Cormier: This is a [career] death sentence
Daniel Cormier on Jon Jones: “To expect people to understand any more is just ridiculous.”
Jon Jones has been stripped of his title for the third time. The first time was for driving a rental into a stopped car, breaking the arm of the occupant, a pregnant woman. Jones then ran, returned to his vehicle to stuff cash into his shorts, and then ran again. He never checked on the well-being of the woman he hurt.
The second time was for failing a test for the banned substances clomiphene and Letrozol. It was later determined that they were contained in a bootleg erectile dysfunction pill given to him by a teammate. It was never conclusively determined why the teammate also bought clomiphene from the same company. Clomiphene would typically be used at the end of a cycle of PEDs.
The third belt stripping was when Jones failed a pre fight test for metabolites from the notorious steroid Turinabol, the same drug that kept the entire Russian track team from the last Olympics. Unfortunately, the results didn’t come back until long after Jones defeated champion Daniel Cormier. That bout has now been changed to a No Contest, and Cormier’s belt restored. Jones, 30, faces a potential suspension of up to four years for his second PED test failure, although his first suspension was for a year, so a two-year suspension is more likely, if he is determined to be guilty.
UFC vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitzky has adamantly asked the media and fans to hold off on judging Jones for this latest potential infraction. However, on Wednesday night’s UFC Tonight, Cormier said that if true, this could be the end of Jones’ career.
This is a death sentence, said Cormier, as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. If this does what it says it can be, it’s a death sentence. This is a very expensive drug, it isn’t gonna be easily found in a supplement. I’ve been in the USADA program for 12 years. I’ve never had this issue. If it was a mistake the first time, you’ve gotta be more careful, especially with all the scrutiny that was on him coming back from a suspension. You’ve gotta be cautious and careful. To expect people to understand any more is just ridiculous.
The reality is, you can’t fail a drug test. You can pass 100 tests. You can’t fail one. They’re saying we have to wait for the due process, but what are we waiting for? We’ve tested the ‘A’ sample, tested the ‘B’ sample and if there’s anything, you cannot test positive for performance-enhancing drugs, man. You just can’t do it. It’s unfair. I’m very upset about it.
I think it’s crazy. It’s one of the craziest things.
Cormier is absolutely correct – it’s crazy.
