July 29, 2017; Anaheim, CA, USA; Jon Jones reacts following his victory against Daniel Cormier during UFC 214 at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
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Former two time light heavyweight UFC champion Jon Jones had his hearing with the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) on Tuesday. In a week with a main UFC card at UFC 222 Jones garnered all of the attention. Very much deserving as the fate of one of the biggest fighters in the game was somewhat on the line.

Jones had his CSAC license revoked in August of 2017. This happened when the news broke that he failed his July 28th drug test that found him testing positive for the steroid turinabol.

The plot could not be more confusing than what is currently at play. Jones had passed tests on the 6th, 7th, and 29th post fight test. The only test that came back as positive was the test on the 28th. One would think that if he passed a post fight test, but failed in a pre fight test that he stopped using the steroid that theory is just not aligned to the science.

One scientist, Paul Scott, who is the president of the Karva laboratories testified that a dose in a range of 20-60 mg would be a dose needed to take to enhance performance. This also means according to his report, it would still be in the system for up to 50 days. However, there’s is a half-life method. This is that it could have lasted in Jones system for up to 14 days testified, DR. Daniel Eichner from, “Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory of Utah” in Salt Lake City.

Supervising Deputy Attorney General state of California, Jim Ledakis who was on the prosecution side had this interesting conversation with DR. Eichner…

Ledakis: “Can you say with any degree of reasonable certainty that MR. Jones physical performance was enhanced by a positive drug test for M3 (the turinabol metabolite)?

Dr. Eichner: “No I can not.”

Ledakis: “Can you say whether the metabolite M3 was ingested for therapeutic reasons or was ingested by accident?”

Dr. Eichner: “There’s not enough information about that would make a determination. No.”

This is interesting to note because of the fact in this case there was no evidence to support that Jones took the substance knowingly or did it enhance his performance.

Logic would tell you that if any substance had been taken, it would’ve been since the 7th of July, after the test and before July 28th. The only issue is, how did he then pass the post fight test and the test on October 11th?

Another interesting miniscule conversation was between Mr. Jacobs (Jones attorney) and a member of CSAC…

Mr. Jacobs detailed to the commission that, “we sent I think like 15 supplements to Dr. Eichner’s lab and he tested them all.”

CSAC member: “Things other than supplements tested?”

Mr. Jacobs: “Massage creams… sent to Dr. Eichner and he tested them as well.”

So above their being no scientific evidence to show wrongdoing they even voluntarily handed over their supplements. Jones even took a polygraph screening voluntarily. Also, talking to USADA voluntarily. Jones and his team did whatever they could to prove their innocence.

In the hearing Jon would talk about how confusing the news was when he first heard it. Even detailing something he did during this period of time, “I was immediately asked to look at the people around me and see how this got in my body… so yeah, it was a really interesting situation.” Detailing at every turn how confused he was with what was going on. Also, how cautious he was saying of his camp that he was, “super, super careful.”

The hearing ended with question from the members of CSAC statements too. All of the members would bring up past wrongdoings of Jones to establish a claim that what he was doing here was wrong. They’d bring up DWI charges, hit-and-run charges, and many more. Martha Shen-Urquidez even tried to accuse him of breaking his probation. Jon hopped on it quick saying he was cited five times in the same incident. Even with those claims she tried her best to portray it as a separate incident that caused him to break his probation, which was false.

In all of this it left one thing clear, Jones is an innocent man who is being charged to do past negligence. He even stated in the past, he has lied and came out on record saying he lied about certain things like taking USADA courses. Listening to him speak and own up to the mistakes he made seems as if he is coming around and honestly do the right thing.

Where that leaves us?

He won’t have his license in the state of California until at least August of this year when the suspension is up. However, USADA is to hold a hearing and could suspend him up to four years and maybe added time after that. I’ll keep you updated on how this is playing out.

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