The USADA arbitration of Jon Jones was completed on Monday at a law office in California after 10 hours before a panel of 3 arbitrators per MMA Fighting. Jones’ attorney, Howard Jacobs, is seeking an expedited decision prior to Jones’ disciplinary hearing before the Nevada Athletic Commission on November 10th.
Per the Arbitration rules in the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, the arbitration panel has up to 30 days to render a written decision. Thus, the panel could feasibly issue a decision at the end of November and after the NSAC hears Jones’ case.
Jones’s out-of-competition USADA drug test came back positive for clomiphene and Letrozol. The findings prevented him from competing in the main event at UFC 200. Jones maintains that he did not knowingly ingest the banned substances. Jacobs maintains that the product(s) Jones used was contaminated with the banned substances. He also stated that USADA had tested the product and had come to the same conclusion.
There is no word as to details of what transpired at the arbitration and its likely we will not hear about it until either a decision is issued and/or Jones appears before the commissioners in Nevada on November 10th.
Payout Perspective:
If a decision is not issued prior to the hearing on November 10th, the NSAC will be interesting on how it might rule without any guidance. If the USADA panel decides in favor of a one year ban, then Nevada might infer that the evidence weighed against Jones’ argument that he did not know the contents were contaminated with banned substances. Of course, if the panel issues a favorable ruling with a modest ban (say 6 months) retroactive to the date of his positive test, then Nevada might follow suit and we could see Jones available to fight in the UFC in the first quarter of 2017. Jacobs seemed happy with how things went so USADA might issue a ruling prior to November 10th.
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