Jon Jones Vada Test Results Come Back Positive Again
LAS VEGAS >> Hither we are again.
Those were the opening words from Jeff Novitzky, the UFC Vice President of Athlete Health of Operation, addressing the news Thursday that minuscule trace levels of turinabol appeared again in 2 contempo drug tests administered to lite heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Information technology is notwithstanding another chapter in the mercurial career of the one of the greatest and most controversial fighters in UFC history.
The good news is, because the amounts were once more and so microscopic, it doesn't affect Jones' title defense against Anthony Smith at UFC 235 on Sat.
The bad news is it's more questions surrounding Jones and drug testing, which is why Novitzky met with the media Th before the UFC 235 open workouts at the MGM Thousand.
Here's a breakdown of what it all means:
ROUND 1
The low levels of turinabol showtime appeared in Jones' organisation in Dec and resulted in the entire UFC 232 card – which featured Jones successfully defending his title confronting Alexander Gustafsson – to be moved from Las Vegas' T-Mobile Loonshit to The Forum in Inglewood.
The event came west on vi days' notice because the Nevada Country Athletic Commission said it didn't have plenty time to properly vet the positive test. The California State Athletic Commission felt comfortable with the evidence and the word of scientists and experts that there was no evidence of the turinabol being readministered.
The CSAC as well approved the fight after asking Jones to have a drug exam at KorvaLabs in San Dimas, equally well as enroll with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Bureau (VADA), which has no ties to the UFC, unlike USADA, which is the UFC'due south anti-doping partner.
Round TWO (AND BEFORE)
Scientists and experts have determined the microscopic amounts of turinabol are a residual "pulsing" from when Jones tested positive for the anabolic steroid in 2017 and was subsequently suspended for 15 months.
For the tape, Jones has likewise tested positive for cocaine metabolites at the end of 2014, which he admitted to using. Because information technology was an out-of-contest drug test and the primary metabolite benzoylecgonine is not banned out-of-competition by the World Anti-Doping Bureau, Jones was allowed to fight at UFC 182. He was eventually fined $25,000 for violating the UFC'southward Athlete Code of Carry policy.
He as well tested positive for two banned substances – clomiphene, an anti-estrogenic substance, and letrozole, an aromatase inhibitor – in July 2016. Though Jones professed his innocence and an arbitration panel ended Jones did not take the banned substances intentionally, USADA yet suspended Jones for one twelvemonth.
WHY DOESN'T THIS ONE MATTER?
Jones was tested five times in a span of 23 days in Feb. A USADA test on Feb. 1 came dorsum negative, as did a Feb. 9 VADA exam ordered by the CSAC. NSAC tests on February. 14 and fifteen came dorsum positive, the start for forty picograms and the 2nd for 20 picograms. On Feb. 18, a VADA test ordered by Nevada came back negative.
To Novitzky, this is actually practiced news.
"You have two very depression-level picogram positives volume-concluded by ii negative tests within a calendar week and a week and a one-half," Novitzky said. "If there was re-administration of this substance, you lot would clearly see a parent compound, you'd meet brusk- and mid-term metabolites, which scientific discipline has shown to exist in existence for several weeks. Again, it'south unfortunate for Jon, but based on the levels of amount of testing, it'south the best prove I've seen."
HOW MUCH IS A PICOGRAM?
A picogram is one-trillionth of a gram. Or, as Novitzky has put information technology over and over again: "Have a grain of salt, cut it 55 1000000 times. One of those pieces is a picogram."
WHY THE TWO POSITIVES?
Novitzky said he spoke with Jones' team nearly Feb. 14 and fifteen. He was told that was when Jones' training has reached its zenith.
"That was right in the heart when Jon, what his army camp told me, was peaking in his training," he said.
WHY NOW?
To be able to notice one slice out of 55 million particles of the equivalent of a grain of salt is attestation to the enhanced testing. Novitzky said there are other athletes who have tested positive for such minuscule amounts – including UFC fighter Grant Dawson, whose potential violation was dismissed by USADA in early on December.
"It's condign quite common and I think information technology'due south just the circumstance at that level, the sensitivity level of testing, over final couple of years, has increased 10-, hundredfold," Novitzky said.
In case you lot're wondering what the side by side microscopic level might be, Novitzky said he doesn't know the proper noun of the next-lowest level of measurement.
WHAT DID JON JONES SAY?
The lite heavyweight champion didn't piece of work out Thursday, instead bringing out his daughters – Mia, Carmen and Olivia – and saying he would take pictures with fans.
In addressing the media, Jones seemed resigned to his picogram paradox, only remains at peace with it all.
"I'grand comfortable with the idea that it'due south gonna be role of my career and I don't know how long it's gonna last. What helps me sleep proficient at nighttime is knowing I submit to every drug examination, I've been tested by three of the most powerful agencies in the world. I've never avoided a test. I just feel the more than accessible I am, the more data they empathize that they all have in this situation, the more everybody will sympathize."
Jones too spoke of other athletes – in Major League Baseball and the UFC, for example – experiencing similar problems with delayed positive tests.
No one has his notoriety and platform though.
"I know I'grand well-nigh a leader in this whole evolution. I'chiliad comfy in this infinite. I merely wish fans would non simply look at the headlines, but click on the links and read and learn what'south really going on."
WHAT DOES ANTHONY SMITH Retrieve?
Jones' opponent was asked after his open workout Thursday what he idea of Jones' latest drug tests. Smith, who in the past has said he doesn't care about picograms, wasn't as diplomatic this time.
"For any reason, it tends to pulse when he gets shut to a fight. I expected it. I would have been more shocked if it wasn't there. It is what it is … we're good. Nosotros're good.
"I trust the Nevada State Able-bodied Commission. I don't understand the science backside information technology. It doesn't brand any sense to whatsoever of usa. We're just regular people, so it doesn't brand any sense to me."
Smith said he spoke to Bob Bennett, who heads up the NSAC, and trusts Bennett wouldn't allow Jones to accept any unfair advantage over him.
Even so, Smith is still skeptical of Jones. "Obviously there's been some sort of indiscretion there. At some betoken he used PEDs. I don't recollect we tin argue that. But as far every bit now? I think Jon is a clean athlete."
Source: https://www.ocregister.com/ufc-235-jon-jones-tests-positive-for-picograms-again-why-it-does-and-doesnt-matter
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