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For most people around the United States, when December comes around the calendar, most thoughts go towards the holiday season. However, for a certain UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, the thoughts were not about the holidays or his December 28th battle against Daniel Cormier. Instead, Jon Jones was thinking about the lines of cocaine he was doing and the fact that on December 3rd, the Nevada State Athletic Commission caught Jones when his drug test came back positive.
The NSAC again tested Jones on December 18th and no cocaine was found, but the damage should have been done with the initially failed drug test on December 3rd. The UFC also knew about the failed drug test, but instead of sending Jones to rehab or punishing him in some way (which they have done to other fighters for lesser atrocities), they did what they usually did…looked towards the bigger paycheck and allowed Jones to defend his title against Cormier (which Jones successfully did).
A solid twenty five days passed between the day Jones failed his drug test (December 3rd) and the night of his title defense (UFC 182 – December 28th). That means the UFC and to a lesser extent, the NSAC, had nothing but ample time to not only deal with Jones failing the drug test, but to also issue him any punishment(s) he should have gone…but they opted to do absolutely nothing.
The fact that the UFC did absolutely nothing but keep their collective eyes on their growing bank accounts is a huge black eye for both the promotion and MMA as a whole. Essentially the UFC set a precedent that a fighter can destroy his body with cocaine or any other serious drugs and still compete with no ramifications coming at all. There are no other sport in the world, pro wrestling included, that would knowingly allow their participants to do dangerous drugs and step onto the playing field at the same time.
The fact that a fighter can get flagged for a performance enhancing drug (PED) on a pre-fight test and get fined/suspended, but a fighter can get caught using cocaine in a pre-fight drug test and get a high five from his boss is in a word…ridiculous. Remember, for twenty five days, the UFC and NSAC knew Jones was flagged for cocaine use and did nothing about it in any shape, way or form.
Fast forward now to December 28th and more notably, UFC 182, where Jones put his championship on the line against Cormier. Jones absolutely dominates Cormier for five rounds to hold onto his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, a performance that should go down as one of the best in MMA history. That performance and all the emotion afterward was all categorically flushed down the toilet once word got out that Jones put the white stuff up his nose, with both the UFC and NSAC knowing about it, then choosing to turn a blind eye to everything.
Then the word gets out to the masses earlier this week about the failed drug test and the UFC has a huge opportunity to put a band aid over a huge bullet wound. Instead, UFC President Dana White goes on Fox Sports 1 and he makes such stupid statements that all one would think is that the guy does not care about Jones the person, just Jones the money maker. White talks about how the UFC did not postpone the fight after learning about the failed test because “Jones was still healthy.”
Now, I must first admit that I never did cocaine or any other drug for that matter, but I would be safe in saying that somebody who recently used cocaine is “not healthy.” I do not care if Jones was scheduled to ride a bike, take a family portrait, walk his cat down the street or fight Daniel Cormier…recently using cocaine does not make you healthy to perform any such duties.
UFC President Dana White then stated on Fox Sports 1 that if Jones had failed a drug test for a PED, then he would have been pulled from the bout. So the UFC brass, in the simplest terms, is saying that a fighter who uses cocaine is allowed to step into the octagon and fight in the world’s most dangerous sport. However, if a fighter enters the octagon while on a PED, he/she is somehow more unfit to enter the cage than a coke user. Nick Diaz, Chael Sonnen, Pat Healy and every other fighter that got flagged for PED use must be just going insane if they heard that statement.
White then stated towards the end of his time on Fox Sports 1 that those fans in attendance and those watching on pay-per-view had no idea that Jones was flagged for cocaine use based upon his appearance that night. Nobody has ever labeled me a genius in my thirty two years on earth, but if somebody does cocaine and does not appear to other like he used cocaine, it does not mean that he did not do it…that person still did it. The UFC is seemingly trying to go with the old ostrich theory defense in this one (look it up), the problem is that the ostrich (in this situation) eventually got its head out of the sand and everybody knows the dirty little secret that the promotion tried to hide.
The stupid statement above all stupid statements is when White stated that the fans should be excited for when Jones comes out of rehab, because we should all just “imagine how good this guy’s going to be when he gets straight.” That could be the biggest problem when/if Jones returns to competition, because no matter how great the fighter is when he gets back to the octagon…the white powder of shame will be trailing behind him from this point out.
Just look how good Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa were as baseball players, but when their PED use was exposed they were all but forgotten and all of those accomplishments of their respective careers have a stain upon them. Jon Jones decided to enter rehab earlier this week to deal with this cocaine problem and he should be praised for dealing with this issue. However, once the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion leaves rehab and returns to the UFC, has the damage already been done?
The real question though is this one, is the UFC putting their need for the almighty dollar in front of a fighters need to get help? Think about it like this, the UFC knew about Jones failed drug test and his drug related issues, yet they put him into the octagon to fight Daniel Cormier. The UFC is clearly putting the dollar bill ahead of a human being with no consequences on either side, which could be the biggest tragedy of them all?
Twitter: dteesxtra
E-Mail: bigteesps3@yahoo.com
