McCarthy: I don’t believe Jones knowingly took PEDs, but …
John McCarthy: “I love Jon Jones. I say he’s the greatest MMA fighter I’ve ever seen. But this is where the problem comes forward.”
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones tested positive for metabolites from the steroid Turinabol in a test administered on July 28, 2017 immediately after UFC 214 weigh-ins. This was not a random test; given Jones’ unfortunate history with anti-doping tests, it was guaranteed.
It is widely known that the Turinabol metabolite M3 that Jones tested for can be detected for 45 to 60 days, or more. Jones passed tests for Turinabol and its metabolites on July 6 and July 7. So Turinabol entered Jones’ system between July 8 and July 28. However, given the window for Turinabol metabolites, you wouldn’t take the PED knowing you were going be tested at the end of the month. This is Jones second infraction, with a theoretical four-year suspension; at 30 it could be the end of his career. So the test failure doesn’t make sense.
At a recent California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) hearing, Jones was suspended for a year, and fined over $200,000. He next faces a suspension from USADA.
During a recent appearance on MMAjunkie Radio, the Dean of MMA Referees ‘Big’ John McCarthy voiced the general feeling in the sport – Jones didn’t knowingly take a PED, but he did irresponsibly take a tainted supplement. Jones’ previous anti-doping test failure was due to a contaminated, bootleg, erectile dysfunction pill. The independent panel that reviewed the evidence was baffled Jones could be so irresponsible. They shouldn’t have been – Jones career has been defined simultaneously by greatness, and by doing witless things.
When you’re an athlete making the amount of money that Jon is making, you can’t go to the AM-PM and buy something that’s in pill form and put that in your mouth without going, ‘What the f*** are you doing?’ C’mon, dude, said McCarthy, as transcribed by Steven Marrocco for MMAjunkie. You are a frickin’ Ferrari. You can’t do those things. You have got to be smart. And I just don’t see them letting him off with, ‘Oh, it was just a mistake,’ because he’s had that mistake before.
I love Jon Jones. I say he’s the greatest MMA fighter I’ve ever seen. But this is where the problem comes forward. I don’t personally believe Jon took some type of steroid before fighting Daniel Cormier. … But Jon is personally responsible as a professional athlete under contract with the UFC … with everything he puts in his body. And I believe that Jon is taking – or allowing things that are not known or not tested – and because some other trace element is in there that makes you pop, you’re responsible for it.
When he took the lie-detector test, I believe that Jon didn’t knowingly take a pill or take a shot or injection for that steroid, but I do believe he’s taking things, or allowing himself to ingest things that, for whatever reason, that sometimes contain these things, because he’s taking them from places that there is no quality assurance.