Jon Jones Tests Positive for Oral Turinabol Again But USADA Says He is Innocent

UFC light-heavyweight Jon Jones will be allowed to fight against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232.

Jon Jones, a former two-time light-heavyweight mixed martial arts (MMA) champion with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) promotion, has tested positive once again for metabolites of the anabolic steroid called dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT). The steroid is more commonly known as Oral Turinabol.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) revealed that Jones tested positive for the DHCMT metabolite called 4-chloro-18-nor-17B-hydroxymethyl,17a-methyl-5a-androst-13-en-3a-ol (M3). The positive urine sample was collected during an out-of-competition visit by USADA doping control officers on December 9, 2018.

USADA normally provisionally suspends an athlete who is suspected of a potential anti-doping violation (ADRV). But USADA made the unusual step of immediately declaring Jones’ innocence.

USADA reported a level of approximately 60 picograms per milliliter of DHCMT-M3. USADA maintained that the low levels anabolic steroids found in Jones’ urine were “consistent with residual amounts from his prior exposure” to Oral Turinabol over 18 months ago.

Jones has been repeatedly tested following his last anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) on July 28, 2017. He has apparently passed every single test since then up until the December 9th test. USADA did not even try to explain how Jones could have passed the steroid tests every single time over the past 18 months only to fail it this month.

Fortunately for Jones, UFC Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky was willing to rush to the UFC superstar’s defense as he has done in the past.

Novitzky falsely claimed that one picogram was equivalent to “one grain of salt on the table” split up into “50 million pieces”. However, one grain of salt (26.77 milligrams) split up into 50 million pieces is actually 536.4 picograms. We did the math.

Novitzky then went on to say that Oral Turinbol metabolites could have magically reappeared in Jones’ urine after 18 months due to “pulsing”. Novitzky didn’t elaborate on this hypothesis of pulsing as an excuse for testing positive for steroids.

“Not much is known about this longterm metabolite. The parent compound is not approved for human use anywhere in the world … but what both USADA and other entities are seeing is that a recurrence, or potential ‘pulsing,’ where you have multiple negative tests and then a positive one for a very low amount – they’re seeing that quite commonly over time. And no one knows how long this could last – it could potentially last forever (in Jones’ system).”

And finally, Novitzky sneakily introduced the possibility that Jones could continue to test positive “forever” and he could still be excused due to the “pulsing” hypothesis. This would be an incredibly convenient excuse for Jones and the UFC going forward.

Source:

Erickson, M. & Morgan, J. (December 23, 2018). Jon Jones drug test nets 'atypical finding,' UFC 232 moved to Los Angeles on one week's notice. Retrieved from mmajunkie.com/2018/12/jon-jones-drug-test-atypical-result-ufc-232-moved-to-los-angeles-gustafsson-dana-white