“I have up to three years to sue them for what they did to me… I had no right to be doing cocaine, but they had no right to be testing me for street drugs and then putting it out to the public. I hear about the cocaine more than anything else I’ve ever done in my career. So, they definitely set me back huge. Let’s just say I haven’t forgot bout it… I don’t really want to get too deep into this whole situation. Hearing some of the things Nevada does, the way they penalized Nick Diaz for five years, the way they put my cocaine test to the public – I feel like as if that commission needs some type of commission. I feel like they can do whatever they want to whoever they want. Eventually, someone is going to need to stand up to these guys and question their power or at least figure out some type of rule to monitor what they can and can’t do. Right now, it just seems too loose.”
-During his interview with Ariel Helwani at MMAFighting.com, Jon Jones said he’s leaving his legal options open against the Nevada Athletic Commission.
Penick’s Analysis: The commission admitted that the out of competition test shouldn’t have included testing for street drugs, but it was made public due to a media information request. That the result was there meant it was public record to be accessed, and it wasn’t as if they simply leaked it themselves. Jones situation in that regard is murky, because while they shouldn’t have conducted the test that brought the cocaine use to light, he’s still the one who used cocaine. Now, he’s not wrong about the commission’s lack of accountability, and at some point that absolutely needs to be challenged. I’m not convinced Jones is the man to do that, not in this particular situation.
[Jon Jones art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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