The UFC 229 press conference took all the headlines on Thursday but what went under the radar was the California State Athletic Commission giving Jon Jones 3 months community service as a result of his drug test failure last July. USADA doled out a 15-month suspension to Jones on Wednesday after his second arbitration under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.
According to MMA Junkie, the California State Athletic Commission called the punishment “agreeable, in concept.” CSAC Executive Director Andy Foster expected an 18-month suspension from USADA and the 3 months of community service was issued to “close the gap.”
An arbitrator in Jones’ USADA case determined that the former UFC light heavyweight did not try to cheat despite having traces of a banned substance in his system.
In February, Jones was fined $205,000 and had his fight license revoked.
No word on when and what type of community service Jones will have to perform. But its assumed that he could re-apply for a license to fight in California once complete.
Payout Perspective:
The punishment by California should not be too surprising. Jones has been out of action since July 2017 and the impetus was put on USADA to hand out its punishment. The surprise was the arbitrator’s 30 month reduction of the guideline suspension per the UFC anti-doping policy. Couple that with Jones’ remorse…once again, and California probably was not going to tack on anything substantial which would impede Jones’ career any further.
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