During Jon Jones’ media rounds Monday, Jones was asked many questions by many different outlets. One common theme of the questions was getting Jones’s side of the latest USADA scandal the former light heavyweight champion has found himself in. Jon Jones was suspended for 15 months for a doping violation stemming from a drug test administered prior to UFC 214. In an appearance on “UFC Unfiltered” Jones stated that his suspension was a formality and stated that USADA decided to work with him to find an appropriate solution due to their belief in his innocence:
“They just had me do a whole bunch of stuff to just prove my innocence,” Jones said. “And at the end of the whole situation, they just said, Jon, we’re the same company that tested Lance Armstrong, the Russian wrestling team…Marian Jones…we’ve tested all the highest level athletes, and they’re a real-deal company. And they don’t pull strings in favor…I’ve heard all types of weird shit. And they don’t do that for anybody.
“They basically said, yo, our scientists were able to tell that this was a total mistake. No one’s taking oral steroids two weeks before an event looking to get better as a fighter. And no one’s taking it at this amount. This is such a small amount. This is obviously some kind of contaminated supplement or whatever, and we were never able to figure out where it came from. But they said, it’s such a small amount, Jon. We’re not in the business of ruining people’s careers.
“I had a big meeting with one of the heads of USADA, one of the presidents. And the guy, he told me, ‘Jon, I’m the person who sat across the table from Lance Armstrong.’ He’s like, ‘I know when people are lying to me.’ I think he said he had worked with the FBI or something for years or something like that… or DEA for years or something like that. He’s like, Jon, I know when people are lying to me. And we sat and we talked for two hours straight.
“And he’s like, dude, I believe that between my science that I have in my lab and what you’re saying, it makes no sense for you to do this at this amount right before your fight. I believe you. And just having someone at USADA say, ‘I believe you. Now, lets figure out how this happened, where this came from, I think that was the first glimpse of any type of light for me.”
Jon Jones also claims that if he were truly guilty, he would have decided to handle the news of the doping failure in an entirely different way:
“If I had done steroids and I got caught, I’d take it like a man, and I’d just say, fuck it. I got caught. Let me go and fight in Russia or somewhere where everyone’s doing it. And I would just handle it that way. I would just be a man about it. But I was truly devastated because I’ve never taken steroids.
Ultimately, Jon Jones submits to the reality that he has no control over what others choose to believe, and he has his own strong opinion of those who believe he intentionally cheated:
“But you know, at the end of the day, people are going to always believe what they want to believe. If you honestly want to convince yourself that I’ve masterminded Nevada State Athletic Commission for this long and USADA…if you honestly believe that’s the business I’m in, then you’re stupid.”
What are your thoughts on these comments from Jon Jones?
