Brock Lesnar and Jon Jones are both facing discipline from both USADA and the Nevada Athletic Commission following failed drug tests into UFC 200, and in Lesnar’s case on fight night as well. However, only one of those entities will be looking to administer any type of financial penalty for the infractions.
According to a report from MMAFighting.com, citing UFC Senior Vice President of public relations Dave Sholler, the UFC and USADA will not be issuing a fine to fighters over PED test failures, leaving that aspect of the process up to state commissions when a fight is involved.
As Jones didn’t receive a fight purse for UFC 200 due to being pulled from the card, and it wasn’t the NAC administering the test, it’s not clear if the NAC will issue him a fine. As for Lesnar, who made a disclosed $2.5 million, they’re almost certainly going to attempt to take a significant percentage of that. They’ve previously issued significant fines, including a $900,000 judgment against Julio Cesar Chavez, jr. that was later reduced to $100,000, a figure also reached for Nick Diaz after they initially handed down a $165,000 fine.
Lesnar and Jones are facing up to two years after testing positive for the anti-estrogen agent clomiphene, though both have vowed to fight the respective findings.
Penick’s Analysis: If Mark Hunt had any hope of getting part of Lesnar’s purse it should be clear to him that it’s not happening. Of course, he’s unlikely to just be released either, so we may have a stand off coming between he and the UFC. Lesnar and Jones are going to try to find an explanation for why the drug was in their system, and though that could work against USADA the NAC has been historically stingy and inconsistent in their punishments. That has been especially true for those who have tried to fight them on test failures. Still, even if they hand down something ridiculous to Lesnar and his $2.5 million purse (his pay-per-view cut won’t be touched), it’s likely he gets it reduced on appeal given prior precedent.
[Photo (c) Joshua Dahl via USA Today Sports]
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will lesnar now have to fight in bellator when his wwe contract comes up in 2018 or is there any likely hood he will fight in the ufc again?
If he ever fights again it will be in the UFC. Unlikely that happens unless he gets a reduced suspension. If it’s a year or less he might fight, if it’s up to two years he probably won’t.