News of Jon Jones positive steroid test was confirmed by USADA and Jones’ agent on Thursday. TMZ broke the story on Tuesday, and while speculation has run rampant since then, but the news became official on Thursday after an official statement was released by a USADA spokesperson as well as Jones’ agent Malki Kawa. “Given […]
News of Jon Jones positive steroid test was confirmed by USADA and Jones’ agent on Thursday.
TMZ broke the story on Tuesday, and while speculation has run rampant since then, but the news became official on Thursday after an official statement was released by a USADA spokesperson as well as Jones’ agent Malki Kawa.
“Given that Mr. Jones’ representative has publicly commented about the substance, USADA can confirm that his sample tested positive for turinabol,” a USADA spokesperson said Thursday.
Meanwhile, Jones’ agent and friend Malki Kawa confirmed the notification from USADA, but insisted he was going to stick by his client.
“I stand with bones! For anyone to think I would ‘drop’ him like Him and I aren’t brothers is stupid. … I’m with him more now than the night he won the belt…. being there for the good times is what everybody would do. But who’s really there when times get bad?” Kawa wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday afternoon.
Jones still has the chance to appeal the suspension prior to adjudication. But, if he is found guilty of using a banned substance again, he faces up to a four-year suspension due to prior infractions.
How do you see this all playing out? Will “Bones” be stripped of his belt and suspended?
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has issued a statement on Jon Jones’ positive test result for a banned substance. After the UFC 214 weigh-ins, Jones had a positive sample collected. Yesterday, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White made the reveal. TMZ Sports reported that the banned substance in question was Turinabol. USADA sent out […]
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has issued a statement on Jon Jones’ positive test result for a banned substance. After the UFC 214 weigh-ins, Jones had a positive sample collected. Yesterday, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White made the reveal. TMZ Sports reported that the banned substance in question was Turinabol. USADA sent out […]
Late last night (Aug. 22, 2017) shocking news broke indicating that troubled UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones had once again failed a drug test. After serving a year-long suspension for a drug test failure prior to UFC 200 last summer, Jones returned last month (July 29, 2017) at UFC 214, defeating Daniel Cormier with […]
After serving a year-long suspension for a drug test failure prior to UFC 200 last summer, Jones returned last month (July 29, 2017) at UFC 214, defeating Daniel Cormier with an incredible third-round knockout to reclaim the light heavyweight title he had never technically lost.
However, it now turns out that Jones failed an in-competition drug test and he has been notified by USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) of a potential violation.
Few details have emerged regarding the situation, but a teammate of Jones, Frank Lester, who also happens to be a former The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) contestant, took to his official Facebook page to give his thoughts on the situation:
“I was just at dinner sitting next to Jon Jones when he got the phone call about this failed drug test,” Lester wrote. “Supposedly the story is between weigh ins and fight night he took a oral steroid. Which makes zero sense since it wouldn’t do anything at all for Jon to do so. It takes weeks for steroids to build up in your system to be a performance enhancer. Jon was devastated to say the least.
“This is a set up, straight up, no athlete would test clean his entire fight camp, and then randomly take some cheap f—king oral steroid betweens weigh ins and fight night knowing he would be tested once he got done fighting. This is a straight set up. They are trying to ruin this kids life. It makes no sense and Jon wouldn’t do it. Let’s see what happens with all of this but I truly believe Jon is innocent & I hope that all of you will give him a fair chance before you send hateful judgements his way.”
Obviously, it’s unclear how accurate Lester’s comments are, but it’s about all we have right now.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight Guido Cannetti has accepted a 10-month suspension. Back in October 2016, Cannetti was flagged by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Cannetti tested positive for multiple banned substances. USADA recently announced he has accepted a 10-month sanction. You can read USADA’s statement below: “USADA announced today that UFC athlete, Guido Cannetti, […]
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight Guido Cannetti has accepted a 10-month suspension. Back in October 2016, Cannetti was flagged by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Cannetti tested positive for multiple banned substances. USADA recently announced he has accepted a 10-month sanction. You can read USADA’s statement below: “USADA announced today that UFC athlete, Guido Cannetti, […]
The MMA world was dealt a somewhat shocking blow yesterday (Fri., August 18, 2017) when news broke that former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos had been flagged for a potential USADA violation, forcing him out of his awaited UFC 215 match-up with rising prospect Francis Ngannou. Specific details of his out-of-competition test failure were […]
The MMA world was dealt a somewhat shocking blow yesterday (Fri., August 18, 2017) when news broke that former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos had been flagged for a potential USADA violation, forcing him out of his awaited UFC 215 match-up with rising prospect Francis Ngannou.
