Frank Mir Addresses Jon Jones and USADA Situation

In a post on his Facebook account this week, former UFC heavyweight fighter Frank Mir addressed the current situation involving Jon Jones’ drug test results with USADA. You can read his complete thoughts on the matter below.

In April 2016, Frank Mir failed a drug test for dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT) by the US Anti-Doping Agency. He was eventually handed down a two-year suspension for the test. Mir has always proclaimed his instance and denied any wrongdoing. Granted, many athletes who were caught cheating or failed drug tests have done the same.

In his Facebook post, Mir accused USADA of possibly giving Jon Jones “special dispensation” or “revising” presentation of their own science which he tried to suggest when he plead his own case beforehand after his own failed drug test.

Frank Mir was ultimately handed down a two-year suspension from USADA in April 17. He later left the UFC and signed with Bellator MMA. He made his Bellator debut earlier this year, losing to Fedor Emelianenko by knockout at Bellator 198.

Mir last fought at Bellator 212 earlier this month. He was defeated by Javy Ayala after submitting to strikes in the second round.

In 2012, Mir was discovered to be a recipient of testosterone replacement therapy, which was very controversial and said to be a legalized form of PEDs that multiple fighters were using throughout the UFC. One longstanding belief was that past steroid users would utilize TRT as a result of their past steroid abuse, which could cause low testosterone before they enter their 40s. The Nevada State Athletic Commission later adopted a ban for TRT in 2014.

“In the spring of 2016, when USADA representatives sat in my Las Vegas kitchen and told me that the turinabol metabolite that they said I tested positive for could only have been ingested within a window of the past several months, I vehemently proclaimed my innocence. Having never failed any drug test throughout my career, I asked if we could go back further in the past to test any supplements that I could’ve taken, but they claimed that was both impossible and unnecessary.

“They were firm on their assertion that there was only a recent period of several months that would warrant any consideration. Now, little more than two years later, Jon Jones has tested positive for the same trace of the same banned substance, and USADA is taking the position that this same low level is in fact not a new ingestion, but something that could be the result of a residual “pulsing” effect that could potentially stay in his system “forever”. Further, they are now claiming that this phenomenon is something that they are seeing in other cases as well.

“This latest shift in USADA’s position would seem to suggest one of two possibilities…Either they are a) offering special dispensation to Jon Jones or b) they are second guessing and subsequently “revising” the presentation of their own science. Either scenario leaves myself and a number of other fighters whose careers have been similarly damaged by past testing claims to wonder what this says about USADA’s consistency and their tests’ reliability. Sadly, my accusation came at a time when the UFC’s partnership with USADA had not yet been subjected to the kind of doubt that now seems to further cloud it with each new instance of convoluted circumstances.”