Jon Jones Won’t Be Fighting Again For Many More Months As The USADA Drops The Hammer On Him For Doping

UFC star Jon Jones had hoped that his hearing with the USADA on October 31st would lead to his reinstatement from a doping suspension for a failed drug test prior to UFC 200.

The USADA had previously determined that the substance Jones was suspended for taking was due to a tainted supplement so there was a chance that his suspension could have been overturned.

However, on Monday, Jones, who is the first UFC fighter to ever enter arbitration with USADA over failed out-of-competition drug sanctions, was suspended for the maximum of one-year for his offense.

Jones, 29, tested positive for the presence of two prohibited substances, clomiphene and letrozole, following an out-of-competition urine test on June 16, 2016.Clomiphene and letrozole are both Specified Substances in the class of Hormone and Metabolic Modulators and are prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List. Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, the standard sanction for a policy violation involving a Specified Substance is a one-year period of ineligibility.

Depending on the athlete’s degree of fault for the doping offense, the sanction for an anti-doping policy violation involving Specified Substances can range from a reprimand and no period of ineligibility, up to the standard one-year period of ineligibility. Here, the MGSS Panel, comprised entirely of specially trained arbitrators from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, concluded that Jones’ degree of fault was at the very top end of the scale.

The good news, if there is any, is that the suspension has been backdated to July 6, 2016, the date of the original sanctions.

That being said, Jones also still faces potential additional punishment from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. A date has yet to be announced for when that hearing will take place.