Jon Jones: He Has Only Himself to Blame

UFC 200 nearly went to hell last week when the MMA world was rocked by the announcement that former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones failed a drug test ahead of his scheduled title bout with light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 200. Jones’ reportedly failed an out-of-competition drug test on June 16 ahead of the fight. This means that the banned substances Jones tested positive for were not recreational drugs such as cocaine or marijuana. Previously, Jones tested positive for Cocaine in 2015, and marijuana was found at the scene of his hit-and-run accident later that same year. Jones now faces hefty punishments at the hands of USADA. Despite some opposition to him getting taken out of the fight, Jon Jones only has himself to blame here. Whatever punishments he faces and receives due to this latest transgression, all the blame lays at his own feet.

One thing that sort of annoyed me over this whole incident was when Jonathan Snowden on Bleacher Report seemed to be critical of the drug testing program and regulation here. In a recent article, Snowden wrote: “UFC 200 was a party—but one that none of the cool kids bothered to show up for. There was no McGregor, who was the victim of a dispute with UFC brass. There was no Rousey, who was the victim of her own success. There wasn’t even Jon Jones, who was the victim of the UFC’s self-imposed draconian regulation.” Wait, I’m confused here. Now, I can definitely understand some disappointment with UFC 200 in that other than Lesnar, the fight card maybe was lacking some of that younger star power you want out of a major event like this. Conor McGregor was taken out of the equation due to missing a press conference. Holly Holm shattered all the plans for Rousey to fight again at UFC 200, and Rousey has not returned to MMA since. But now suddenly the drug-testing regulation for the UFC is draconian? I’m sorry, but that’s nonsense. It wasn’t draconian regulation that took Jon Jones out of UFC 200. It was Jon Jones! The so-called “self-imposed draconian regulation” the UFC has was something I recall many members of the MMA media were practically demanding and calling for. Guess what everyone? If you really want to clean up the sport of MMA, this is the price. If fighters are cheating and over half the industry is on gear they shouldn’t be, then that means a lot of top fighters that a lot of people like are taking things they shouldn’t and are going to get caught.

The same week after it was announced he failed a drug test and was taken out of UFC 200, Jon Jones took part in a press conference, along with his manager Malki Kawa and his PR crisis representative, Denise White. You can check out the full video of that presser below (Courtesy of MMAFighting.com). I will say this much, parts of it were tough to watch as Jones was in tears and breaking down during the session. He looked like a guy completely stripped bare. At one point he even walked out of the press conference to try and compose himself before returning. However, I think some major mistakes were made here. For starters, Kawa and Jones would not reveal the substance Jones tested positive for. They claimed it was a substance they couldn’t pronounce. They maintained Jon Jones’ innocence. During the presser, Kawa stated when asked by Luke Thomas if this was a supplement issue: “Without saying too much more, I feel like by the time this is all said and done, it will be all right. It could be (a supplement issue). I don’t want to say much more than that because I want to go through all the reasonable steps. But it could be.”

When asked by John Morgan of MMAjunkie is Jones brought in anything new supplements-wise to his camp. Jones stated in response, “There’s a few things that have nothing to do with performance that I’ve tried.” Earlier he said, “I have taken the same supplements my entire career.” Well, he’s not really doing that is he. But isn’t that a bit weird, the few “new” things he took for supplements have nothing to do with performance? The issue with supplements is that they are not FDA-regulated. So if fighters are testing positive due to tainted supplements, this is one potential reason that’s happening.

But here’s the biggest red flag that I heard from Jones during the presser. Regarding supplements, Jones said, “I know everything I take should be documented before fight. I just didn’t stress that. I didn’t feel the need.” I just don’t get how Jon Jones could actually believe that. Hell, I don’t know how Malki Kawa is not hounding Jones every day of the week about his supplements. Look at what Kawa just had to go through with Yoel Romero and his failed drug test and getting his punishment reduced to six months over the tainted supplement thing. So why would are Jones and Kawa not more vigilant about this? It makes no sense to me at all.

Kawa later appeared on The MMA Hour (via MMAFighting) and stated the following: “You take supplements, it could be anything. You could take freaking protein powder in a basic form, BCAAs, anything, and if it’s tainted with anything — the thing is people don’t understand, these supplements get made in manufacturing plants, and although it’s just supposed to be protein, the batch before that might’ve been some sort of testosterone booster that had some something illegal in it. So, if they don’t clean the machines out and all of a sudden that can be in that batch. What I’ve always said about USADA, and what I’ve always tried to tell everybody is that a guy who walks into GNC and buys some supplements and goes home and takes them and then he gets in trouble for that, he isn’t cheater,” Kawa continued. “He isn’t a person who’s trying to cheat. So before I can come out and say, ‘look, he took this and this supplement,’ I have to go get those supplements. I have to get them and put them in my hands so I can get them tested, right? If I come out and say ‘these are the products we think he took and this is the substance he failed for,’ then the people at the stores will start to clear their shelves out and all of that other stuff. So before that happens, I’ve got to grab the stuff, get it and have it in my hands, and then I can come out and say, ‘look you guys, here’s what it is, here’s the substance we think caused it, we’re having it tested, and then in a couple weeks we should know the answer and really get to the bottom of it.'”

