Coach: A four year suspension could be end of Jones’ career
Coach Wink: “If I had to guess it’s going to come out that there’s been something that he took to rehydrate himself after his cut or somewhere in that style.”
One of the greatest in mixed martial arts, Mike Winkeljohn, appeared recently on Submission Radio and spoke about Jon Jones recent failed anti-doping test. He began by sharing his reaction to first hearing the news.
Absolute terrible news, shock, there’s no way,” said coach Wink. “Jon Jones had been tested multiple times going through the fight camp, he would not do something like that. The problem is the public perception. They think he’s got these needles and shoving steroids in his arms when – don’t get me wrong, I understand Jon has messed up in the past, he’s got caught drinking and driving, he done some bad things, he done things that are idiotic, but he’s grown up.
“But as far taking steroids, what he’s been busted for is, you know, taking a Viagra Cialis from Mexico that had something in it, that’s not steroids. But it came up that way, and if I had to guess it’s going to come out that there’s been something that he took to rehydrate himself after his cut or somewhere in that style, that time that was some kind of… what do I want to say… some kind of substance that he thought was just a supplement, that someone said, ‘Hey, this will make you feel better, it’s got electrolytes in it and stuff,’ but it was tainted. And everybody thinks, ‘Yeah, that’s just an excuse,’ but no, really, that’s it, that’s what it’s going to be. And what I’ve noticed is a lot of these supplement companies, they have a tendency sometimes to throw things in there and I think if they find out who the supplement company was and which one is tainted they’ve got a big lawsuit on their hands because they have changed Jon Jones life and it’s really not his fault.
How much money can he make? How much is his career worth? Is it worth 100 million dollars? That’s gonna bankrupt a company. I would be the first one to say, hey look, here’s the deal, if you guys are in the supplement industry and you have a tendency to put anabolics and these different substances into products just so that the kids go, ‘Yeah, this stuff works,’ and then the FDA coming along and says, ‘Hey, you put that in that in there,’ you either have a tendency to pull it out real fast and so people won’t do it anymore, but you’ve already sold the product and they keep selling it and they open up another product or they file bankruptcy and do it again. Supplement companies are notorious for it if you go back and start reading some papers on them, and it’s not right. This is not right when they do those type of things just to sell products.
“I didn’t see it when he got the phone call – he was at the restaurant with one of our other coaches. But that coach told me he was just devastated, he just stopped in time and he’s pretty much since then just spent time with his family and been offline.
He’s in disbelief himself. He went from the highest of highs to way down in the bottom lows and just, it is his fault for not making sure that he takes some kind of supplement maybe if that’s what it is, but it’s just real disheartening because I know Jon Jones is not a cheater. Jon Jones can fight, he can game plan with anybody, strategize with anybody, he throws all these things. It’s his mind that’s so even better than his athletic ability by far, and that had nothing to do with substance abuse.
The PED that Jones tested positive for metabolites from, Turinabol, is expensive, and not something that a company would throw in a supplement. Another theory is that someone knowingly spiked something Jones took, but coach Wink is dubious.
No, that would be true evil,” he said. “And I know there are evil people out there but I don’t think those people would have access to him. I think it was just a mistake. I think it was just one of those situations where a supplement that someone says, Hey Jon, this will make you feel better, this will help with rehydration, or this will help with your cut or whatever the case is. aAnd Jon said, Okay, if you say so, that type of thing. So I know him and his management have gone through, they’re getting everything tested, everything that he has taken and we’ll see what happens.
Jones could be potentially suspended for four years, although even if found guilty, two years is more likely. If it is four, Winkeljohn thinks that could be the end of his career.
If it’s a four-year thing, I think it could be just that kind of devastation [sufficient to end his career], and which like I said, it’s not fair, you know? He messed up in that maybe he took something that someone said was fine, but he’s not doing it thinking, ‘I’m taking steroids or something,’ and that’s the part that’s terrible, he’d be devastated at four years. Who knows, you know? That’s just a long time to just spiral downhill, where bad things can happen. So that one scares me. If it’s a year Jon Jones will come back and dominate the world again, I do believe.
UFC vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitzky has asked fans and media to please let the process play out before judging Jones, so for now, we wait.
