Fallen star carries heavy baggage to UFC 232 card
There was a time not too long ago when it seemed inevitable that Jon Jones would become the poster boy for mixed martial arts.
Armed with otherworldly fight talent and a natural charisma, the early years of Jones’ career saw him become the youngest champion in UFC history and get major endorsement deals from companies such as Nike that previously never seemed to have much interest in the fight game. Jones seemed primed to be the face of the sport, the Michael Jordan of MMA.
This week, however, that all feels like so long ago.
The Jones who sat on stage on Thursday, only days after complications with one of his drug tests caused his employers to move UFC 232 from Las Vegas to Los Angeles at great expense, carried so much baggage with him.
In recent years, he’s been charged with driving under the influence (wrapping his car around a pole in New York), charged for a hit-and-run, and failed multiple drug tests since the UFC brought on the United States Anti-Doping Association as their testing partner.
“I am in an interesting spot in the UFC,” Jones said. “I feel like I’m a polarizing athlete and it’s just going to follow me.
“It’s going to follow me and the way I deal with that is waiting for USADA and now (the World Anti-Doping Agency) to continue doing their research into what’s going on in my body and I think through their study I’ll be vindicated and just continue trying to stay on the right path and do the right things.”
Really, that’s all Jones can say. Athletes make mistakes just like everyone else, and he swears that he’s never willingly ingested a performance-enhancing drug in his life.
The problem is that it’s become almost impossible to give him the benefit of the doubt.
The UFC is trying, though. Despite the situation that caused them to move UFC 232 — which Jones will headline in a fight against Alexander Gustafsson — from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, the promotion has gone out of its way to explain to the public why the fight is still happening.
Essentially, a Dec. 9 drug test found minuscule amounts of turinabol in Jones’ system, but drug-testing experts advised the amount was so small that it was essentially impossible for Jones to have ingested the substance recently. Instead, they believed the metabolites were left over from when Jones tested positive for the same substance in 2017.
It’s worth noting that an independent arbitrator determined Jones had not intentionally ingested turinabol at that time. He was suspended for 15 months anyways and when the results from this month’s test were revealed, it was determined that he should not be punished twice for the same incident.
Still, the stench of PEDs seems to follow him wherever he goes.
“I’ve taken off the asterisk next to what I’ve done,” Jones said. “I know what I’ve done. Every pushup, every sit-up, freaking showing up to practice early, leaving there late, wrestling camp since I was 12 years old, endless tournaments, I know what I’ve done.
“After beating Gustafsson I’m going to be right back on the track that I’ve always been on, which is being one of the all-time greats and I know that in my heart, no matter who believes me or not.”