VIDEO | Jeff Novitzky Thinks Jon Jones May Be Innocent

The plot thickens once again. Since the Summer of 2017, we’ve been going up and down in the crazy roller coaster of Jon Jones’ possible anti-doping violation. It’s gone every which way you could think of through his A sample and B sample news, coaches coming to his aid, as well as the potential consequences he’d be facing and some insane rumors. Things have been relatively quiet for awhile, but just recently the UFC’s vice president of athlete health and performance, Jeff Novitzky has been notified of some meetings that have gone well. The big kicker though is that he doesn’t believe the former UFC light heavyweight champion took this drug intentionally.

“Right up front, I’ve said this awhile now, it would not make a lot of sense for an individual, a UFC athlete that knew, especially a champion or contender like Jon Jones, that knew ‘Hey, I’m tested quite regularly in the program,’ would not make a lot of sense that [Turinabol] would be your drug of choice if you were intentionally trying to cheat. I think it’s come out after the fact that USADA did another test on Jon a month or two or a couple of months after his positive test and he was negative during that test.”

How is it going to end? I am going to finish him. #UFC214 pic.twitter.com/a7gPpor6nu

— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) July 28, 2017

“So, that would be indicative that the prohibited substance entered his system sometime after July 7th or 8th and it was likely a pretty small amount and that it cleared his system pretty quickly. Again, who knows where it plays out, but certainly on the surface of things, I have said, at this point in the game with this type of information out there, it wouldn’t indicate intentional use. […] I don’t know that definitely and we’ll see how this plays out. Right now where the process is, is Jon and USADA are working closely. I’m aware there was a meeting a week or two ago. A pretty lengthy meeting which I was told was productive. I wasn’t given details of what productive meant, but I think that’s an important thing right now.” — Jeff Novitzky speaking to Joe Rogan.

Is this this really a case of a tainted supplement? Could it be possible somehow that Jon Jones got set up? What would the punishment be for a fighter who popped twice but never intentionally, only in what they would call a ‘careless disregard’. Luckily, it’s not for us to have to determine. Hopefully we will have definitive answers on what will be the final decision in the Jon Jones case. Even the best case scenarios entertained, it doesn’t seem like we’ll see the GOAT contender in action this year.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/3/2018.