This is what we’ve been waiting for since August of last year. Jon Jones sat in with the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) today to go through his case after his recent run-in with USADA following his UFC 214 fight with Daniel Cormier. The purpose of the hearing was to finally receive the word on the consequences Jon Jones will face. The CSAC are letting USADA handle the suspension, but they are revoking his license which could put him out of the sport for a year. As far as fines, the CSAC wants 40-percent of Jones’ $500K purse from UFC 214 plus an addition $5K.
Reason for the revocation of a license in lieu of a suspension, is that after a year is up, Jon Jones will have to appear before the CSAC to show ‘evidence of rehabilitation’ for license approval. They estimate USADA will suspend him 18 months to 2 years on top of that.
— Justin Golightly (@SecretMovesMMA) February 27, 2018
Throughout the hearing, there was an exhaustive list of Jon Jones’ run-ins with the law as well as USADA. With this, they established a pattern and built the case against Jon Jones and even got him to admit he was ‘reckless’ and ‘negligent’. Although some believed his common sense argument as to why he’d never intentionally dope that close to a fight, they also decided it was time for Jon Jones to spend time away from the sport.
The reason for the revocation of a license in lieu of a suspension, is that after a year is up, Jon Jones will have to appear before the CSAC to show ‘evidence of rehabilitation’. If they don’t see sufficient improvement, they can opt to not license him when he can re-apply as early as August of this year. They went on to estimate the forthcoming USADA suspension to be 18 months to 2 years, and added they all want to see Jones back in the sport ‘as soon as possible’.
“1000% I have paid for the dumb things have done. I may have not handled it with grace, but I’ve always suffered for my actions. […] In all of my circumstances, I’ve never gotten any type of leniency. That’s why I’m here today, to step up.” – Jon Jones
— Justin Golightly (@SecretMovesMMA) February 27, 2018
This Jon Jones situation has played out like a movie, complete with plot twists and cameos. The former UFC light heavyweight champion tested positive for Turinabol, which set forth a domino effect that we’ve never seen in the history of our sport so far: Multiple tests, sabotage allegations, delayed hearings, an independent polygraph, not to mention the constant and confident tease that Jones will be back this year despite the previous strikes on his record in addition to this latest one. Jon Jones and his management are expected to go through an arbitration after the pending USADA suspension so, in short, this case is far from over.
“You guys know this makes no freaking sense. Why would I do steroids a week before my fight? I’ve never done steroids, but any person with common sense would know not to do one dose of steroids a week before the fight.” – Jon Jones
— Justin Golightly (@SecretMovesMMA) February 27, 2018
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/27/2018.