Opinion | Jon Jones the ‘snitch’ cleared by Usada in time for Madison Square Garden – it’s a shameful double standard from UFC
Jones’ drug suspension reduced to just 15 months for giving ‘substantial assistance’ to anti-doping authorities, which hasn’t gone down well with fight fans
Surprise, surprise, Jon Jones has got away with it again after the US Anti-Doping Agency handed him a reduced 15-month ban.
Stripped of the light heavyweight title he took from Daniel Cormier last July after testing positive for Turanibol, Jones could be back in action as early as UFC 230 at Madison Square Garden on November 4.
He was facing the possibility of a four-year ban from mixed martial arts, for what was his second failed drug test, having tested positive for two banned substances before his first scheduled rematch with Cormier at UFC 200 in July 2015.
But having got off lightly with slaps on the wrist for driving under the influence in 2012, testing positive for cocaine (which is not banned out-of-competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency) in January 2015, and a hit-and-run incident in April 2015, perhaps we should have seen this coming.
It seems he managed to wriggle his way out this time by providing “substantial assistance” in helping Usada catch another potential drugs cheat, as the independent arbitration ruling points out.