Last night Dana White revealed that UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones failed a drug test prior to his successful title defense against Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 last month in Anaheim, California. In a statement released by the UFC, Jones' failed test came from an in-competition sample that was collected at the July 28th weigh-in, just one day before his fight against Cormier.
However, according to TMZ, Jones' teammate Frank Lester, who trains with the light heavyweight champ at Jackson Wink in New Mexico, believes he is being set up.
Lester says, per TMZ,
"I was just at dinner sitting next to Jon Jones when he got the phone call about this failed drug test."
"Supposedly the story is between weigh ins and fight night he took an oral steroid. Which makes zero sense since it wouldn't do anything at all for Jon to do so. It takes weeks for steroids to build up in your system to be a performance enhancer. Jon was devastated to say the least."
"This is a setup, straight-up, no athlete would test clean his entire fight camp, and then randomly take some cheap fucking oral steroid between weigh ins and fight night knowing he would be tested once he got done fighting."
Jones' team also released a statement last night, saying they are having the samples tested again to determine the validity or course of contamination.
Per ESPN,
"We are all at a complete loss for words right now. Jon, his trainers, his nutritionists and his entire camp have worked tirelessly and meticulously the past 12 months to avoid this exact situation. We are having the samples tested again to determine the validity or source of contamination.
"Jon is crushed by this news, and we are doing whatever we can as a team to support him."
Jones was previously pulled from a fight against Cormier just says before UFC 200 last July after testing positive for anti-estrogenic agents. He later explained to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that the failed test was due to an unmarked sexual enhancement pill.
At a press conference last night, Dana White speculated that the 30-year old Jones could be looking at a multi-year suspension as a result of his second failed drug test. ESPN reports that the UFC still has not decided to strip Jones of his title.