LAS VEGAS (AP) – Jon Jones will need an awfully good explanation for the latest major setback in his checkered mixed martial arts career.
Jones could be facing a multiyear suspension after the US Anti-Doping Agency notified the UFC light heavyweight champion of a potential violation of the promotion’s anti-doping policy.
UFC President Dana White said Wednesday that the promotion likely won’t know for several weeks whether the test results will be confirmed after an examination of Jones’ backup sample. Any potential discipline must wait until after the adjudication process afforded to every fighter.
But unless some extraordinary reason surfaces for Jones’ latest failed test, the man widely considered the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter is facing another lengthy absence during his prime.
“At this point, who (cares) what I think? He’s done enough damage to himself,” White said while promoting Conor McGregor’s boxing showdown with Floyd Mayweather this weekend.
“His dad said it: Jon is his own worst enemy,” White added. “Boy, is that true. But sitting here today, it’s not over yet. He’s got to go through the process. Maybe there was something crazy that happened for this stuff to get into his system, so I don’t know.”
Jones has been provisionally suspended by USADA, which administers the UFC’s anti-drug policy. The California State Athletic Commission also has jurisdiction over Jones, who regained his light heavyweight title July 29 with a third-round stoppage of Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 in Anaheim. He failed a test conducted on a sample collected one day before the bout.
“If this holds up, and he ends up getting (a suspension of) two, three (years), it’s probably the end of his career,’’ White said.
Under its privacy rules, USADA won’t announce the substance for which Jones tested positive unless the fighter divulges it.
Jones’ agent, Malki Kawa, appeared on “The MMA Hour’’ podcast later Wednesday and said the fighter was told he had tested positive for turinabol, an anabolic steroid. Kawa said Jones passed two tests earlier in July, and the fighter is wondering whether he took a tainted nutritional supplement in the weeks before the bout.
