Jones categorically denies ‘snitch’ speculation

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones recently conducted one of the longest, and best interviews in memory, with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani. Jones was suspended for just 15 months after going through USADA arbitration, and is eligible to return on October 28; he had faced up to 48 months away from his profession. The reduction was due to the determination that the fighter did not knowingly take anything, and the amount found was useless in terms of performance, and Jones provided USADA with Substantial Assistance – information bringing forward an Anti-Doping Policy Violation by another person.

There was widespread speculation that Jones must have told on members of his team, but he has categorically denied it.

“USADA asked me to do a lot of things throughout this case, but one thing I didn’t do is snitch on anybody in MMA,” Jones said. “I definitely didn’t give up any information on anyone in the sport, nor do I know of anybody who’s doing these things in the sport. I think the whole snitching thing is pretty silly. It’s interesting to watch people jump to conclusions about things they don’t know what they are talking about. And that’s all I want to say about that topic.”

“I understand that I’m going to be a guy that’s very fun to talk about whether it’s for the good or bad. I’m just grateful to be relevant at the end of the day. When you are one of the better athletes in the sport, people are going to talk about you. I feel like everyone is never minding all the science that went into all this and they are trying to chalk it up to some kind of rat situation, as if they are saying Jon was guilty but he ratted to get out of this, but that can’t be farther from the truth.”

“Until this day, we were never able to figure out how it got into my body, and that’s really scary to me. Very scary. It leaves me with a certain degree of paranoia. And now I’m just extremely precautious about everything I put in my body when it comes to everything. Before this happened, we were taking extra precautions by hiring professionals that were regulating everything that was going into my body and being in contact with USADA. So, on the supplement side of things, I was super, super cautious and super careful and now I’m cautious and careful across the board. When I say that I mean, eating food from certain restaurants and ordering drinks from certain places. Nowadays I carry a water bottle with me almost everywhere. I try not to be too predictable about the places I eat at, and that’s kind of s****y.”

“That’s something I have to live with for the rest of the career — the idea that that could happen.”

Read entire interview…

So who knows, maybe Jones provided Substantial Assistance in regards to the NFL, as he has two brothers with a long history on the gridiron, but the MMA snitch stories can be put to sleep.

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