Here is my problem with what Kawa said. Why is he trying to get everything tested now? Why was he not working this hard before Jones had to fight in the biggest fight of his career? Kawa also claimed Jones lost out on eight figures, so why wouldn’t he take the extra time to make sure everything Jones was taking is on the up and up? And even more than that, the tainted supplement issue has been going on, at least in MMA, for years. Even Sean Sherk used that excuse way back when. So now that USADA is in place as a regulatory body, fighters have no excuse to not get their supplements checked out. If they want to use supplements they should send them to USADA first. They should be doing something to make sure they are doing everything in their power not to put a banned substance in their bodies. Whether Jon Jones purposefully took a PED or not, all of this is still on him. He is still at fault for not being more vigilant about what he put in his body.

After everything Jones has been through, you have to stop enabling him. Jones got very lucky throughout his numerous incidents. He is beyond lucky no one was seriously hurt or killed in his car accidents. Despite crashing a Bentley and getting a DUI arrest, he continued to get behind the wheel of a car under the influence and even driving without a license. After he struck a pregnant woman and ran from the scene, he is even more lucky that poor woman was not seriously hurt. He’s equally lucky that after all these incidents, despite everything, Jones still had a career and numerous loyal fans all over the world. It just seems like time and time again, Jones cannot release the addiction of chaos and dysfunction in his life. And maybe to some degree, it goes hand-in-hand with such people who are so naturally gifted and talented. You see many great athletes who despite all the great accolades in their careers that they achieve, they can’t stay out of trouble in their personal lives. Maybe Jones has a similar chemical issue.

Now regarding the supplements thing, I just want to share a picture Jones posted on his Twitter account. This is a picture Sadik Hadzovic. Jones labeled him as his GAT Supplements teammate, who he also trains with. So even USADA has talked about the eye test and smell test before. Whatever those are, Hadzovic definitely looks suspicious. Now, this whole incident brought up some online discussion regarding GAT. I did see some rumors that there were substances in GAT Supplements Jones could’ve took that could cause a positive drug test. I have no idea if that’s true, but even if it was, Jones would still be responsible.

Happy birthday to my @gatsupplements teammate, I call him team captain @sadikhadzovic https://t.co/FNsTiQ0ICb pic.twitter.com/B64hs98qcC

— BONY (@JonnyBones) June 8, 2016

Now, GAT Supplements then came out and did an even better job of getting ahead of this than Jones and his camp. GAT Nutrition vice president Mark Post told USA Today: “Nothing Jon is using from GAT contains anything that is banned. We do extensive third-party testing and we know he has been tested (with no positives for performance-enhancing drugs) several times. Everything has come up clear. We have no idea what has changed in what he has taken over the last month. We don’t live with Jon, and don’t even know what the banned substance is.”

Now, I truthfully do not know how much integrity GAT Nutrition has and if Mark Post is being 100 percent honest here. He’s also technically throwing a client and sponsored athlete under the bus. But at least GAT was aware that people were raising questions and discussion about their practices and they are putting forth information to distance the company from his failed drug test.

Later on, both Rashad Evans and Chael Sonnen claimed Jones’ failed a drug test for estrogen blockers. Now of course, take Chael Sonnen’s words for what they are worth. He is Chael Sonnen. But an estrogen blocker would be used by someone who have used testosterone supplements to help keep hormone balances in check. In addition, PED users also apparently use estrogen blockers for when they are cycling off PED usage. So if Jones did in fact fail for estrogen blockers, doesn’t that sort eliminate the possibility this was just an honest mistake of taking failed supplements? There is some element of needing to see how this all plays out, so we’ll see.

https://youtu.be/8xk7A_aNalA

This is purely my opinion, but the reason I find the tainted PED excuse is bologna because I don’t understand why fighters would roll the dice on their careers by taking such dangerous supplements that could potentially ruin their careers. If they are truly honest and want to be clean, why would they take something they are not sure about the chemicals that are in it? And if they do take it, why don’t they vet exactly what they are taking more? That’s why I think a lot of these tainted supplement excuses are hogwash. I believe fighters know exactly what they are doing and taking, but they are doing it anyway. I could be wrong, but that’s just my two cents.

At the end of the day, Jones has no one to blame for what’s happening here other than himself. Call me a shill for agreeing with Dana White, but there’s a lot of truth to what he said on Colin Cowherd. The UFC President stated: “The guy is a professional and I truly believe, and I’m not the biggest Jon Jones fan right now, but I truly believe that he took a supplement that had this stuff in it and it wasn’t intentional. I truly believe that, but at the same time, come on! You’re 28 years old. You’re arguably the greatest talent to step foot in this sport, right? Call USADA and tell them what supplements you’re taking! You’ve already been through this history of absolute madness. Why would you, for get to us, why would you do this to yourself? You’re a grown up. And the guys that are around him are just as bad. The guys who are supposed to be looking out for him and watching his back, give me a break. Jon should’ve cleaned house a long time ago. That’s what Jon should have done.” There’s not a single thing I disagree with there in that diatribe.

Before I go, I’ll leave you with this video of UFC 200: Counterpunch, which was filmed before Jones’ removal. Ironically enough, Daniel Cormier basically sort of called all this happening yet again with Jon Jones. It happened at an inopportune time for Jon Jones, but Cormier basically exactly called all this coming to pass yet again.

Jeffrey Harris is 411mania’s resident Jack of All Trades and has covered MMA for the site since 2008. You can shoot him an e-mail at [email protected] or hit him up on Facebook. He also co-hosts the 411 Ground & Pound Radio Show with Robert Winfree. You can listen to the latest episode below.