than blood testing. All three tests appear to be urine tests only. It’s also possible that the concentration/dilution of Jones’ urine mean his levels look abnormal. It should not affect the relative ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone, though. Nor do I believe it would explain the drastic change in epitestosterone level between his December 4th and December 18th test, since his testosterone levels do not show the same rate of increase.

Of course, there’s an easy way to put all of these rumors to rest, as Dr. Johnny Benjamin and Victor Conte have both pointed out on Twitter. By using a carbon isotope test on Jones’s stored samples, NSAC would be able to accurately determine if he was using synthetic testosterone or epitestosterone, which could result in an even bigger shitstorm for the much-troubled champion. Of course, the NSAC being NSAC, these tests will likely never happen. Which…

Again, we will hopefully have more definitive answers regarding Jones’ case when the NSAC meets next Monday.

Related: Oh, had we forgotten to mention that there’s a possibility that Jones perjured himself while speaking in front of the commission back in September? Because yeah, that too (via MMAFighting):

Jon Jones told the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) in September that he lost his Nike endorsement due to a brawl he had with Daniel Cormier during a press event in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Last week, Jones backtracked from that statement and now the Nevada deputy attorney general is reviewing whether or not Jones perjured himself under oath at the hearing, MMAFighting.com has learned.

NAC executive director Bob Bennett said the commission is aware of Jones’ comments prior to UFC 182 and the matter has been sent up the ladder.

“They’re considering it for review,” Bennett said. “It’s nothing new to us.

“It would be concerning if anyone lied during testimony.”

According to Jones himself, he “definitely worded it wrong.”

“Nike did not drop me because of that fight and I kind of owe an apology to Nike for saying they dropped me because of the fight.” said Jones during a media conference call. “They actually didn’t. Nike has been known to support its athletes through much worse things than a brawl in the middle of MGM [Grand].”

So basically, I’ve just used a lot of words to describe the past couple months of Jon Jones’ life, when it can all be summed up in a 3-minute song.

J. Jones

Absolute Honesty Is Imperative from the UFC in Jon Jones Cocaine Fiasco

Things went so well last Saturday night for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. They had a big, highly-anticipated fight that should be a commercial success. The rest of the UFC 182 card was mostly forgettable, but Jones vs. Cormier delivered in spades. It gave us the opportunity to see the best fighter in the world doing […]

Things went so well last Saturday night for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. They had a big, highly-anticipated fight that should be a commercial success. The rest of the UFC 182 card was mostly forgettable, but Jones vs. Cormier delivered in spades. It gave us the opportunity to see the best fighter in the world doing […]

Complete Guide to UFC Champ Jon Jones’s Cocaine Scandal

On Tuesday, just days removed from his dominant title defense against former Olympian Daniel Cormier, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones surprised many in the MMA community by checking himself into a drug rehabilitation clinic. The move came after a December 4, 2014 drug screening by the Nevada State Athletic Commission revealed benzoylecgonine, the primary metabolite […]

On Tuesday, just days removed from his dominant title defense against former Olympian Daniel Cormier, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones surprised many in the MMA community by checking himself into a drug rehabilitation clinic. The move came after a December 4, 2014 drug screening by the Nevada State Athletic Commission revealed benzoylecgonine, the primary metabolite […]