UFC 232 to be moved after Jon Jones' drug test includes trace amounts of banned substance

Ameer Tyree

UFC 232 to be moved after Jon Jones' drug test includes trace amounts of banned substance image

UFC 232 will be moved from Las Vegas to The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., after a trace amount of the banned substance turinabol was discovered in a drug test administered to Jon Jones on Dec. 9. Jones is scheduled to face Alexander Gustafsson in the event Saturday. 

MORE: Sign up for DAZN and watch boxing and MMA live in Canada 

Jones tested positive for turinabol in 2017 and was suspended by the UFC for 15 months. The USADA issued a statement Sunday that said the small amount of the drug was from Jones' "prior exposure for which he was previously sanctioned."

The fight was moved out of Las Vegas because the Nevada State Athletic Commission did not have the proper time to investigate the matter, according to USA Today. The California State Athletic Commission, however, said it will approve a license for Jones, that report says. 

UFC Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky told USA Today that Jones had not violated the anti-doping program.

"He's been cleared to fight in terms of the USADA program. … USADA fully analyzed it internally," Novitzky said. "They reached out to outside experts from around the world. They reached out to another sports league that has seen the same issue. And all of them, independent of us, determined that this was not a re-ingestion of the substance and this very, very small amount that was occurring and still showing up, according to these expects from around the world, did not provide any performance-enhancing benefit."

UFC President Dana White said he believed Jones hadn't done "anything wrong."

"If these guys even doubted that something bad happened here and he was wrong or whatever, the fight's off. We'd pull the fight," White said. "Jones didn't do anything wrong here. All the biggest experts, the smartest people in the world that deal with this are saying that he did not cheat, he didn't do anything. So how do we not do this fight?"

Jones will enter the fight Saturday with a 22-1 record while Gustafsson stands at 18-4. 

 

Ameer Tyree