Jon Jones Licensed For UFC 239

There will be no hiccups this time around in regards to UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones securing a fight license for his UFC 239 matchup against Thiago Santos.

According to a report from ESPN’s Marc Raimondi, Jones will officially be licensed on Wednesday by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The commission’s executive director himself Bob Bennett confirmed the news to ESPN.

Jon Jones last competed in Nevada at UFC 235 in March against Anthony Smith. But he fought that contest on a conditional one-fight license. Jones agreed to enhanced drug testing as part of that conditional deal with the NSAC.

The ESPN report says that Jones complied with the NSAC’s drug testing requirements and passed all of his drug tests. That’s why Jones, according to Bennett, will be given a license for the remainder of 2019. According to Bennett, ‘Bones’ passed all of the NSAC’s drug tests, plus drug tests from VADA and USADA. Therefore, Bennett said Jon Jones will not even need to be present at his licensing hearing on Wednesday.

The full quote from Bennett states that Jones has “been a consummate professional and given his full cooperation.”

Notably, Bennett confirmed that Jones’ recent drug tests have still actually detected minuscule amounts of turinabol, which is the drug that Jon Jones tested positive for back in August 2017 following his head kick KO win over Daniel Cormier at UFC 214. These same picograms were what kept Jones from fighting against Alexander Gustafsson in Nevada at UFC 232 back in December, with the fight being shifted from Las Vegas to Los Angeles at the last minute. However, the NSAC believes that Jones is still experiencing a pulsing effect and therefore does not believe he is still using banned substances, which is why he is getting his license.

With less than two weeks to go, the main event UFC 239 looks to be a go.

Does Thiago Santos stand a chance against Jon Jones at UFC 239?