UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones Has Tested Postive For Trace Amounts of Turinabol Again… This Time in a Test Undertaken by VADA… However, He Will Not be Sanctioned…
Jon Jones became the first UFC fighter to be tested by both VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency) and USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) for one fight. After he initially refused to submit a voluntary sample to VADA, he finally did so after the entire UFC 232 card was shifted from Nevada to California.
This happened because trace amounts of Turinabol, an anabolic steroid, appeared in one of his test samples. As this was the substance that he was banned for taking in 2017, although he has always pleaded his innocence. The Nevada Athletic Commission refused to issue him a licence to fight, without an investigation.
After all the chaos, Jones finally went on to convincingly beat Alexander Gustafsson for the vacant title. Now, true to form, Turinabol has come up again in a VADA test. However, the California State Athletic Commission will not be suspending him. Anthony Smith, Jones’s next opponent, has also reacted.
Picograms
Nobody knew what a picogram was until a few weeks ago. Now we get to use the word again because the VADA test picked up more picograms in a urine test. The results were released by the CSAC as follows: Jones had 33 picograms of 4-chloro-18-nor-17β-hydroxymethyl,17α-methyl-5α-androst-13-en-3α-ol (M3) (or DHMCT) in his system.
Now we’re not exactly scientists here at Scrapdigest, but we do know from listening to Joe Rogan say over and over again, that it’s a tiny amount. The UFC’s Vice-President of Athlete Health and Performance had this to say (via MMA Fighting):
“Science-wise, it does make some sense. Once again, there was no parent compound and none of the short- or medium-term metabolites, which tend to stick around for three or weeks. So this is even more indicative that for whatever reason this long-term metabolite is just hanging around in these tissues and they get expressed when you’re going through weight loss.”
No Punishment
Forget the scientific formulas and the numbers for a moment. All you guys want to know is whether or not Jones is going to face any punishment or not. The short answer is no, he won’t. CSAC Executive Officer Andy Foster had this to say:
“I spoke with the scientists. They stand by their original statement. Nothing has changed. We’ve already punished Jon Jones for the M3 metabolite, which is a long-term metabolite. There’s no grounds to charge somebody twice for the same violation.”
If you’re hitting me up about this, don’t. I truly dont care. Picograms, no picograms, Olympic sized swimming pools, grains of salt 🤦🏽♂️… I couldn’t care any less. I signed on the line and did it knowing what I was signing up for and with no expectations. I’m good, y’all. 🙅🏽♂️ https://t.co/GnQQ6diow6
— Anthony Smith (@lionheartasmith) January 24, 2019
Reaction
One of the most interesting responses to this news came from Jones’s next opponent, Anthony Smith. He’s set to fight ‘Lionheart’ in Las Vegas, at UFC 235 in March. That’s assuming the Nevada Athletic Commission grants him a licence this time. If you’re planning on going, you might want to find a quick way to get to Inglewood, California. Smith had this to say:
“If you’re hitting me up about this, don’t. I truly dont care. Picograms, no picograms, Olympic sized swimming pools, grains of salt… I couldn’t care any less. I signed on the line and did it knowing what I was signing up for and with no expectations. I’m good, y’all.”
Like it or not, Jones is always going to have an asterisk beside his name now. Some UFC fighters – both current and former – have questioned whether or not he should even be allowed to compete while trace amounts, new or old, of PEDs are found in his system.
