Jon Jones has been stripped of the UFC interim light heavyweight championship after an arbitration panel denied his appeal of a positive test and upheld a doping ban that will run through July.
Widely considered the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter, Jones was pulled from a July bout against Daniel Cormier at UFC 200 shortly after news about the positive drug test.
Jones claimed to have taken a sexual-enhancement pill but ended up testing positive for two banned anti-estrogen agents.
“Jon Jones has blown it in every way shape and form a guy with that much talent can blow it,” UFC president Dana White told ESPN. “Greatest talent ever and the biggest screw-up ever.”
The 29-year-old won the newly created interim title in April when he defeated Ovince St Preux at UFC 197.
The US Anti-Doping Agency, which handles UFC testing, declared Jones ineligible. He took the case to arbitration and that panel delivered the maximum one-year suspension, saying Jones’ “degree of fault verged on the reckless”.
Jones is eligible again on 7 July 2017.
UFC issued a statement saying it was aware of the one-year ban, which began on 6 July.
“While the decision indicates no evidence of Jones’ intentional use of banned substances, it does highlight the care and diligence that is required by athletes competing in the UFC to ensure that no prohibited substances enter their system,” the UFC statement says.
