Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir ripped the UFC for allowing Jon Jones to fight at UFC 232 on Saturday despite his suspicious drug test.
Jones’ pre-fight drug test earlier this month was flagged by USADA for having a trace amount of turinabol. Turinabol is the same the banned substance for which Jones tested positive in 2017, leading to a suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Because of the test findings, Nevada was not going to clear Jones to fight as early as Saturday. Rather than pull Jones off the card and replace him as the headliner until the situation got sorted out, the UFC made more extreme changes.
The UFC moved the entire fight card to The Forum in the Los Angeles area rather than have it take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as originally planned. The California commission was going to clear Jones to fight, so the move would allow them to keep the same fight schedule.
Mir thinks the way things were handled was garbage. He wrote a Facebook post ripping the UFC for the decision, saying either the promotion is making special rules to allow Jones to fight, or they’ve changed their stance on what constitutes a failed drug test. Mir tested positive for a trace amount of the same substance in 2016, and the drug testing organization allowed him no wiggle room whatsoever, unlike with Jones.
The sort of inconsistency from the UFC that Mir points out will result in more people questioning the legitimacy and practices of the organization. It’s like Mir says: either the UFC has changed their stance on the science or they’re making special circumstances for Jones. Either way, that doesn’t help Mir much, who is now fighting for Bellator.