Specific details of his out-of-competition test failure were unclear, but dos Santos’ manager Ana Guedes offered two statements to MMA Fighting to clarify the situation somewhat. First off, Guedes stood fast in her stance that “Cigano” is and always has been against performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in MMA, adding that he’s never used them and fully supports USADA’s efforts to clean up MMA:
“We are still trying to understand the test results, so that we can investigate and determine what happened. What we know as of now is that Junior dos Santos has never taken PEDs, has never knowingly used any banned substances, and has always supported USADA’s policies and efforts to keep the sport clean.
“If ever there was a fighter who made his position on this issue unequivocal, it’s Junior. We are confident that that we will be able to figure out what happened, and will provide an explanation once we have one.”
A second statement then delved much deeper into the exact specific nature of his potential violation, where Guedes detailed that dos Santos had tested positive for banned diuretic Hydrochlorothiazite. Guedes described how the team was exploring any and all options to find out just how dos Santos ingested the substance, working with the UFC’s athlete health and wellness department to determine if a tainted supplement was to blame:
“Junior tested positive for a substance called Hydrochlorothiazite, which is a diuretic and is banned by USADA due to its use as a masking agent,” the second statement read. “We do not know where this substance came from. Junior has had his blood and urine randomly tested many times and has never once tested positive for a banned substance.
“We requested testing of his B sample today. Most times, the B sample will show the identical results as the A sample. Therefore, we are already working on analyzing his nutritional supplements and medications, to determine whether anything might have been contaminated. Jeff Novitzky and Donna Marcolini of the UFC have provided the guidance for this process, and we are grateful to them for their professionalism and competence.”
Finally, Guedes reiterated that even though her client was supposedly bearing some of the unfortunate consequences of the much stricter testing, dos Santos remained in full support of USADA’s efforts, and had also offered an apology to Ngannou in hopes of rescheduling their potentially explosive fight at a later date:
“Junior remains committed to and supportive of USADA drug testing – even if he is bearing an unfortunate consequence of it. He spoke personally with Francis Ngannou, and apologized for the unintended consequence to him. Junior thanks Francis for the sympathy, understanding, and respect that transpired during their call, and very much looks forward to resolving this situation so that he and Francis can set up a new date to face one another.”
Francis Ngannou is very, very angry about this evening’s news that his UFC 215 opponent Junior Dos Santos had been forced out of their bout at the September 9 pay-per-view (PPV) because of a potential USADA violation. Ngannou and former champ dos Santos were supposed to square off in a crucial heavyweight showdown at the […]
Francis Ngannou is very, very angry about this evening’s news that his UFC 215 opponent Junior Dos Santos had been forced out of their bout at the September 9 pay-per-view (PPV) because of a potential USADA violation.
Ngannou and former champ dos Santos were supposed to square off in a crucial heavyweight showdown at the UFC’s first-ever event from Edmonton, but all of that obviously fell apart when dos Santos was flagged, leaving the promotion to scramble to find a late replacement.
Not surprisingly, the No. 5-ranked Ngannou tweeted that he was not happy with the development, noting that he was nearly done with his training camp:
I'm very very angry!!!
Almost done with training camp and they just announced that my opponent is out for #ufc215
It’s a predictable response from Ngannou, who was set to take on by far his biggest-name opponent in former champ dos Santos after blasting through his first five UFC opponents with shocking ease. His most recent win came over another former heavyweight champion in Andrei Arlovski, but it’s clear to see that more recent title contender “JDS” was set to propel the “Predator” to new heights; even a possible title shot.
For now, however, the promotion will look to hastily find a replacement to meet the booming would-be superstar in only three weeks’ time, no easy task for anyone – let alone to battle the most fearsome up-and-coming force in the octagon.
