Jon Jones used contaminated product, suspension could be reduced

HOWARD JACOBS, the attorney of Jon Jones said that the contamination of the product used by Jones could be the reason why he tested positive for banned substance.

Jones was supposed to headline UFC 200 against Daniel Cormier, but he was forced out of the event after being tested positive by USADA. However, Jacobs is now saying that the product that Jones took was not labeled with the banned substances.

"We've been able to establish the source of the prohibited substances. It came from a product that Jon took that was not labelled with either of these substances. We had it tested, the product was contaminated with both of them. I know USADA also independently had the product tested; their testing confirms what we found. We then sent essentially the same pills that we had had tested to be tested by USADA's lab, which also found the same thing. So pretty much every time it's been tested, it's shown that the product is contaminated with both clomiphene and Letrozole, the two substances (Jones tested positive for),” He said.

As far as the suspension is concerned, it could be reduced according to Jacobs.

"It should definitely lead to a significant reduction, that's our position. The way the anti-doping rules, at least with the UFC program, are written, they mirror the World Anti-Doping Code to some extent. There are some differences but essentially in a case like this you can't argue that you have no fault if you take a supplement or product that's contaminated but you can argue that you're not significantly at fault, which gives you the ability to argue for a reduced sanction. So the sanction range under the UFC rules would be between a warning at a minimum and of course the maximum is at a year,” he added.

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