{"id":292978,"date":"2018-11-28T07:40:03","date_gmt":"2018-11-28T15:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=292978"},"modified":"2018-11-28T07:40:03","modified_gmt":"2018-11-28T15:40:03","slug":"jon-jones-would-have-left-ufc-usada-issued-four-year-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/jon-jones-would-have-left-ufc-usada-issued-four-year-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Jones says he would have left UFC if USADA issued four-year ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the end, the United States Anti-Doping Agency handed Jon Jones a 15-month suspension for the failed drug test that caused his July, 2017 win over Daniel Cormier to be overturned. That being said, the agency was apparently contemplating a much more severe punishment: a four-year ban.<\/p>\n

Speaking to ESPN earlier this week, Jon Jones admitted that, had USADA issued this four-year suspension, he would have asked to be released from his UFC contract so that he could fight overseas, outside the jurisdiction of the anti-doping agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was facing a four-year suspension and that was devastating,” Jon Jones said (transcript via MMA Mania<\/a>). “I had to really re-evaluate a lot of things such as what I think of the sport or fighting overseas. Who am I outside of the sport? It was a major learning experience for me to go through something like what I just got out of.”<\/p>\n