Sonnen: Doesn’t appear Jones actually provided ‘material assistance’
Chael Sonnen: “It would appear, as time has gone by, that they were able to activate that clause without actually making him do it. It does not appear that Jon Jones has snitched on anybody.”
Following a failed test for metabolites from a steroid, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was suspended for just 15 months after going through USADA arbitration; 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, and he categorically denied it.
Then he a tested showed even fainter traces, but by switching from Nevada to California, the fight was still on at UFC 232. But the snitching label contunued. However, during a podcast about a month ago, Chael Sonnen, argued that he does not believe Jones snitched on anyone.
It would certainly appear in hindsight that a deal was made because of a clause that apparently exists within the bylaws that say, if you want to snitch and rat out other people, you can get more of a reduced sentence, said Sonnen, as transcribed by Clyde Aidoo for MMA News. It would appear, as time has gone by, that they were able to activate that clause without actually making him do it. It does not appear that Jon Jones has snitched on anybody.
And whether he didn’t have the info or he did have the info and did snitch but it wasn’t enough info for them to actually prosecute and move forward…I don’t know. But whatever was done is certainly already done. I mean, now that it’s known that Jon Jones will be an informant for USADA, it’s not as though he is going to be around the circle when some of these ill-fated conversations are taking place.
We haven’t seen anybody go down. We haven’t. And we all speculated that he would have had to go outside of the world of mixed martial arts. Him being the biggest fish in the sea, he can’t shoot down. That’s not how those deals are made. So it was speculated and believed…and somebody even questioned him on it, and he went as far as to say, ‘I did not snitch on anybody in mixed martial arts.’ He said that, which led you to believe that it was football…led you to believe it was the football players because he’s got a couple of brothers.
…He didn’t give them anything. That’s what it appears. There has not been any headlines of anybody going down or even an investigation that’s underway that could ever be tied back to Jon.