The story of Jon Jones’ failed drug test in the lead up to UFC 182, has taken another strange twist. As already noted, the NSAC and the UFC are reluctant to punish Jones for testing positive for cocaine metabolites. One of the reasons on the NSAC’s end may be that they were not actually supposed to be testing for them at the time. MMAFighting reports that the NSAC is calling the tests they adiminstered on Jon Jones’ urine sample on December 4th, an”administrative oversight.”
NSAC Director Bob Bennett spoke on the issue of the apparent mishandling of Jones’ test:
“That was a bit of an anomaly that will be addressed [at the next NAC hearing on] Jan. 12. It was not a report requested by the NAC. It appears to have been an administrative oversight.”
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“Just for out of competition drugs such as anabolic steroids, no street drugs,” Bennett said when asked if Jones was tested for cocaine and other recreational drugs after the Dec. 4 test.
Considering that Jones had to be retested on Dec. 4th after his first sample was too “watery,” this wasn’t just an oversight, but an oversight carried out twice.
It’s also worth noting, as Bennett stated, that after the first series of tests came back positive, Jones was tested once more on December 18th. The fact that the later set of pre-fight tests did not include testing for cocaine or other “street drug” substances, the report that those later tests came back clean carries a lot less meaning.
Also in the report is the news that Jones was not made aware of the drug test failure until two days after UFC 182, by UFC officials.
Update #1: As there is some lack of clarity, as to what Jones was tested for in his second round of tests, it appears Bennett may be incorrect (or at least inexact) in his statement that Jones was not tested for “street drugs” in the tests conducted on December 18th. By all appearances, it looks like Jones was tested for narcotics and stimulants at the time and those tests came back clean.
Here is a copy of Jon Jones passed drug test on 12.18.14. Note T/E ratio on this date of 0.19/1 pic.twitter.com/iy1mIghjZs
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) January 7, 2015
Update #2: Bennett has released a new statement regarding the December 18th drug test to Ariel Helwani, re-affirming that Jones was not tested for narcotics or stimulants. Instead, it appears that the lab copy-pasted the paperwork from their previous (December 4th) report and did not modify the list of tests performed to match their screening process.
Re: the 12/18 test (again). As @kevinI tweeted, it states NAC tested Jones for recreational drugs. NAC’s Bob Bennett just spoke to the lab once again to clear up any confusion. He told me the lab has apologized to him. They copied the info that they put in the 12/4 test results but DID NOT test Jones for any recreational drugs on 12/18. It was strictly an out-of-competition test for PEDs. That’s it. They are sure of this.
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