Jon Jones will be the first UFC fighter to have an arbitration hearing pursuant to the UFC anti-doping policy. His hearing is set for October 31st according to MMA Fighting.
Jones’ hearing against USADA will be held in Los Angeles. The hearing is based on his positive drug test which pulled him out of his unification bout against Daniel Cormier three days before UFC 200. The fighter, beset with a multiple out-of-octagon issues, denied knowingly taking any illegal substance. The Nevada Athletic Commission revealed that the banned substances found in Jones’ samples were hyrdoxy-clomiphene and Letrozole, anti-estrogen agents.
Jones faces a maximum one-year suspension from USADA.
Payout Perspective:
Unless there is a last-minute settlement between the parties, this will be the first and last arbitration under the current UFC-USADA format as the company sent a letter to all its contracted athletes detailing new procedures for the USADA appeals process. Just a few months ago, Jones seemed upbeat about a possible return sooner than later. We will see if that holds up at arbitration.
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